Admittedly, I am a D&D fanboy and a sucker for action RPGs. Those looking for a deep roleplaying experience should look elsewhere. Daggerdale is not that kind of game. It neither intends nor attempts to be that type of game. It's purely hack and slash. My only real hope for this game is that it will be the successor to Heroes, and after my initial foray, I am convinced that was indeed Bedlam's directive in developing Daggerdale.
From the character creation screen, it even feels like Heroes with the race and class offerings: Dwarven Cleric, Human Fighter, Elven Rogue and Halfling Wizard. There's little in the way of customizing the characters, but, like Heroes, you choose starting abilities and feats and then you're on your way.
Gameplay is also very similar to Heroes. Enemies swarm and you slice and dice your way through them. Yes, this kind of gameplay isn't for everyone, but for players like me, there's something very satisfying about a good, button-mashing slasher like this one. And, yes, there are plenty of barrels to bash and chests to open, yielding up gold, potions and other loot.
It's a very linear game that sets the heroes on the path to confront the villain Rezlus who is holed up in the Tower of the Void. To get to the tower characters must first help out some dwarves who are being overrun by goblins. Okay, so it's not the most compelling plot in the D&D universe, but it sets the wheels in motion. I went in fully expecting this, so I am not in the least bit disappointed. I just want some good co-op hack-and-slash fun.
Daggerdale is not without its occasional technical glitches. Players interact with doors and levers by walking up to them and pressing Y. Unfortunately, the objects are often not selected when the character nears them. Players must occasionally try a couple of times to select them and be able to interact.
The same goes for attacking enemies. I played single-player as a ranged fighter and found it sometimes difficult to target enemies for ranged attacks. Most of the time, however, enemies were auto-targeted, and I never had any problem mowing them down. Yes, the fighter has both ranged and melee attacks: Throwing axes and short sword. Players can also choose to give the fighter the Shield Bash ability for close encounters as well as Knee Breaker.
Mowing down hordes of goblins was a lot of fun.
Another glitch I saw was that two goblins remained on screen, frozen like statues, after I killed them. But none of the issues I encountered were showstoppers.
My biggest disappointment so far with the game is the lack spoken dialogue. You speak to a number of dwarf NPCs in the initial levels and, aside from some grunts, there's no real spoken dialogue; it's all scrolling text. Granted, the game is meant to be a small XBL download, so perhaps this was left out to minimize the footprint. Without speech it feels kind of empty. If the developers can do more to make this game a better experience, it's in the sound department.
Another disappointment is the lack of local four-player co-op. It's two-player local co-op, four players online. As my successor to Heroes, this is a small shortcoming. There was nothing more fun than getting four players together for some hack-and-slash mayhem in Heroes. That won't happen with Daggerdale, but at least we can join up online for a reasonable facsimile of that local chaos.
Daggerdale is expected to be a multi-chapter game released in installments, so there's plenty of room for future chapters to improve upon the initial episodes.
In spite of these shortcomings, I'm looking forward to playing Daggerdale with friends online. If you're a D&D fan and an action RPG lover, it would be difficult not to derive some enjoyment from the game. Although you can play Daggerdale single-player, as I just did to get a taste of what it has to offer, it's in multiplayer that the game will really shine. I'll post an update as soon as I've had the opportunity to jump into an online session.
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