My favourite ability is the summoning of the Fire Jackal, a cute black mutt with orange markings that automatically attacks the heels of enemies in the nearby area. He’s a life saver when it comes to larger foes and powerful bosses, but if there’s no bad guys around he’ll get a bit thick and wander off in the opposite direction. Would be nice if he followed you like a good jackal.
The design and graphics within the Gunderic Manor only prove to increase my enthusiasm over the style that Obsidian is going for with
Dungeon Siege III. It’s dark and gothic, but there are significant highlights of vibrant colour. Green lanterns help brighten a dull room, while underground vaults are decorated with blue hues against the bursts of colour that take place when you’re in the middle of an intense battle.
In a way, that presence of lighting and colour really adds to the old-school feeling here. But the gameplay is where you’ll notice it the most - besides the
Fable-inspired breadcrumb trail, everything feels exactly as a top-down dungeon crawler should. Even, it has to be said, down to the hack-and-slash nature of battle. Spam the attack button, run around a bit to avoid being hit and repeat until completion seems to be the nature of play here.
Having said that there are some interesting larger enemies later on in the mansion, including a massive lava-looking beast called the Mire Hulk Horror that walks slowly but can ground pound you to certain death. And let’s not forget the inevitable fight with the big man himself - Lord Gunderic, who’s all too happy to raise hordes of skeleton dudes from the dead to overwhelm you. The cheap bastard.
About 45 minutes after playing through the Manor will lead you to the aim of the quest - to fulfil Alise Gunderic’s request and discover a strange artefact called the Heart of Nagog which is keeping her spirit trapped in the human world. You get the chance to either destroy it and set her free, or leave it and ignore her plea for help. I’m told that whatever you do in these situations will have consequences that will come back to haunt me in future quests. Guess what I did? I totally destroyed it, didn’t I? What a rebel I am.
I left the Manor feeling pretty proud of what my partner and I had accomplished in the past hour. I took back a Legion stronghold, kicked a hardnut’s arse, and destroyed an artefact that’s almost certainly priceless. Oh, and I saw Leona (the Russian-sounding Lescanzi-turned-apparent-defector who occasionally appears to help you) and told her she couldn’t have the Manor. Because I don’t like her. Yeah. Anjali’s a bitch.
So an entertaining co-op session in
Dungeon Siege III then - feels like nostalgia, and plays just as much with enough presentation clout to make it seem fresh. I wonder if the gameplay will remain consistently entertaining or if the hack-and-slash nature of play will get tedious after too long.
Obsidian certainly has to be careful about striking the perfect balance between old-school gameplay whilst introducing modern elements that don’t ruin the experience, but so far it seems that it’s definitely on to a good thing.
