Dungeon Defenders Gets Tower Defense In Your Diablo

A downloadable title from Trendy Entertainment aims to mix the best parts of tower defense with the best parts of Diablo, and includes online co-op.

Trendy Entertainment has officially announced that Dungeon Defenders will be coming to the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and PCs across all major digital distribution services in Fall 2010. The game’s concept can be boiled down to a simple mix of genres: tower defense plus action-RPG, or what Trendy calls DunDef, and it’s powered behind the scenes by Unreal Engine 3.

Just like your standard tower defense game, players will have to defend their castle from invading hordes of monsters of various types. In Dungeon Defenders, however, a class system divides the defenses amongst up to four different players that can play cooperatively both offline and online. For example, the monk class uses auras that can slow enemies or heal allies, while the apprentice places mini-towers that shoot off lightning, magic missiles, and fireballs. The other two classes, squire and huntress, place blockades and traps, respectively.

But players don’t sit back on their laurels in Dungeon Defenders and watch the defenses have at their attackers, they get right into the fray just like in an action-RPG, Diablo-style. Each class also has its own unique abilities and attacks with which to beat up foes. Enemies drop weapons and equipment that players wield and wear to become more powerful, while money and experience points can be used to upgrade items, defenses, and skills. Equipment can be shown off in the Adventurer’s Tavern, and players are ranked with all sorts of player statistics and achievements. Pets, such as baby dragons, can also be found that tag along and provide bonuses.

There are various modes such as Survival and Campaign (with multiple endings), 15 arenas, and 4 difficulty levels that alter loot drops and experience point gains. Trendy promises DLC expansion packs that will add new classes, loot, levels, and modes. Awesomely, Trendy is also shipping the gameplay code with the PC version of the game so that modders can have a crack at it. I’m not trying to buy any hype or anything, but I think it’s kind of hard to say this one doesn’t sound like a winner. Steam and GamersGate have the game set for release in November, but Trendy is only saying fall.