Dungeon Defenders: Awakened

GO PLAY DD1 STILL GETS SUPPORT https://store.steampowered.com/app/65800/Dungeon_Defenders?snr=1_5_9__18

I've played DD1, DD2 and now DD:A. In all honesty, I will continue to play it after writing this review, because me and the two friends I'm playing it with have finally committed to a purchase of a coop game to sink time into together. So why the thumbs down? 👇 I'm sad to say that the game just doesn't deliver according to expectations. It was hard to pinpoint at first what "feels off" about it, because in its core state it is basically a remaster of DD1 with some old maps, some new maps, the original heroes with minor changes, and a few new heroes. It SHOULD feel like just an improvement of DD1 all around, but it doesn't. I am about halfway through the campaign, so I can only address early and midgame content, but the "content" is not the issue. The game's main pain points are the following: ### Bugs. Bugs everywhere 🕷 ### It feels like a game that was given up on long ago. There are so many bugs - obvious ones that catches everyone's eyes, bugs that were reported years ago on various forums and review sites, but still persist. I'm not going to detail all of them, but just give a few examples so you know what state of game to expect: - Game joiners (eg. my two friends when I'm the one hosting) see a lot of placeholders and missing features, such as "INSERT PLAYER NAME HERE" (yes, that text and not the player's actual name) on top of the rewards chest given between each wave. Consistently, every game, every wave. Also, the joiners are unable to view dropped items on the map. For me (the host) these are represented my small circles in gray-green-blue-purple etc. on the map depending on item rarity, but there is no such feature for the joiners. These are BIG visual bugs that just SHOULD NOT survive till release, let alone years after. So I guess that paints a fitting image. - In your hero stats page there is a section at the bottom that is supposed to do SOMETHING (?) about the amount of set item bonuses you have equipped. You can click a left or right button next to every line, which does nothing (?) but break the counter so it shows (0/-255) and will subtract -0 gold from you every time you click. Like wth is that? - In Settings there is a feature to set an automatic item loot filter. Except that it does nothing. You can create a "new filter", but you can't do anything with it. No settings, adjustments, UI, buttons, nothing at all. You just spawned a line of text is all. Like wth is that? - You can set Transmogs for your equipment and the base crystal. But for some reason the base crystal transmog does not apply before the Act 3 Map 2 (?). Also, I don't see how I can deselect a transmog again. I clicked a transmog for my weapon, but I cannot deselect it again? So I'm stuck with this now. ### Balancing issues ⚖ ### This is the big one, and I believe it is the primary reason why the games doesn't feel right at all. Good game balancing is about making sure that the game is always challenging the players, that they actually have to make an effort, and when they do make the right amount of effort and execute adequate tactics, are rewarded accordingly. DISCLAIMER: We have not been boosted, we have not been granted access to equipment that are over our general power level, we have followed the game's campaign chronologically and nothing more. - We're playing on the highest difficulty available (which is Hard until you complete the campaign and unlock more difficulties), and the game is so stale, slow and unchallenging. You can add two additional difficulty modifiers "Hardcore" and "Rifted". The game is still too passive and easy with these on, EXCEPT for boss levels (the final map in each campaign arc). A Rifted boss is impossible to beat if you're not getting boosted and are just chronologically playing through the game as it is intended. For example the Goblin Shredder boss at the end of Act 2 - we easily cleared all waves before the boss without batting an eye, and then a purple monster with 15.5 million hp spawns that one-shots you and each and every piece of your defenses. For comparisson, a regular rifted wave enemy on this map has around 10k hp. So we facerolled all the minion waves without batting an eye, but we didn't even take 5% of the boss's hp before he had destroyed the entire map. How's that for balancing? So we had to replay the map on hard with Rifted NOT enabled, which made the waves boringly easy, and then we get the Goblin Shredder boss that was actually somewhat challenging. He didn't get to destroy a single piece of defense though, but thus far he is the only enemy that has actually reached a piece of defense, so I guess that counts for something. - Other than that, the entire Act 2 is stupidly easy to clear BECAUSE every player is given a mandatory 1st pet by clearing Act 1. And this pet passively dishes out about 4k AoE dps. So you don't even need defenses, or need to attack, throughout all of Act 2. You just run around the map and the pet instantly kills everything that comes into sight. How's that for balancing? - The base crystal's hp is off. There is a small chance that the big ogre monsters that occasionally throw balls of snot, will just randomly hit your base crystal and destroy it. These projectiles have no max range, and can just randomly hit your base crystal from accross the map, and there's nothing you can do about it but accept that you'll lose like 1-5% of your games due to this. - I don't understand why, and neither do other people on the interwebs, but the weapon type Staff just inherently has 10x the dps of any other weapon type. And again this was reported forever ago and is still unaddressed. ### Summary 5/10 ### The issues that plague this game are numerous, obvious, and occasionally game-breaking. The game is basically in an early alpha state where you would expect these issues to be taken care of within the coming months, but then take a look at the game's release date. The main issue with the game is balancing. Every enemy in the game is either at 0.1% or 10000% of the toughness level you would expect. Nothing will reach your defenses (early-mid game), and if it does, it is because you encountered something you have no chance against. If you're contemplating whether you should get DD1 or DD:A, go for DD1. It still holds up great today and does not have all of the issues mentioned above.

5/10 its ok... nothing NEW to keep me around. dont want to grind everything out all over again - no local co-op like the others. this means you cant play single player local co-op and set up everything as the summoner well playing as another class on the other side of the screen for twice the XP just dont see myself playing this over Dungeon Defenders 1 or 2 go buy the 1st one parts of the game that feel watered down and worse

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is everything I hoped it would be. The moment I fought the Dragon boss again, the nostalgia hit me like a truck. It brought me right back to the days of playing the original Dungeon Defenders, and it reminded me why I fell in love with this series in the first place. The gameplay stays true to the original while adding enough improvements to make it feel fresh. Building defenses, swapping heroes, and surviving those intense waves still feels just as satisfying as it did years ago. I know the game hasn't had the smoothest journey, but I genuinely hope it succeeds because I love the vision behind it. You can tell the developers wanted to capture what made the original special instead of trying to turn it into something completely different. If you're a longtime Dungeon Defenders fan, this is absolutely worth playing. And if you're new to the series, it's a great place to experience why so many of us have such fond memories of it. I really hope this game continues to grow. It deserves a passionate community, and I'd love to see the vision fully realized.

better than it's reputation, and the new community team is working hard!

For $20 this game is amazing. Hunderds of hours, no micros, weekly Thursday updates, tons and tons of loot.

There is no shop in game I REPEAT THERE. IS. NO. SHOP. plus the clunkyness of the game, the slow pace of incoming waves. After 2 hours i was just disappointed. Anyway, thanks steam for refunding me for the game

It's nice, maybe not on the same tier at the original but also fun and unique in its own way, no need to be an exact copy of the og anyways lol