I guess I need to finally put out the torch I’ve kept burning for the Dungeon Keeper franchise. Electronic Arts announced last week that they’ll be releasing an MMO in Asia built by a Chinese developer using the Dungeon Keeper intellectual property. Of course this doesn’t preclude them from creating a new console or PC title in the series, but I think it tells me that the old pair of evil-is-good games has been relegated to the dustbin of gaming history. In June of 2009 it will have been a full ten years since Dungeon Keeper 2 appeared.

So what’s come out since then that’s similar? The remnants of Bullfrog formed Mucky Foot and managed to get Startopia (metacritic link) out the door and as a sci-fi clone of DK2, right down to the sliding message bar at the side of the screen even I’ll admit it was missing something important (in addition to documentation) to give it that addictive bit. Another game to check out would be Elixir Studios’ Evil Genius. And while the latter is the newer game, you can get Startopia at GoGamer.

Announcement seen on Kotaku.

See also:
DK2 Wikipedia entry
I May Never Be Horny Again