Is Dungeon Defenders: Awakened Worth Playing in 2023?

Build, loot, and grind in this action RPG remake! Is Dungeon Defenders: Awakened Worth Playing in 2023?

Background

I’m very familiar with the saga of the Dungeon Defenders franchise, though I am less than impressed with the route it has taken. I was a big fan of the first title, and spent many fun hours grinding on the Ramparts.

Dungeon Defenders (original) was the high point of the series. The franchise would go steeply downhill when they released Dungeon Defenders Eternity, a bad port-back of the mobile version. I passed on that trash fire but did unfortunately try Dungeon Defenders 2, which had fully embraced microtransactions. DD2 would never recapture the spirit of the original and it appeared that the franchise was dead.

However, in a move surprising no one in this industry full of rehashes and remakes, we would see the original title again. Dungeon Defenders Awakened dropped in 2020 and recently got a limited print through Super Rare Games. I’m not sure why this of all titles suddenly got a physical cartridge. I suspect that the rights must have been cheap. Dungeon Defenders: Awakened appears to have been coolly received, and after playing the Switch version I can see why.

Don’t expect any new content, because the developer seems to have moved on. Their current project has eschewed the tower defense elements to focus on a hero action game in Dungeon Defenders: Going Rogue. In the meantime, apparently the original Dungeon Defenders is getting updates in 2023.

What does Dungeon Defenders: Awakened do well?

We see it a lot in the game industry: developers will throw disparate design elements together and see what comes out. Luckily, the Dungeon Defenders formula is a great example of when the fusion is greater than the sum of its parts.

What could Dungeon Defenders: Awakened do better?

Unfortunately, the experience on Switch can best be described as awkward. Controls, inventory management, and what I can only assume were some occasional bugs hamper the experience. The game is cumbersome at best, and the thrill of blazing through waves of enemies is dulled by the frustration of navigating menus. This game fits comfortably into the category of “games where I’m not sure they actually played it themselves, because they couldn’t have been comfortable with the finished product.

Then again, there’s a strong argument that they never played the game at all considering they didn’t even format the text correctly on the hero creation screen.

Was Dungeon Defenders: Awakened fun?

The core gameplay is great, it’s just held back by weak implementation.

Is Dungeon Defenders: Awakened good value?

There is quite a lot to do. You can safely ignore the DLC: it’s just costumes. It does have a steep price at 29.99; if you must play this on the Switch, I would wait for a sale.

Who is this game for?

This game strikes an uncommon balance between tower defense and action RPG gameplay, with a decent loot treadmill. I’m not aware of any games that scratch this particular itch; the closest might be the shooter/tower defense Sanctum series, but we haven’t seen anything from them since 2013.

If you like tower defense or looter shooters then you should check out the original game.

Is Dungeon Defenders: Awakened Worth Playing in 2023?

This is a more expensive, less polished version of a better game. Play the original instead.

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