Dungeon Defenders

Overview

Dungeon Defenders started out as Dungeon Defense, a free to download UDK game from the Unreal Development Kit Showcase. Dungeon Defense was only a proof of concept, and required additional full-scale development work to be turned into a salable game. While Dungeon Defense took a mere four weeks to create, Dungeon Defenders took more than a year to reach public release after being announced in August, 2010. The game combines elements of the Action RPG and Tower Defense genres.

Cross-platform play between PS3, PC (via Steam), Android & iOS systems was announced, but as of Jan 2012, this feature has still not be fully integrated. On January 4, 2012, Trendy Entertainment's twitter account--in responding to a question--verified that PS3 and PC cross-platform play is not currently possible.

On 19 December 2012, Dungeon Defenders was released for Mac OS and Linux as a part of Humble Indie Bundle VII.

A version of the game was also announced and being developed for the PlayStation Vita but was later cancelled by the developer in an effort to divert resources towards the development of another game.

Story

The game is set in the world of Etheria, where four legendary heroes have defeated a great force of evil called The Old Ones and sealed it inside the Eternia Crystal. Those heroes then set off once again seeking new adventures, leaving behind at their castle each of their four young children. While playing one day, these children accidentally break open the Eternia Crystal, releasing the Old Ones back into the world. Following in the footsteps of their parents, the children must now work together to fight off the hordes of monsters advancing on their castle home.

Features

• Four unique and complementary character classes, each with their own distinct skills, towers, and weapons.
• A tavern to serve as a hub between levels where players can chat, strategize, swap heroes, and gear up their characters before embarking on missions together.
• A mana bank which is filled by all mana left unused after completing a level and can be used as currency to purchase new equipment, upgrade existing equipment, and pay for special services such a character respec.
• Familiars who will accompany players and provide a variety of passive bonuses while also helping to attack nearby enemies.
• Local split-screen multiplayer and online co-op with support for both open (client-side, mod-friendly) and closed (server-side, cheat-protected) character saving options.
• Four difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, Hard, and INSANE. (A fifth difficulty setting, "Nightmare," is available on the PC via DLC.)
• Two main gameplay modes: Campaign and Challenge; plus additional optional modifiers, including Infinite Build Time, Survival Mode, and Pure Strategy.
• 15 levels, all with different looks, layouts, and strategic options and challenges.
• Online leaderboards and stat-tracking of your best scores, times, and more for each level.
• All copies of the game ship with the complete source code and welcome mods.

Player Classes

There are four unique player classes in Dungeon Defenders. Each of them has 8 common stats that can be upgrading by spending skill points, earned upon leveling up. Additionally, they each have 2 unique skills that must be unlocked before they can be used or upgraded. Each character also has four unique towers that they can build. Each class has a capped level of 78.

Apprentice

The Apprentice is a junior Wizard who has mastered the art of conjuration. His towers are mostly traditional shooters. His primary skill shoots out a magic projectile, while his secondary skill creates a shockwave of force around him, dealing damage and pushing enemies back. Both of these skills can be charged. The game rates him as player skill level "novice".

Abilities

• Overcharge - Reduces your casting time for all magical abilities, including building towers, making this a great clutch ability in combat.
• Mana Bomb - Unleashes an area of effect shockwave that inflicts damage on all nearby enemies.

Towers

• Magic Missile Tower - Ranged single target turret.
• Magic Blockade - Defensive structure used for blocking the enemies.
• Fireball Tower - Ranged area-of-effect turret with the element of fire.
• Lightning Tower - Ranged chain lightning turret. Can hit in any direction.
• Deadly Striker Tower - Long range, slow-but-powerful, single target turret.

Weapons

• Staves

Huntress

The Huntress is a junior Ranger who has mastered the art of trap making. Her towers are traps that detonate on enemy proximity and deal area effects. Her primary skill fires her weapon and her skill attack reloads it. She is rated by the game as player skill level "advanced".

Abilities

• Piercing Shot - Fires a penetrating projectile that damages all enemies in a straight line, no matter how many.
• Invisibility - Turns the huntress invisible allowing her to build, repair, heal, or reposition herself without danger or interruption.

Towers

• Proximity Mine Trap - An exploding area of effect trap.
• Gas Trap - A trap that stuns all monsters within the area of effect.
• Inferno Trap - A trap that gradually deals fire damage within an area once triggered.
• Darkness Trap - A trap that releases a cloud of darkness, causing enemies to lose their current target.
• Ethereal Spike Trap - A trap that deals massive damage to a single enemy.

Weapons

• Crossbows
• Pistols

Monk

The Monk is a junior Priest who has mastered the art of aura projection. His towers produce area effects that either hinder enemies or benefit players within their range. His primary skill swings his weapon. His secondary skill shoots a magic projectile. He is rated by the game as player skill level "master".

Abilities

• Hero Boost - Increases power of all allies in radius while increasing regeneration rate also.
• Defense Boost - Increases the power of all towers in radius while regenerating their health also.

Towers

• Ensnare Aura - Slows monsters within the aura.
• Electric Aura - Deals electric damage over time to enemies within the aura.
• Healing Aura - Gradually heals all heroes within the aura.
• Strength Drain Aura - Reduces damage of enemies within the aura.
• Enrage Aura - Causes enemies within the aura to attack each other.

Weapons

• Spears
• Battle Axes

Squire

The Squire is a junior Knight who has mastered the art of standing his ground. His turrets primarily block enemy movement, forcing the enemies to destroy the turret to proceed. The primary skill of the Squire swings his weapon, the secondary skill makes him block. He is rated by the game as player skill level "medium".

Abilities

• Circle Slice - Swings his sword in a wide circle around him, damaging all nearby enemies.
• Blood Rage - Increases his damage, resistance, and speed while active.

Towers

• Spike Blockade - A defensive structure that deals damage to enemies that are too close.
• Bouncer Blockade - A melee turret that knocks enemies back.
• Harpoon Turret - A ranged turret that pierces and knocks back all enemies it hits.
• Bouncing Ball Turret - A turret that shoots bouncing balls.
• Slice N Dice Blockade - A spinning area of affect melee turret. Its needs to attack for a few seconds to spin at full speed.

Weapons

• Swords

DLC Classes

There are five DLC player classes, four being gender swapped counterparts to the original four that use the same towers and weapons, but have different abilities and stat differences, the other being the Barbarian who dual-wields the Squires class of weapons, but has no towers, only five unique stances.

Adept

The Adept is a faster counterpart to the Apprentice. She may be shy and only a trainee, but she can still hold her own on the battlefield.

Abilities

• Instant Upgrade - Channels her mana into an instantaneous defenses upgrade.
• Purity Bomb - Delivers a cleansing blast of magic that only affects skeletons and their necromancer masters.

Ranger

The Ranger is a talented wood elf from the forest of Mistymire. He is much slower than his Huntress counterpart, but has more health and is stronger in general.

Abilities

• Piercing Speadshot - Fires three ethereal projectiles that pierce through multiple enemies.
• Invisibility Field - Projects a field of invisibility around the Ranger, Defenses, and allies, but the defenses may still be targeted.

Initiate

The Initiate is from a group of far away mountain monasteries much like her Monk counterpart. She has returned to try and seek the truth of her masters demise.

Abilities

• Energy Drain - All nearby enemies have there resistances, strength, and movement speeds drained.
• Remote Defense Boost - Increases the attack rate, range, and damage of Defenses summoned by nearby heroes.

Countess

The Countess is a noble turned warrior and is also a more agile version of her Squire counterpart. She is also incredibly stubborn.

Abilities

• Call to Arms - Boosts her speed and defense while also increasing her allies potency.
• Joust - Starts her into an unstoppable forward charge, tearing through all enemies in her path.

Barbarian

The Barbarian is a warrior from the feral jungles south of the kingdom. He uses the Squires weapons, but he can dual-wield at the cost of having no towers of his own, only having 5 stances to take their place.

Abilities

• Battle Leap - A devastating leaping attack allowing the Barbarian to close the distance with his enemies.
• Battle Pound - A wide circle of destruction, similar to the Squires Circle Slice.

Stances

• Tornado Stance - Speeds up attack speed and movement speed, increases jump height, and lowers damage on attacks.
• Lightning Stance - Halves your health with every strike, but stuns your enemies as well.
• Siphon Stance - Forfeits your resistances to steal life from your enemies with each strike.
• Turtle Stance - Reduces movement speed and jump height, but increases resistances dramatically.
• Hawk Stance - Charges your next attack with the hawks blessing allowing it to do exceptional amounts of damage.

DLC Levels and Packs

Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards

This DLC involves you leaving to explore the realms of Eternia, but you stay the Mistymire forest for the majority of the DLC. There are 4 levels, all of which you are trying to recover the mythical Purple Eternia Shard. Released on December 15th to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

Features

• 3 modes (Campaign, Challenge, PvP)
• 12 new weapons
• 2 new maps
• New pet
• New cinematic
• New bosses
• Assassin Ranger Costume

The Great Turkey Hunt!

This DLC is a Thanksgiving themed pack was released on November 23, 2011 as a free DLC for the PC. This pack was less than substantial compared to other DLC, due to being free and all that. The main map is a decorated version of the Hall of Heroes map, but with a twist; the PvP is replaced with a PvE gamemode of players hunting turkeys before the time limit expires, also dealing with an infinite amount of Dark Elf Warriors. On the Last wave, players face the Mega Turkey boss. The DLC also adds 4 player costumes depending on what difficulty you finish it on.

Features

• New map
• New mode
• 4 new player costumes

Warping Core Challenge Mission Pack

The Warping Core Challenge Mission Pack is a DLC with 4 separate parts and a twist. The cores warp around the level! This pack is spread out across 4 different maps, each housing one separate part. Each part rewards a special item, also a fairy called Zamira The Enchantress for beating all of the levels. The strength of Zamira is dependent on the difficulty and is a one time reward. This DLC was released for the PC on Nov 23, 2011.

Parts

• Part 1 takes place in the castle armory and also rewards with the Gloves of Zamira
• Part 2 takes place in the Hall of Court and rewards with the Boots of Zamira
• Part 3 takes place in the Royal Gardens and rewards with the Cap of Zamira
• Part 4 takes place in the Endless Spires and rewards with the Vest of Zamira

New Heroes DLC and the Über Monster Fest

The New Heroes DLC adds the aforementioned Counterpart Heroes for free on November 23, 2011 for the PC. On December 1, 2011 the Über Monster Fest level was added to this DLC for free. The Level was an 8-player challenge that takes place on the Frostdale map to utilize the added players from the New Heroes DLC.

Halloween Spooktacular!

The Halloween Spooktacular! is a Halloween themed DLC based on a decorated version of the Ramparts map with tweaks to crystal placement, spawn timers, and more! This DLC also adds 4 new costumes for the original 4 character classes. This DLC was released on October 28, 2011 for free on the PC.

Features

• New map
• 4 new player costumes
• New "trick or treat" waves
• Adds 8 new weapons, 4 for beating on easy through hard, the other 4 four beating on insane and nightmare.

Etherian Holiday Extravaganza

Etherian Holiday Extravaganza is a Christmas themed DLC based on a decorated version of the Frostdale map, but with a twist. The players need to guard Santa's tavern and collect presents that periodically spawn in the central location. On the Last wave, players face the Mega Snowman boss. This DLC also includes 4 new player costumes for the 4 original characters. This DLC was released on December 19, 2011 on the PC for free.

Features

• New map
• 4 new player costumes
• New mode

President's Day Surprise

The President's Day Surprise is a President's Day-themed DLC containing a new Battle Royale challenge and much more! This DLC adds a new category of boxing glove weapons, two new pets based on the Democratic elephant and the Republican donkey, and 4 new unlockable player costumes based on Politicians. This DLC was released on February 20th, 2012 for the PC for free. The previously mentioned costumes are:

• Monk - The Prez Costume
• Squire - Mitt Costume
• Huntress - Michelle Costume
• Apprentice - George Washington Costume

Features

• New map
• New mode
• 4 new player costumes
• New category of weapns

The Barbarian, Series EV, Jester, and Summoner classes

Currently there are 12 player classes in Dungeon Defenders, but there were two locked classes on the PC version called the Barbarian and the Series EV. The Barbarian was sold as DLC. The Series EV character is DLC. In a video series of pre launch coverage the developers said that PC players would get a glimpse into the future of their planned DLC. More specifically this was after a few comments were made about the locked characters leading the devs to talk about the glimpse into the future the PC players would have.

There are also two more classes that were mysteriously hinted at in the Dungeon Defenders forums. These classes, the Jester and the Summoner, are each sold as DLC.

PC System Requirements

Minimum

• OS: WinXP / Vista / 7
• Processor: 1.5 GHz
• RAM Memory: 1 GB
• Graphics Card: 128 MB DirectX9 Shader Model 2 compatible graphics card or better
• DirectX®: DirectX9
• Hard Drive Space: 1 GB
• Sound Card: Windows compatible sound hardware