Slapping creatures forces them to work faster for a while, but removes some of their health and happiness. Along with the heart, the player begins with a small number of imps, the generic work force for all dungeon activities: they can dig tunnels into the surrounding soil, capture enemy rooms and Portals, mine gold and gems, set traps, and even attack when desperate or threatened. If it is destroyed, the player loses the level, and must re-start. The Dungeon Heart represents the Dungeon Keeper's own link to the world. This really is somewhere you can take the kids for the weekend." Screams of pain and howls of anguish rip the night air like a vengeful siren's song. "The streets run with the blood of the slain. She's kind, and fair, and doesn't imprison or torture her subjects.for some reason."Īfter completing a level, the advisor will talk about the "improvement" of the destroyed region. For example: "This region of dreaming underlings is ruled by the beautiful Lady Catherine. This has no significance on the level itself, but provides comedic effect as the advisor is unable to comprehend the good deeds of the population. As the player progresses through these regions (each of which represents a level), the areas previously conquered will appear ransacked, twisted, and evil.īefore starting a new level, the advisor will tell the player about the current region and its attributes. The world map demonstrates the developers' detailed work: at the beginning of the game, the player is allocated one of the 20 regions of a fictional, idyllic country. A smaller part of the map is shown as a minimap in the top left corner of the screen. The map is divided into a grid of (mostly invisible) rectangles: an arbitrary number of monsters can be on any element of the grid, but only one trap or room section. The player also has the option of possessing one of his creatures, and seeing the dungeon from that creature's first-person perspective, as well as use their attacks and abilities. The main game view is in isometric perspective, however, this view can be zoomed and rotated. Prisoners in the Torture Chamber can thus be treated with a hands-on approach. The hand also allows the player to "slap" objects and thereby interact with them: creatures will hurry up when slapped, chickens in a Hatchery will "splat," and some traps will be triggered. Rather uniquely, the player can use the hand to pick up creatures and objects in the dungeon and carry them around, allowing for tactics such as gathering an assault force and dropping off the creatures en masse once a foothold has been established. The game interface is reminiscent of normal real-time strategy (RTS) games: the player uses a mouse, represented in-game as a hand, to interact with a bar on the left-hand side of the screen, allowing him to select which rooms to build and which spells to cast.