Dungeon Siege

Total AnnihiDiablo

Although it was announced some time ago, not much was known about Dungeon Siege, developed for Microsoft by Chris Taylor's new company, Gas Powered Games. Chris Taylor as you might remember, was the driving force behind the RTS phenomenon Total Annihilation. With Dungeon Siege, Taylor applies his RTS expertise to the action-RPG genre. We expect Taylor to make a real impact with Dungeon Siege, using the same over the top style that made Total Annihilation so popular.

Getting crowded here

Step aside, bones

SiN could learn a thing or two…

The first thing we liked about Dungeon Siege is that it takes place in a huge, but continuous world. Taylor stressed the importance of the fact that Dungeon Siege will have no loading screens once the game is started. You'll get a true, seamless transition from the regular world to underground caves and dungeons. Even as you descend staircases within a dungeon, the camera follows you there - you'll get no break in the action as you fight it out even on the stairwells to the lower levels. No loading screens means no rest for the player and most importantly, no break in the action.

Let's dive in

That rock golem blocks the bridge

Controlled Chaos

You start out as a young lad whose farm has been over-run by orcs. Most grievously, they've killed your cow! The player ventures into the world and eventually runs into other potential party members. These could include warriors, spellcasters, and archers. Dungeon Siege will allow up to 10 people to join your party. Hey, the more the merrier, right? Gas Powered Games' vision is to have several party members on screen, attacking, firing, spell casting, as dozens of monsters try to stop your group from advancing. In short - complete and utter chaos and mayhem, as things start blowing up on screen. Sounds kind of like a certain RTS game that we all know about…

Looks mean

Fight up and down stairs!

Everything about Dungeon Siege is completely 3D - the characters, the world, the monsters - even the arrows fired from bows. They'll bounce and break if they hit a wall or stick into monsters like a pincushion. Nothing beats the sight of a couple of monsters walking around with flaming arrows poking out of them like so many large birthday candles.

That's a melee

Dazzling spell effects

"Breaking rules"

Like Mechwarrior 4, Dungeon Siege is still in the early stages of development, but Taylor's brash, irreverent style is already apparent in the game. There are a lot of aspects that you just don't see in a lot of other action RPGs. For one, the interface screen acts like windows in that it's very customizable (move mini maps, character windows around the screen). Another neat feature is that you can buy items from shopkeepers and try them on at the store - if you don't like how it affects your character you can return it and get all your money back. No more buyer's remorse! Here's another feature that brought a smile to my face - no more having to drink all of a healing potion when you didn't need to. Your character will only drink the fraction that he needs, and the rest can be saved! Pour and aggregate all the half potions you have lying around if you need to. Finally - a solution to the problem of not enough inventory space for all the treasure you find. Bring a pack mule along with you (yes, a donkey) to carry your stuff! It's that kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will make Dungeon Siege stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

Sketch of the pack mule

Expected Release: 2001