History VideoGame / DungeonKeeper

** Horned Reapers (In [=DK1=]). [[LightningBruiser Incredibly fast, monstrously powerful]], and capable of reducing all but the mightiest of heroes to shreds, but he's so damn ''[[HairTriggerTemper touchy]]'' that he's every bit as likely to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn on you]], kill your other minions and start trashing your dungeon if you do anything, ''anything'' to annoy him. Since you can easily win without him, it's just not worth it, except maybe on the final level.

** Everything in the first game (except imps, who still will if the first thing they fight is an imp and other creatures join the fight without it noticing) will happily fight against odds where they could not possibly win. At least they retreat when the option -represented by a chicken- is checked.

** (After playing through until Stupid O'Clock in the morning) "Your nocturnal perseverence has unlocked a hidden gaming tip... ''GO TO BED!''"

** "Your dungeon is on an incline - angry creatures cannot play marbles!"

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Only present in the first game. Squat, reddish miltaristic and industrious humanoids. Most of all, utterly forgettable compared to the more 'iconic' monsters. Phased out in favour of the weak-but-plentiful Goblins and powerhouse Black Knights in 2.

* EvilCounterpart: In both games, but especially in the second many of your minions are this to the heroes, e.g. [[SquishyWizard Wizards]] and [[EvilSorcerer Warlocks]], [[KnightInShiningArmour Knights]] and {{Black Knight}}s, [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves and Dark Elves]], [[LoveableRogue Thieves]] and [[PsychoForHire Rogues]], etc. These can be forcibly recruited, but units ''hate'' having to bunk near their evil/good counterparts.

* OurElvesAreBetter: The ArcherArchetype Sylvan Elves like to think so, and relish joining the fight against your forces of darkness. Their Dark Elf cousins like [[ScrewYouElves cutting them down to size]] just as much.

* AntiPoopSocking: A whole series of comments, in the sequel.
--> "Your nocturnal perseverance has unlocked a hidden gaming tip: GO TO BED!"

* BadBoss: You can be this thanks to VideoGameCrueltyPotential, but it's unwise -- a slap here and there improves workplace productivity, but abusing your minions too much will cause them to desert you. Imps, however, are magical slaves who can never rebel, so they're fair game.

* BenevolentBoss: You're required to be this for all your minions except for the Imps.

** Horned Reapers in the first game.

* BigGood:
** The Avatar.
** King Reginald in the second game.

* CardCarryingVillain: The player, and all his little evil minions.

* CatchPhrase: "Beware, keeper".

-->"The very rock ''yawns'' in anticipation of your next ''[[SarcasmMode fascinating]]'' move."

* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Your end goal is to escape the Underworld and establish a rain of terror and misery over the land.

* ElectricTorture: One of several ways of torturing captured heroes in the second game.

* EvilMinions: Many and varied. You attract them by furnishing your dungeon with amenities they like, and keep them by providing them with food, money, and entertainment.

* MadeOfMagic: Imps. They're generated by the Dungeon Heart, sustained by {{Mana}}, and can be [[HumanResources cashed in]] for a quick hit of magic power in a pinch.

* MightyGlacier: Bile Demons, plain and simple. The Hero side has the Giant taking up this role.

* RealityEnsues: Be a BadBoss to your evil army? Then they'll refuse to work for you.

* SetAMookToKillAMook: The hero's don't like enemy keepers any more than they like you. hence, with good planning, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsSLobAtmZI&index=19&list=PL17FF40D9EAC9DA4B you can get them to destroy the enemy dungeon heart for you.]]

* SummonMagic: How you "recruit" Horny in the second game, after collecting all 4 pieces of the Talisman.

* SandboxMode: ''My Pet Dungeon'' Mode, in 2. Essentially a short series of lower-challenge dungeons where you have to achieve certain objectives in order to proceed. They include a 'toybox' of heroes that you can pull from whenever you wish, and you can also trigger hero invasions whenever you like for the purposes of testing your defenses. A little different from some sandbox modes in that you don't have infinite money or mana to work with (unless there's gem blocks on the map, at least).

*** HilariousInHindsight: Richard Ridings, the voice of the Mentor, is best known these days for his role in ''Peppa Pig''.

* TheJuggernaut: The Horned Reaper, in the second game. He does massive damage an can't be damaged by anything in return.

A pair of groundbreaking management games by Creator/BullfrogProductions which put the player in the role of a fantasy EvilOverlord responsible for constructing a dungeon, recruiting an army of monsters and seeing off [[TabletopRPG RPG]] style hero invasions.

In 2013, a mobile version of the game was released for [[IOSGames iOS]] and Android. It almost immediately became the subject of online rage due to its [[AllegedlyFreeGame requirement for extremely frequent in-game purchases]] to actually do anything.

%%* IndyEscape

%%* OurFairiesAreDifferent
%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent

%%* OurGoblinsAreDifferent
%%* OurMonstersAreDifferent:
%%* OurOrcsAreDifferent

* SpiritualSuccessor: Plenty, DK has a very unique and charming gameplay, it's fondly remembered by many gamers and it lacks an official sequel after the first one.
** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhOBVg2awB0 Dungeons]]'' by Kalypso[[note]]best known for ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}} 3''[[/note]], to a certain extent. While thematically similar to ''Dungeon Keeper'', the gameplay itself is more of a cross between the VideoGame/ThemePark series and TowerDefence games.
** [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subterraneangames/war-for-the-overworld War For The Overworld]], a similarily-styled game by Subterranean Games funded on {{Website/Kickstarter}}, is shaping up to be a true Dungeon Keeper sequel in all but name, even using the very same name as the third installment in the series would have had in it's title before it was cancelled. The original Dungeon Keeper developers have even shown their support for the project, and the narrator in the trailer is the very same person who was your mentor in both games.

* StoneWall: Dragons in the first game.

* TortureAlwaysWorks: Torturing heroes is a surefire way to boost your numbers or get accurate information about the map.

* AllegedlyFreeGame: The mobile/tablet reboot game is being held up as one of the very worst examples of Allegedly Free on the market -- so bad the the UK's Advertising Standards Agency ruled that EA ''could not legally call it a free game''. Minions take up to 24 real-time hours to excavate a single map tile unless spend in-game gems to speed the process; your starting gems are enough for maybe two tiles, and past that, they cost around 1 UK pound per tile's worth.
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: These ones are mediocre combatants, but fantastic at ItemCrafting in the workshop, especially at high level.

** The first game's method of trap and door production is horrendous and unpredictable. The sequel massively remedies this, along with other complaints.

** [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Dark Angels]] in DK 2. Again, they're [[LightningBruiser fast and powerful]], with an arsenal of deadly and destructive spells at their disposal, but they only appear when you build a 5 by 5 temple, which is ''incredibly'' expensive, and what's more it only summons two of 'em. You need to build ''more'' incredibly expensive temples to get any more. Also, the temple's large water pool has a tendency to trap imps and other creatures which regularly traffic through the area. It seems they are 'pushed in' when there are too many people around.

** Wizards and Warlocks are ineffectual and squishy at Level 1. They are amazingly powerful ranged support units once they reach the later levels.
** Vampires. Very good researchers, excellent combat units due to spells and good melee, easy to create (you just need corpses) and will resuscitate one level lower when killed ... excepted when they meet Monks. There's a reason the graveyard building is so expensive. You just need to train them properly.

->''Evil Is Good''

* AllThereInTheManual: The Prima guides contain a lot of the establishing fiction and monster characterization.

* AllegedlyFreeGame: The mobile/tablet reboot game is being held up as one of the very worst, most decadent examples of Allegedly Free on the market. After loading up your first map, the first thing you will do is click on a block tile, and be told you must wait for your minions to dig it out. This takes up to ''twenty four real-time hours!'' Oh, but you can spend in-game gems to clear out block faster, until you realize your 400 starting gems will clear out maybe two blocks before you have to spend about four US dollars or three UK pounds for 500 more gems.
** In fact, it was so bad that the UK's Advertising Standards Agency ruled that EA ''could not legally call it a free game.''
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: These ones are mediocre combatants, but fantastic in the workshop, especially at high level.

** The Lord of the Land is always the strongest hero, and the Avatar is even tougher.
** The Princes and King Reginald are even worse than the Avatar.

* BadBoss:
** This is discouraged. If you do not pay your minion enough, or just be cruel to them and they will desert you. Considering how limited your minions' numbers are, this is a very bad thing.
** Imps are your magical slaves and which will never rebel. You can slap them to make them work harder.
** The Dark Mistress likes being slapped and tortured. In fact, she won't even show up if you don't have a good enough torture chamber.

* BerserkButton: The Horned Reaper in the second game hates chickens... Well, slightly more than he hates everything else, at any rate.

* BigBad: You. Yes, ''YOU''.

* BlackKnight: A simple but powerful troop. But he's more of a...

* BoobyTrap: Poison Gas, Spikes, Electricity, [[IndyEscape Giant Rolling Boulders of Doom]], and more.

** Played with in the second game. Wooden bridges will burn down when placed on lava, but stone bridges are just fine.

** IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: When the Dungeon Keeper has had his way with the territory, the names tell you straight out that they're places for any decent person to avoid. Not that there will be very many decent people left alive after all's said and done...
* DefogOfWar: Torturing an enemy has a chance of revealing part of the map.
* DemBones: Skeletons.

* {{Dominatrix}}: The Dark Mistresses are an entire species of this.

* DungeonMaintenance: ''The entire point of the game.''
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Your end goal.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]], as the game finally answers the age-old question "Who builds these dungeons?"

* EvilCounterpart: In both games, but especially in the second many of your minions are this to the heroes, e.g. [[SquishyWizard Wizards]] and [[EvilSorcerer Warlocks]], [[KnightInShiningArmour Knights]] and {{Black Knight}}s, [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves and Dark Elves]], [[LoveableRogue Thieves]] and [[PsychoForHire Rogues]], etc.
* EvilFeelsGood: Right there in the {{tagline}} : "It's good to be bad"

* EvilMinions
* EvilOverlord

* {{Expy}}: The final boss of the first game is [[VideoGame/{{Ultima}} The Avatar]]. Well, not ''[[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender that]]'' Avatar or ''[[Film/{{Avatar}} those]]'' Avatars.

* {{Fartillery}}: A Bile Demon's main form of attack.

* FixingTheGame: In the second game, the keeper can rig the casino or make it fair. A jackpot is a sight to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z4sfjGfQxY behold]].

* GladiatorGames / TrainingFromHell: In the second game, you can build a "Combat Pit" which is essentially a spiky arena. Putting creatures in it (any creature) will make them fight to unconsciousness. The good side is that it trains the creatures who fight (up to level 8), attracts Black Knights (your strongest melee unit) and provides amusement for the ones who do not fight (and for the player, if he is so inclined). The bad side is that a creature KO'd in the arena will appear unconscious next to it, and if an [[WorkerUnit Imp]] does not pick it up and brings it back to its lair, it will die. [[EvilOverlord Ironically]], you will probably be forced to care for your creatures by magically healing them or summoning imps to administer triage.
* GlassCannon: Wizards and Warlocks. Mistresses in the sequel.

* HairTriggerTemper: How can you piss off the Horned Reaper? Let's count the ways...
** Not paying him on time.
** Forcing him to mix with your converted knights.
** Forcing him to mix with your other converted heroes.
** Forcing him to mix with ''any'' of your other minions - even other Reapers... ''[[EspeciallyZoidberg Especially]]'' other Reapers, actually.
** Slapping him.
** Picking him up.
** Holding him in the Hand of Evil.
** Dropping him.
** Make him go hungry.
** Force him to waste his valuable time looking for something to eat.
** Trying to make him toil in the workshop.
** Trying to make him research.
** Trying to make him train.
** [[MortonsFork Leaving him with nothing to do]].
** In short, doing *anything* except fighting, praying, and sleeping makes the Horned Reaper angry. On the other side, give him something hostile to fight [[BloodKnight and he'll instantly leap to maximum mood]].

* InstantWinCondition: Killing a keeper means killing off their dungeon heart; it doesn't matter how awesome his dungeon or how numerous or deadly his creatures is as long as it falls.

* KillerGameMaster: The player is pretty much obliged to act this way towards adventurers, as throwing the toughest monsters and deadliest traps possible at them is the quickest way to victory.
* KnightInShiningArmor: The Knight, naturally. Then there's the Black Knight, whose armour is rather dull, and fights for you.

* LightningBruiser: Horned Reapers and high-level Orcs in the first game.

* {{Mooks}}: Played with:
** Your minions aren't that expendable, and once they get trained up it's a good idea to keep them alive.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: And, aptly named, the Dark Angel is ''evil''.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Especially the Bile Demons. Ick!
%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent
%%* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame
* OurElvesAreBetter: Still ponces though.

* RightUnderTheirNoses: A level in the sequel requires the Keeper to defeat a vastly superior enemy by stealing his fortress, one room and lone guardsman at a time.

* SetSwordsToStun: How you capture enemy creatures and heroes -- in the first one, you have to explicitly tell your minions to stun rather than kill, while in the second it's automatically set this way for you.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Guess where. Hint: you're the bad guy, and not one of these anti-villain softies.

* SquishyWizard: Warlocks, as well as heroic Wizards.
* StealthBasedMission: "Creep" in the second game requires you to capture rooms in a hero-controlled fortress and hide them from the enemy with hidden doors. Being spotted early on is lethal as the heroes are numerous and high-level.
** "Interception" in the second game has you capturing three Princes. If any of them spot an enemy they'll run for the nearest portal and alert their brothers to also flee. Preventing this requires careful minion and room management until the portals have been neutralized.

* ThemedCursor: Your pointer is pretty much your own ungodly hand, which you can use to pick up and drop stuff, throw things, pet, slap. Infact, it can possess said creatures and become their minds. The Dungeon Keeper series example would be one of the most extreme examples of this trope.

* TortureAlwaysWorks: Torturing heroes is a surefire way to boost your numbers.

* VillainOverride: You can assume direct control of a minion through magic. This tends to make them much tougher and stronger, due to casting multiple spells and being able to side-step enemy attacks.
** This is required in one of the bonus levels in the first game, as it's the only way to navigate the large enemy maze.

* VocalDissonance: Keepers are the dark lords of the underworld, combining ruthless strategy with managing the forces of darkness to combat both the forces of good and other Keepers. Think of a voice that suits such a being. Now discard it, as other Keepers in the first game sound like hamsters that treat helium like water.
* WeHaveReserves: Unlike in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' (which is Dungeon Keeper meets James Bond), minions are not exactly expendable, because they come in limited numbers. You'd best train them well and not send them to a pointless death. Feel free however, to send your own converted good guys to death at the hand of the forces of good. Why? [[ComedicSociopathy Because it's funny and ironic!]]

->''It's Good To Be Bad''

* WakeUpCallBoss: Level 10, Nevergrim. Up until now you could complete any level by taking your sweet time and attacking when ready. Not so here. Both Keepers find themselves on islands without any walls or corridors, and the rival Keeper is ''very'' fast to build up and attack you with an overwhelming force -- meaning that you'll be steamrolled unless you plan things out quickly and effectively.

* BreadAndCircuses: You will have to do this in order to successfully keep your (non-skeleton) army. Yes, you may be [[CardCarryingVillain EEEVIL]], but it's not a reason to treat your Mooks like dirt. You will have to provide at least decent payment, enough food and lodging, as well at having at least the most basic care about their happiness, else they will leave you forever and you will lose the money invested in their salary and training. Hopefully, most creatures are not too difficult. It's all PragmaticVillainy though : after all, [[Literature/TheArtofWar treat your soldiers as you treat your most beloved sons, and they will follow you into the deepest valley]].

* BadBoss: Disrespect your minions, do not pay them enough, or just be cruel to them and they will desert you. Considering how limited your minions' numbers are, this is a very bad thing.
** Then there's imps, which are your magical slaves and which will never rebel. You can slap them to make them work harder.

* BreadAndCircuses: You will have to do this in order to successfully keep your (non-skeleton) army. Yes, you may be [[CardCarryingVillain EEEVIL]], but it's not a reason to treat your Mooks like dirt. You will have to provide at least decent payment, enough food and lodging, as well at having at least the most basic care about their happiness, else they will leave you forever and you will lose the money invested in their salary and training. Hopefully, most creatures are not too difficult. It's all PragmaticVillainy though : after all, [[TheArtofWar treat your soldiers as you treat your most beloved sons, and they will follow you into the deepest valley]].

* BadBoss:
** It's up to the player, but it is one of the most stupid things to do in the game. Disrespect your minions, do not pay them enough, or just be cruel to them and they will desert you. Considering how limited your minions' numbers are, this is a very bad thing.
** Played straight with imps, which are your magical slaves and which will never rebel. You can slap them to make them work harder.

* EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily: Solidly averted. Other Keepers may gather in an alliance occasionally, but every single one is trying to conquer the world. They will crush each other if given the chance.
** Minions also avert the trope. Most minions will have a species that they despise and vice-versa. There will be constant homicide attempts if they're forced to mingle.

* KnightInShiningArmor: The Knight, naturally. Subverted with the Black Knight, whose armour is rather dull, and fights for you.

* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: In the first game, humans are a minority among other mammals as well as insectoids and reptiles. This is inverted in the sequel, where most of the creatures are humanoids.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism : Guess where. Hint : you're the bad guy, and not one of these anti-villain softies.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness : Way down the silly end. EvilIsCool, after all.

* VillainOverride: You can assume direct control of a minion through magic. This tends to make them much tougher and stronger in addition to them obeying your commands, due to casting multiple spells and being able to side-step enemy attacks.

* WeHaveReserves:
** Nope. Unlike in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' (which is Dungeon Keeper meets James Bond), minions are not exactly expendable, because they come in limited numbers. You'd best train them well and not send them to a pointless death.
** Feel free however, to send your own converted good guys to death at the hand of the forces of good. Why? [[ComedicSociopathy Because it's funny and ironic!]]
** Played straight with imps, goblins, skeletons, and to a lesser extent vampires, that can be used as CannonFodder without too much fuss.

* WishingWell: Subverted: when sacrificing gold in the temple in single-player, one would receive "This is no wishing well, Keeper" as a response.

** [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subterraneangames/war-for-the-overworld War For The Overworld]], a similarily-styled game by Subterranean Games funded on KickStarter, is shaping up to be a true Dungeon Keeper sequel in all but name, even using the very same name as the third installment in the series would have had in it's title before it was cancelled. The original Dungeon Keeper developers have even shown their support for the project, and the narrator in the trailer is the very same person who was your mentor in both games.