Trendy Entertainment’s long-in-development tower defense action RPG Dungeon Defenders 2 is finally ready to launch on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It will release on June 20th for current gen platforms after staying in Early Access on Steam and PS4 since December 2014.

CEO Marco Busse said that, “We’re very excited to finally be able to bring the Dungeon Defenders franchise back to the Xbox platform. Dungeon Defenders 2 expands on the combination of shared action and tactics that made the original game so enjoyable, and that experience has only continued to evolve as we’ve grown it alongside our incredible community through early access.”

Unlike its predecessor, Dungeon Defenders 2 will be a free to play title with an in-game store for new heroes, pets, inventory space, costumes and whatnot. It will feature a single player mode and 4 player co-op. Consoles will also have support for local split-screen co-op.

What are your thoughts on the game finally officially launching? Let us know in the comments.

Trendy Entertainment has announced that its free to play, action/tower defense title Dungeon Defenders 2 will be releasing for on September 29th. It will be available in a pre-alpha state though and isn’t free to play to begin with – you’ll need to purchase a “currency bundle”. The full release will be free to play and includes “ethical microtransactions” according to the developer.

On the PlayStation Blog, Trendy stated that, “Please note that Dungeon Defenders II is still under development. During this time, some features, like local co-op and controller support, will be ahead of the PC version, but other features and content will be rolling in after they are released on PC.”

Dungeon Defenders 2 has been available since December 2014 on PC through Steam Early Access. Could a PS4 release, even a pre-alpha, mean the title is nearing fruition? We’ll find out in the coming months so stay tuned for more information.

The game is currently slated to be self published by Trendy Entertainment and is already available on PC via the Steam store page where the game is currently in it’s testing stages by way of the early access scheme.

At this time, there’s no known precise release date for the game. Instead, it’s set for a vague 2015 release window. As mentioned above, the game is currently available as an early access title on Steam for Microsoft Windows PCs, but the game will also be coming to the PlayStation 4 at some time in 2015.

It’s not yet known for sure if the game will come to other platforms, its predecessor was launch on multiple platforms, so this title may see a multi platform launch in the future.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Trendy gathered some negative press associated with their name in 2013 when a Kotaku report branded the studio as “toxic” with president Jeremy Stieglitz thought to be the problem. Since then, as a direct result of the Kotaku report which was titled “Investigation: A Video Game Studio From Hell”, it has been announced that Stieglitz will not be supervising the development team of Dungeon Defenders 2.

Trendy Entertainment announced in December of 2014 that Dungeon Defenders would be launching on the PlayStation 4 as a free to play tower defence video game with action role playing game elements that will serve as a sequel to Dungeon Defenders. Trendy’s Philip Asher has already commented on the ps4 and PC builds of the game, saying tat they two versions will be “pretty much identical”. Both versions will support micro transactions when they are finally released.

Though we do know that the PS4 version of the game will have a reworked HUD, to better accommodate the console audience. The PS4’s HUD will be ported across to the PC build of the game, this will enable PC gamers to make use of a controller. Speaking about the matter, Asher has said, “It’s a loot game, so just getting controller support in isn’t necessarily enough to play the game. We have to create an actual UI system that will let you manage your inventory.”

Elaborating on the game’s choice of platform, Asher said, “We thought about it for a while, and really the best fit for us was Sony and PlayStation with the free-to-play. That’s how the console version came about. I think the game’s a lot of fun to play on the controller.”

Asher all but confirmed that the game will eventually come to other platforms, he said, “It’s going to be exclusive for 2015. Right now it’s exclusive.” This points towards a timed exclusivity agreement rather than a permanent platform exclusivity deal.

Development details on the game have been rather sparse, we have instead been given information regarding planned features for the game by way of a development roadmap. A note in the roadmap reads, “We’ll be adding new features, improving existing systems, iterating on balance, and creating new content.”

Some of the future features included player owned pets, a number of end stage bosses, the aforementioned controller support and tweaks to the HUD and UI. The game will eventually feature local cooperative play. Speaking about this, Asher said, “The thing that’s most exciting to me is someone can go to Walmart and buy a PS4 and then go home and sit down and play something like this with their brother or sister without spending any money.”

There will also be new game modes added to the game, though there are no specific details about this yet. The developers are implementing “Toxic Player Controls” which will apparently help “To stop those nasty AFKers”. AFK = Away From Keyboard ie: Absent players.

Some customisation options will be included in the game by way of costumes and embellishments. The game will feature a “Wave Director Game Mode” which likely means a custom wave mode. The game is also going to have support for badges, achievements and trading.

A summarising quote from the roadmap reads, “More Heroes, More Spec Nodes, More Maps, More Combos, More Enemies/Enemy Types, More Special Stats.”

Story

The story of Dungeon Defenders will see the player fighting off the armies of “The Old Ones” with your team of fierce heroes. It’s up to you to build the ultimate defence and save Etheria.

Gameplay

Gameplay remains largely unchanged at a fundamental level with players taking control of their chosen hero to repel the enemy by building defences and engaging them in combat, be it ranged or up close and personal.

There are however a number of comparisons to be drawn between Dungeon Defenders and Dungeon Defenders II. For example, the player’s Mana has been split into three separate categories. There’s Gold Mana, which is used to purchase things in the game. There’s the Building Mana which is green in colour and is used exclusively for building towers in the game. Finally there is Skill Mana which is blue in colour, this is used to power a Hero’s abilities.

Characters

Given the already large and growing roster of Dungeon Defenders II, we will list the four basic character classes in the game.

The Squire – The Squire is a knight in training that makes use of mighty spikes and blades.

The Apprentice – The Apprentice is an eager practitioner of the arcane arts that combats the foe from afar.

The Huntress – The Huntress is a skilled trapper and explosives expert, skills that she puts to good use when slaying enemies with her crossbow.

The Monk – Unlike most that carry the title, this Monk has turned from a path of pacifism to defend his land by employing aura energy to heal friends and cripple foes.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Dungeon Defenders was a cute take on Tower Defence and RPG genre way back in 2010, taking the tongue right through the cheek as some pint sized protectors fought for their lands. The kids have grown in the interim years, and the young men and women have returned to the sequel.

In our time with Dungeon Defenders II, micro transactions have yet to be incorporated into the game, leaving the mechanics to properly carry everything. Luckily, Dungeon Defenders II doesn’t seem to suffer from lazy design, at least so far. Assuming the micro transactions remain limited to things you can earn in game, it’s already doing great.

" The good news is that the structure doesn’t seem to suffer from the lack of microtransactions, dodging the immediate question of wether or not Dungeon Defenders II is following a lazy pay to win model. "

The good news is that the structure doesn’t seem to suffer from the lack of microtransactions, dodging the immediate question of wether or not Dungeon Defenders II is following a lazy pay to win model. The simplistic tower defence variation gameplay definitely helps it along by keeping things simple.

Between four classes (at least in our build) and four players, groups work together to defend a cart in the back of whatever small arena they happen to have been placed in. Enemies will approach from several set paths, and players strive to set traps, erect defences (not to mention offences) and get their hands a bit dirty themselves as they survive the mounting waves of foes.

The rub is the barter system mechanics, where spells and structure building are both tied to separate in-game gem currencies as opposed to a typical mana bar. The resource juggling game this creates can leave a team scrambling to cover zones when they don’t communicate properly, or creatively finding ways to mix defences and coordinate attacks based on who has the scratch.

" There are allegedly many more heroes to come in the final version, suggesting everybody is going to find their fit with enough time. "

The classes don’t just differ in play style and range either. Each class brings their own type of defensive and offensive structures to the table as well, encouraging class differentiation among team members. While the elven huntress might bring stalling geysers and tricky mines to the table, the undershirt clad Squire packs serious heat with cannons.

Every class has a role to play. The Squire being the front lines fighter class puts himself in the thick of things and handles the chaos admirably. He doesn’t have much in the way of range himself, but through building cannons and barricades, is invaluable to commanding the flow of a battle.

The Monk plays a role reminiscent of a cleric from a standard RPG, with minimal range tactics and a glass defence. His towers though can heal fellow defenders, and buff any towers in their range. While the Monk’s time is better spent in a support role, the Apprentice is the box standard mage in almost every sense. Magical barriers and status effects are his game, beating back the advancing forces through his tricks.

" The ingredients are there for an excellent time killing, if not terribly deep, team defence game. "

I spent most of my time with the Huntress, enjoying the tactile approach to combat while affording the ability to keep my distance.  Her mines and enemy stalling geyser traps slow the advancing troop to get picked off from a high perch where she can take potshots at several lanes at a time. She’s a technical kind of fighter, and it fit right into my play style. There are allegedly many more heroes to come in the final version, suggesting everybody is going to find their fit with enough time.

Finally, even in pre-alpha the presentation has itself more together than most full releases. The visuals aren’t the sharpest ever, resembling Kameo ever so slightly. Though the clean art style does keep the framerate consistent, even on weaker machines. The online play ran with minimal stuttering too, though the jumping around when the server is busy can get annoying.

Dungeon Defenders II is coming along tremendously well, and seems to be mostly working on mechanics, characters and monitization. The ingredients are there for an excellent time killing, if not terribly deep, team defence game. Assuming the microtransactions don’t turn abusive it’s going to be a title to watch.

This game was previewed on the PC.

GamingBolt recently caught up with Trendy Entertainment’s Philip Asher to know how the game is shaping up. Check out the full interview below.

Rashid Sayed: To begin with, can you please introduce yourself and the company you work for?

Hey! I’m Philip Asher and I’m the Marketing Director at Trendy Entertainment.

Rashid Sayed: Dungeon Defenders II is in Steam Early access. What kinds of feedback are you receiving from the community and what kind of gameplay changes this has led to?

Philip Asher: We’re receiving all kinds of feedback that’s making Dungeon Defenders II a better game! Dungeon Defenders II has been available to our community in some form or another since our first vertical slice of the game three months into development.

Since then, our community’s feedback has greatly shaped the game into what it is now. Some of the best feedback we’ve gotten from players was that they felt the gameplay was becoming too action-centric early on in development. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time making sure the defenses and strategies in the game are equally as or more important than the combat. More recently, we completely changed a relic-based loot system into a more familiar armor-based system thanks to our Defense Council’s feedback (before Early Access).

Every time we expand our player base, like going into Early Access, we get all sorts of new, valuable information. Right now we’re focused on improving the pacing of progressing through the game and building a pseudo campaign mode in response to Early Access feedback.

We’ve even created a program on our website called Influence, which allows players to directly vote on features that go into the game.

"In Dungeon Defenders II we’ve implemented a combo system that allows heroes’ Defenses and Abilities to interact."

Rashid Sayed: Given that you already have a lot of content out via Steam Early access, how do you plan on adding new content in the future? DLC, may be?

Philip Asher: We have no plans to add DLC to Dungeon Defenders II. However, in the future it will be transitioning to free to play. When that happens, players who purchased Early Access will get $30 in-game currency and some exclusive goodies. Afterwards our business model will be based around cosmetic in-game purchases. We will never sell gameplay advantage in Dungeon Defenders II.

Rashid Sayed: Dungeon Defenders 2 is a PS4 console exclusive. I find that interesting since you would ideally want the game to be on as many capable platforms as you possibly can and the Xbox One is very much capable. Do you guys have a specific reason why it’s not coming to the Xbox One?

Philip Asher: We really love the folks at PlayStation and right now a lot of policies on the PS4 made it a better fit for Dungeon Defenders II, since it will be a free-to-play title.

Rashid Sayed: What can you tell us about the enemies and how have they changed when compared to the original?

Philip Asher: They’ve changed in so many ways! First of all, there are a lot more of them. We’ve tried to flesh out the enemy roster to include all of the traditional Tower Defense enemies (heavy long range, medium melee, etc.). We’ve also created a number of unique enemies that affect the battlefield in different ways. For example, the Wither Beast can’t be targeted by your defenses and burrows into the ground to debuff you defenses. To top all that off, we have named enemies that have special abilities and are even tougher to defeat. Oh, and did I mention each enemy has three tiers which changes its strength and abilities as you progress through the game?

Rashid Sayed: How are you making sure that all the classes in Dungeon Defenders 2 will closely interact with each other?

Philip Asher: In Dungeon Defenders II we’ve implemented a combo system that allows heroes’ Defenses and Abilities to interact. So, for example, a Monk can place a lightning aura over a Huntress’ geyser trap. Then, when enemies walk through the geyser trap they will get wet and when they get dealt the electric damage from the lightning aura they will become stunned.

"While we’re in Early Access, everything is in a constant state of flux. Right now hero levelling is different than the original. Instead of putting points into stats, you get to choose and improve specs that change how you play your hero."

Rashid Sayed: Have you tweaked the character leveling or is it similar to the original?

Philip Asher: While we’re in Early Access, everything is in a constant state of flux. Right now hero levelling is different than the original. Instead of putting points into stats, you get to choose and improve specs that change how you play your hero. These are essentially talents. So for example, you can make the Monk’s boost aura buff blockade health or you can make the Squire’s blockades stun enemies. You can even make the Apprentice’s Fireball tower shoot double fireballs!

Rashid Sayed: Are there any plans to possibly have cross platform play between the PS4 and PC versions?

Philip Asher: It’s something we would definitely love to do in the future.

Rashid Sayed: Free to play business model is always tricky. How are you tackling it this time around?

Philip Asher: Basically, NO selling gameplay advantage. We intend to sell hero costumes, defense skins, and other cosmetics/service that do not effect gameplay.

Rashid Sayed: How is the micro-transaction system in the PS4 version going to differ from the PC version?

Philip Asher: It will be the same.

Rashid Sayed: Will Dungeon Defenders II run at 1080p and 60fps on the PS4?

Philip Asher: Sorry, we can’t answer this question yet. The PS4 version is currently highly in development.

Rashid Sayed: Are you aiming for a simultaneous launch on the PS4 and PC?

Philip Asher: Can’t answer this one yet either!

Rashid Sayed: Is there anything else you want to add before we let you go?

Philip Asher: We’re really excited to keep receiving feedback from our Community and improving Dungeon Defenders II. We’re putting out our first major update really soon, which puts us on the path towards improving a lot of the progression issues players are having. We can’t wait to get a lot of the foundational improvements players want to see into the game and then start layering on some fun systems like pets!
Thanks for your time!

Philip Asher who is the Marketing Director at Trendy Entertainment has revealed to GamingBolt that Sony’s policies for the PlayStation 4 is the reason why they opted to go console exclusive with them. The PC version of the game been under early access for quite a while and it was announced during The Game Awards show that it will also come to the PS4.

It’s rather interesting that Trendy Entertainment decided to skip the Xbox One version since they would ideally want to be on as many platforms as possible. When asked whether there was a specific reason they are skipping the Xbox One version, Asher stated the following:

“We really love the folks at PlayStation and right now a lot of policies on the PS4 made it a better fit for Dungeon Defenders II, since it will be a free-to-play title,” he said to GamingBolt.

He also explained how different classes will interact with each other. “In Dungeon Defenders II we’ve implemented a combo system that allows heroes’ Defenses and Abilities to interact. So, for example, a Monk can place a lightning aura over a Huntress’ geyser trap. Then, when enemies walk through the geyser trap they will get wet and when they get dealt the electric damage from the lightning aura they will become stunned.”

Dungeon Defenders 2 will release on PC and PS4 sometime this year, however the developers stated to us that they are not sure whether they will be able to launch it simultaneously on both platforms since the game is deep in development on the PS4.

Trendy Entertainment have announced that Dungeon Defenders 2 will release in 2015 as a PlayStation 4 console exclusive. The announcement was made during The Game Awards. They also announced that the game is now available on PC as part of Steam Early Access.

Trendy Entertainment CEO Darrell Rodriguez had the following to say about the announcement. “We’ve been partnering with many of our most engaged community members through our Defense Council program to make Dungeon Defenders II an experience worthy of its namesake. Early Access allows us to take that process of transparent, player-engaged development even further with a wider set of voices from which to draw feedback and enhance this shared adventure.”

“Bringing the first Dungeon Defenders to the PlayStation Network was a proud accomplishment for this team,” Rodriguez added. “It’s a privilege to once again have the PlayStation community playing alongside us.”

The early access version will be pre-alpha build that opens up the entire first region of the game along with four playable characters.

The first Dungeon Defenders game, with its mix of Diablo-like loot spawning, MOBA like combat, tower defense strategy, and role-playing elements such as leveling up and gear, was truly something special, unlike any other game on the market. Now, so long since its original release, it still remains mostly uncontested.

However, a challenger may soon be coming, in the guise of the game’s own sequel- Dungeon Defenders 2 is set to launch in Early Access for PCs on Steam on December 5, in just under a month from now. More information for the game is also set to come on that date, at The Game Awards that will be livesreamed across the world to a multitude of devices, and will be hosted by Geoff Keighley.

The game will also be coming to Mac based computers, iOS, Android, and web browsers, so there should be no shortage of ways to actually enjoy it.

Stay tuned for more coverage.

In case you were worried about the lack of activity from Trendy Entertainment following the delay of Dungeon Defenders 2 and the controversy surrounding CTO Jeremy Stieglitz – who has been removed from the project and supervising staff due to harsh practices and general douchebaggery – it seems that former LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez has joined the studio as its new CEO.

Speaking to Games Industry, Rodriguez stated that, “I have been extremely fortunate to work with some of the most talented and passionate people across various creative industries and at some of the most renowned companies in the world. I am equally impressed and blessed to work with the passion and skill that exist at Trendy.”

Rodriguez also stated that he wants other devs to work with Trendy’s Playverse along with pushing a new IP. “We are certainly not a single game company. Dungeon Defenders is just the beginning.”

Which is all well and good but can we get some news on Dungeon Defenders 2? Stay tuned for more.

The PC as a gaming platform is at the top of it’s game, with a myriad of game developers, from the big names like EA and Ubisoft, to small indie developers and to the classic and iconic developers like id and Valve Software that have always backed the PC as a solid and reliable gaming platform.

The PC has always been a forerunning in gaming, swapping affordability for flexibility. Power can have it’s advantages if the gamer is willing to put a bit more time and effort into chasing down their favorite hobby. It can certainly get pricey and you’ve got all the overhead and more that comes with any personal computer, but it’s well worth the investment of time and money, specially with products like Steam, and now Valve’s new expansion into their own Operating System and specially branded “Steam Box.” Very soon, gamers won’t even need to drop a small fortune to get a high powered, PC running a new version of Linux. Yes, no doubt, that the up and coming 2014 is going to be an excellent year for PC gaming.

Note: List is in random order.

Eden Star:

Are you into Minecraft, but may want something a bit new? Or may be you are really big space nerd as well. Did you happen to enjoy the hell out of games like Portal and Portal 2? Well then, Eden Star may be a game for you. This first person, survival and world manipulation title, is the ultimate sandbox with a twist. The player can manipulate the environment with what looks like an anti-gravity glove, as well as explore a new mysterious and content with its native population.