1 person found this review helpful
Recommended
19.0 hrs last two weeks / 520.1 hrs on record (68.5 hrs at review time)
Posted: 19 May, 2022 @ 12:31pm
Updated: 19 May, 2022 @ 12:44pm

Early Access Review
Okay I'll start this off with saying that I played a LOT of the original DD1 on PS3 way back when.
I've similarly played quite a decent amount of DD1 on Steam (~600 hours), however I didn't play much DD2, and I backed DDA on Kickstarter because I do genuinely enjoy these games, and I think Chromatic have done pretty well with transparency and otherwise general open-ness of the updates, changes, and general happenings of their studio and the progress of their newer games.
As for this, DDGR, I will admit that it feels like it could've been just an additional game-mode for DDA. HOWEVER, I've been having a lot of fun. Roguelites/Roguelikes are some of my favourite genres of games, and this definitely doesn't disappoint.
As other reviews have said, picking this up in the DDA bundle I ended up getting this for somewhere between $10-11 AUD (~$7 USD), and depending on how you value your money & time in regards to gaming, I think this has so far been a very worthwhile investment relative to my enjoyment of the game.

It plays different to any of the previous Dundef games, what with it seemingly being intended to be faster paced games.
The 4 main characters - Squire, Huntress, Apprentice, and Monk - all come from the original, with refinements from Awakened. Whether this is inherently "good" or "bad" depends on your perspective. I think they did pretty well adapting these characters to the Roguelite format/playstyle. As I mentioned previously, I haven't played much of DD2, so the Warden was a weird welcome when they first brough it into DDA, and subsequently this. I'd say it's somewhat of a hybrid between Squire & Monk, but the characters do have elements of one another, so take that with a grain of salt.
The changes to the towers in regards to making them temporary/cooldown-style is definitely somewhat annoying at first, weird feeling over time, and even now I still sometimes forget towers don't last too long (without runes/talent upgrades), and yet the waves/pulses are quicker to accommodate. Some towers feel a bit weaker than they should, and there have, over the updates since release, been some changes to some of them (Magic Missile now having 360 degree aim, as an example). Adding in the fact that you're limited to "only" 2 towers you can use at any given time, it's for sure a different playstyle, and I'm sure not everybody looking at this will appreciate that sort of change.

If you'd like a little different of a play style than the previous games, I would say give it a shot, and of course if you're not fond of it, you're free to put through a refund request (Following Steam's requirements and whatnot) - however, I do think it's worth at least trying, assuming you're a fan of the franchise.
It's a weird-feeling mixture of elements of the previous games, but it, to me, is a welcome addition to the Dungeon Defenders franchise.
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