Dungeon Hero - Preview @ CVG

Computerandvideogames.com has posted a preview for Gamecock's and Firefly's atypical action RPG outing, Dungeon Hero, and takes a look at some of the framework and gameplay:

Dungeon Hero is about what a dungeon would actually be like. Not just having a room where demons can punch posts to level up their attack rating - as in Dungeon Keeper - but a convincing simulation of the grubby existences these subterranean minions would live...

But you don't play some middle-management overlord, requisitioning funds for the fungal cheese harvest. You're the enemy, barging into this society and messing everything up.

Along with the dungeon realism is an emphasis on combat:

Believe it or not, obsessive modelling of goblin life isn't the most exciting thing about Dungeon Hero. What really impressed me about the early demo was the combat. Firefly call it an 'action RPG', but it's very light on the latter: levelling up is limited to learning new moves, and you don't gain new weapons or armour from fallen foes.

"When you kill them," explains lead designer Andrew Parsons, "you don't pick up a nice little bag of gold and some broccoli. And you wouldn't want to pick up their armour, because it's crap. It barely protects them." At heart this is a fighting game, and it's shaping up to be a vicious one.

Dungeon Hero is about the realities of combat: if an enemy's standing on your toes, you simply don't have room to swing a two-metre length of steel. If he's three metres away, no amount of special move fanciness is going to hit him. If enemies surround you, they won't take turns, they'll skewer you from all sides at once.