This free Steam tycoon prologue isn’t quite Dungeon Keeper, but I’m not complaining

Well, would you look at that! I just got done pining for the merest whiff of Dungeon Keeper when what should appear on Steam but a free prologue for delightful voxel-arty management sim Dungeon Tycoon. I’m using the word ‘appear’ because, following yet more industry layoffs yesterday, I’m choosing to adopt the brain of an idiot as to shield myself from the crushing reality of material conditions. So, anyway, the magical game goblins whacked the demo on Steam, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. Thanks, adequately compensated and unionised gobbos!

Admittedly, the similarities to the Bullfrog classic do more or less end with the construction and theming. Here, it’s all about showing the heroes that visit your dungeon a rip roarin’, loot haulin’, exp-gettinin’ time. It’s closer to a traditional park manager, really. You charge an entrance fee to your dungeon, and try to please your visitors. This earns you prestige, which means better dungeon gubbins, and so on. After my first day, I get complaints like “not enough monsters to kill” and “horrible loot!,” which makes me feel more like a beleaguered MMO dev than an evil overlord.

You can still kill the heroes, and you'll actually want to do this sometimes to gain souls, which can be spent on certain researchables, among other things. Otherwise, it’s about finding the balance between keeping the vistors challenged, but also adequately buffed with totems, potions, and the like. You can view a given hero’s specific praise and grumbles at any time. “Fair health potion prices!” one declares, upon which I immediately jack up prices. They also love loot, although paradoxically, you actually gain money when a hero opens a chest. They also leave Yelp reviews for you after they’ve been skewered to death on a spike trap, so I’ll suspend my disbelief.

I guess my big criticism here is there’s no real management to do during the actual days, so you just have watch the heroes at pleasehurryup times speed until they’re done. Still, there’s a chunky rhythm to the build/start day cycle, and I found myself very quickly planning out my next addition, whether that be a new monster or a frankly offensive amount of traps for a single room. As I said, it’s not Dungeon Keeper, but you do keep a dungeon. Also, I just realised the publisher is actually named “Goblinz”. I knew it!