Dungeon Siege (2002)

Dungeon Siege is so much fun. It is a simple concept, hack and slash, collect loot and make your abilities stronger, you know, the standard stuff. Travel forward, murder everything that is not human and become the strongest farmer ever known to mankind.

The story in Dungeon Siege is pretty basic (save the kingdom, be the hero) but good enough to get you going. Although basic, there are many lore books that you can find throughout your journeys that tell tales about certain places, monsters, or heroes from the past.

The graphics, sound and music are epic for the period and the gives the game its unique feel. The glorious soundtrack at the beginning of the game gives you all the motivation you need to press forward. The animations are quite nice, like the electricity spells and the swinging animation of your staff.

The combat mechanics are unique. Instead of killing stuff and getting levels and experience, you chose what you want to become by using that specific kind of weapon. Want to become a mage? Zap and burn Krug’s to a crisp. Want to become the next Robin Hood? Pump every Furok full of arrows. Want to go full Rambo? Get your hammer and go smash on skeletons. The type of weapon you use will level up while using it, making you stronger and more proficient in that weapon and the feats assigned to it, like strength, dexterity, and intelligence.

Dungeon Siege is a massive game with a lot of variety and many different enemies. One moment you are in the forest, then in icy caves, then in a goblin stronghold and even in the dessert. Although everything is linear, you can explore paths that are not on the main road. Hidden treasures await.

The whole game is one big path forward. This makes the game quite unique. There are no levels, no loading times after the first load, just walk forward and eventually you cannot go any further and hell awaits you at the end of the line. And believe me, that will take a long time.

One of the best aspects of this game is the ability to store all your crap that you pick off the ground on pack mules, who walk casually beside you on your journey. They even have names and are freaking cute. No matter how old and simple this game is, even today when playing, I feel an emotional connection with those digital beasts of burden and the need to protect them with my life on my journey. A strange effect this game has on me.

There are some minor complaints from my end tough. The controls are very stiff and clunky and every time you click on the ground because you need to get the hell of here because a Forest Troll is about to make a coat from your skin, you hear *click*, *click*, *click*, *click*.

The combat is also slow as a slug, I personally like it because it lets me react faster and gives me more control of the situation, but sometimes, especially after you died and need to do a whole section over again, it can be tedious.

The only problem with the game is that no matter how high you leveled your skills, you almost do not see any difference in your damage dealt to enemies because they get tougher with every new area of the map.

Also, the camera can be a real pain in the butt sometimes.

When you finish this game, you reflect on your massive journey. You started at a farm, in a nice quiet forest, and became the hero of the kingdom. Just epic.

The bottom line is, Dungeon Siege is an absolute classic and I replay this gem any time. Almost pumped 221 hours of my pathetic life into this. Finished it on Normal and Hard, many times just for the fun of it.