The Absolute Evil and its trusted *cough* servant, the Dark Elf Thalya, return in Dungeons 4 after the events of its fabulous predecessor to bring about their triumph over the forces of good once more.
At the heart of the gameplay, players construct and manage an expansive underground lair. The game allows players to pre-plan room layouts before acquiring the necessary resources, enabling more strategic placement of facilities and traps. Additionally, the scale of dungeons has significantly increased, permitting the creation of truly massive subterranean complexes.
Complementing the dungeon-building, the game features a real-time strategy (RTS) component in the Overworld. Here, players deploy their evil minions to capture territory, defeat heroes, and compete against other factions. Balancing the attention between the underground lair and the external military campaigns requires careful resource management and tactical decisions.
The game offers a wide variety of creatures divided into three main factions: Horde, Undead, and Demons. Each faction boasts unique units, abilities, and synergies. As players progress, they can unlock new tiers of these faction-specific units, granting access to increasingly powerful and specialized creatures. This allows players to focus on building up a single faction or mix-and-match units to suit their preferred playstyle.
The protagonist, Thalya, now has a perk system that grants a variety of customizable abilities and upgrades. Combined with the faction-specific unit progression, this provides players with the ability to tailor their approach to different mission objectives. The game's campaign also features various challenges and side objectives that reward players with additional perks and bonuses, further enhancing the sense of progression and player agency.
While maintaining a lighthearted and humorous tone, the game offers a surprising level of tactical depth. The intricate balance between dungeon management and Overworld combat requires players to constantly prioritize their resources and attention. Carefully constructed traps, unit compositions, and strategic deployments are crucial to overcoming the game's challenges, particularly in the later stages of the campaign. This blend of addictive dungeon building, Overworld conquest, and strategic unit management creates a compelling and replayable experience for fans of the genre.