Info about War for the Overworld - My Pet Dungeon Expansion:

Official game description:
Long before the wars in Kairos, you and your fellow Underlords are travelling the Aether in tow of your evil mentor, Mendechaus (voiced as ever by the rambunctious Richard Ridings). In this calm before the storm there’s little for an Underlord to do... Except get elbow deep in your own petting zoo! Step into the chilled-out realms of My Pet Dungeon: explore, experiment, and uncage the dungeons of your dreams!  
**BUILD THE DUNGEONS OF YOUR DREAMS**
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Eight-level sandbox-style campaign designed exclusively for My Pet Dungeon, with a more relaxed pacing than the main game. Reach the target score to advance to the next level, go after the bonus objectives, or simply revel in the dungeons of your dreams. (Two levels are available for free.)
**TOY WITH YOUR FOES**
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Grab heroes, set their strength, then drop them anywhere in the map via the new Toybox room. Summon single or indefinite waves of enemies with the new wave spawning controls, to put your dungeon through its paces.
**WIELD GOD MODE**
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Complete My Pet Dungeon to unlock God Mode: reshape the levels or spawn units from thin air - all in real time! What kind of ludicrous scenarios can you create?
**EXPLORE AND UNLOCK**
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New terrain awaits you: rock-solid Obsidian, which can only be destroyed by exploding Brimstone; new snowy terrain, with icy versions of existing tiles to complement this chilled-out new mode. Do well and you’ll also unlock three classic and newly-refined Empire Dungeon Themes!

Release date: Apr 3, 2017

Categories: Dungeon Management, Base Building, Real-time Strategy, Sandbox, Level Editor, Relaxing and Cozy Gameplay, God Simulation


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 20.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 4.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The DLC is described as having eight levels, and the review estimates 2-3 hours per Pet Dungeon map for a slower playstyle, giving an approximate full-completion range of 16-24 hours (about 20 hours as a midpoint). The same review reports a personal session of 4 straight hours, supporting a session length of 4 hours. No separate story-completion time or concrete post-completion endgame duration is explicitly reported.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Relaxed Dungeon Architect (buy)
    - Motivation: To build and experiment in a dungeon without pressure, using a campaign as a relaxed framework.
    - Playstyle: Slow, low-pressure dungeon building with free-build and sandbox experimentation.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: casual gamer
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Campaign Strategist Seeking a Break (sale)
    - Motivation: A break from tough campaign battles while retaining strategic dungeon play.
    - Playstyle: Plays strategic campaign content but wants a lower-pressure alternative.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Achievement & Unlockable Completionist (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Completing maps, earning speed achievements, and unlocking extra content.
    - Playstyle: Optimizes mission routes and completion times, and hunts unlockables across new levels.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Relaxed dungeon building freedom (weight 0.99): Players appreciate the ability to build dungeons at their own pace without time constraints or pressure, with plentiful resources and time to plan and create freely.
- Varied levels with unique challenges (weight 0.69): Levels offer diverse surprises, puzzles, and objectives that make gameplay fresh and encourage exploration and creative problem-solving.
- Faithful to original Dungeon Keeper (weight 0.23): The game pays homage to the original Dungeon Keeper while establishing its own identity, and is considered a true successor by fans.
- Possession Challenges add novelty (weight 0.23): Possession Challenges, especially on the last level, provide new and interesting ways to use existing abilities and add novelty to the experience.
- Humorous narration and voice work (weight 0.22): The narrator provides humor throughout and features excellent voice work from Richard Ridings, adding to the game's charm.
- Toybox and enemy wave testing (weight 0.18): The Toybox lets players select heroes, adjust their strength, and launch enemy waves to test dungeon defenses in a controlled environment.
- My Pet Dungeon levels praised (weight 0.17): The My Pet Dungeon levels are seen as a great addition and an improved version compared to previous iterations.
- Casual alternative to campaign (weight 0.17): The DLC serves as a casual alternative for players tired of pressured battles, offering a more relaxed and leisurely experience.
- Recruited unit management options (weight 0.16): Players can set the level of recruited enemy units and return them to their original location, adding flexibility to dungeon management.
- Enemies passive unless triggered (weight 0.16): Enemies do not attack unless the player triggers an attack wave, giving full control over the pace and challenge of the game.
- Challenges creativity in sandbox (weight 0.16): The sandbox environment challenges players' creativity and is especially fun for those who enjoy tinkering with layouts in the Home Realm.
- Great special creatures included (weight 0.09): The game features great special creatures that add variety and interest to dungeon building and combat.
- Adds plenty more to do (weight 0.09): The DLC adds many new activities and objectives, whether players want to advance slowly or quickly.
- Great idea for DLC (weight 0.09): The concept and execution of the DLC are highly praised as a great idea that expands the game meaningfully.
- Improved dungeon customization (weight 0.09): The game offers better dungeon customization options compared to My Pet Dungeon in Dungeon Keeper 2.

Common complaints:
- Dungeon building is secondary (weight 0.16): In many levels, building the dungeon is the least important task, and you can complete all levels without bothering with it except for attracting creatures. This is a common design issue.
- Expansion fails to fix issues (weight 0.16): The expansion does not solve any problems from the main campaign and is just as obnoxious. This is a common but vague complaint.
- Save system problems persist (weight 0.11): Save system issues from the base game carry over to this expansion, causing instability and lost progress. This is a common and specific complaint.
- Babies break after loading (weight 0.1): Loading a save in Ponylend causes baby creatures to become hostile and die in battle, blocking their leveling quest. This is a specific bug affecting gameplay progression.
- Fossil Hunter wall bug (weight 0.1): In the Pet Dungeon level Ice Fossil, an unfinished wall prevents completion of the Fossil Hunter objective. This is a specific, level-breaking bug.
- Possession door causes motion sickness (weight 0.1): The last level requires possession mode to enter a door, which is unpleasant and causes motion sickness. This is a specific gameplay complaint.
- Mode bugs out, blocks progress (weight 0.1): The mode stops functioning after some time, preventing tab changes, saving, and other actions, making levels impossible to complete. This is a severe bug.
- Crash from spamming Prophecy (weight 0.1): Spamming Prophecy on Snowhope crashes the game. This is a specific bug.
- System stalls and alt-tab lag (weight 0.1): The system stalls and alt-tabbing registers about 10 seconds late, causing frustration. This is a specific performance issue.
- Frame rate drops in menus (weight 0.1): Opening the ESC menu and controls tab causes frame rate to drop to around 10 fps. This is a specific performance issue.
- Levels feel like cut campaign content (weight 0.1): Almost all levels appear to be cut from the main campaign and focus on conquest instead of building. This is a common design complaint.
- Gameplay revolves around spamming waves (weight 0.1): To complete a level, you either have to spam waves or conquer your enemies, limiting strategy. This is a common complaint.
- Excessive memory usage (weight 0.1): The game uses an excessive amount of memory, potentially causing performance issues. This is a common technical complaint.
- Mana tied to territory (weight 0.09): Mana is based entirely on map territory owned, allowing you to know exactly what you're up against within five minutes. This is a specific gameplay observation.
- Prophecy instantly unlockable (weight 0.09): Prophecy can be unlocked instantly in all levels, potentially trivializing progression. This is a specific gameplay observation.
- Lack of new content (weight 0.09): The expansion offers nothing really new, feeling like more of the same. This is a common but vague complaint.

Gameplay feedback:
- Sandbox mode offers creative freedom (weight 0.56): Sandbox mode lets players experiment and build ideal dungeons without pressure, with unlimited resources and time, and no timers or immediate danger. It allows full customization and building at one's own leisure.
- My Pet Dungeon DLC features (weight 0.5): The My Pet Dungeon DLC adds eight new slow-paced levels with objectives and limits, plus a toybox for testing defenses and a spawner for launching enemy waves. Players can pick heroes, adjust their strength, and spawn continuous waves up to level 10.
- Relaxed pacing and adjustable difficulty (weight 0.45): The game offers a chill, build-my-dungeon experience where enemies won't attack unless triggered, and players can adjust difficulty and pacing to make it more challenging with constant waves. There is no rush to complete anything.
- Progression via score thresholds (weight 0.35): Advancing to the next level requires reaching a score threshold, which can be achieved by earning points through dungeon development, killing enemies, and completing optional objectives. Each level also has three achievements: beating it, getting a high score, and completing all objectives.
- Mission variety and objectives (weight 0.34): Each map has its own missions and themed objectives, such as resource management, empire units only, no spawns, prison breakout, or torture-conversions. Varied levels present unique challenges and optional extra objectives.
- God Mode and Mutator tools (weight 0.29): After completing all levels, God Mode and Mutator become available, providing semi-editor control over maps, such as reshaping terrain and spawning units directly during gameplay. These tools are limited to Skirmish and Sandbox levels.
- Dungeon building core mechanics (weight 0.29): Building and customizing dungeons is a central mechanic, allowing players to construct large dungeons and expand over time. Rooms are granted sequentially, and mana is based on owned territory.
- Unit recruitment and conversion (weight 0.22): Players can recruit enemy units from a room and adjust their levels, or drop a squad of humans into the dungeon and convert them into their army. Units placed in prison sever the link to the holy room and a new one appears.
- Narrator and puzzles add flavor (weight 0.22): A persistent narrator enhances the experience, and various simple puzzles and secret rooms are hidden throughout levels, encouraging exploration and discovery.
- Campaign structure and DLC content (weight 0.17): The base game has 13 compact campaign missions with constant harassment, while DLC adds new missions and dungeon building elements. Expansion features additional levels and objectives.
- Home Realm and Prophecy features (weight 0.16): The Home Realm provides a base similar to traditional campaigns but with more relaxed gameplay and additional elements. Prophecy can be unlocked instantly in all levels, adding strategic options.
- Minion leveling and wave control (weight 0.16): Players can crank up minions to level 10 and control enemy waves, deciding when and how enemies attack. This allows for tailored challenges and testing of dungeon defenses.
- Goals encourage exploration (weight 0.09): Various fun objectives make players search through the whole dungeon, explore, and recruit more interesting creatures. This promotes engagement and discovery.
- Unlockable themes and customization (weight 0.09): Beating dungeons unlocks dungeon themes, color schemes, and workers that can be used in sandbox and skirmish modes. This adds replayability and personalization.

Performance notes:
- Excessive memory usage (weight 0.1): Cluster 1 reports excessive memory usage using up RAM and filling swap. This can lead to system instability and performance degradation.
- System stalls and alt-tab delays (weight 0.1): Cluster 2 mentions system stalls and delayed alt-tab. These issues hinder multitasking and overall responsiveness.
- Frame drops in ESC menu (weight 0.1): Cluster 3 describes frame rate drops to around 10 fps when opening the ESC menu and controls tab. This severely impacts menu navigation.
- Crash when spamming Prophecy (weight 0.1): Cluster 4 reports a game crash when spamming Prophecy on Snowhope. This is a critical stability issue during specific gameplay.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for existing fans (weight 0.24): Multiple reviewers state the DLC is worth buying if you are already a fan of the base game. They see it as a solid purchase for those who enjoy the core experience.
- Best purchased on sale (weight 0.17): Some reviewers suggest waiting for a sale, especially if you are a casual fan or primarily interested in strategy or challenging gameplay. They still recommend it but not as highly at full price.
- Suits relaxed colony sim players (weight 0.09): One reviewer recommends it for those who enjoy a more relaxed Colony Sim style of play. The DLC appears to cater to players seeking a less intense experience.
- Ideal for slow-paced campaign fans (weight 0.09): One review indicates it is a good choice for players who prefer slow-paced campaigns. This highlights the DLC's appeal to those who enjoy a more methodical pace.
- Considered a must-have (weight 0.09): A single review describes the DLC as 'a must.' This indicates strong endorsement from at least one player.
- Generally recommended DLC (weight 0.09): A straightforward recommendation from one reviewer. This indicates overall positive sentiment, though without specific details.
- Worth it for unlockables only (weight 0.08): One reviewer says it is worth it only if you want the unlockables. This implies that for some, the primary value lies in the additional content rather than the gameplay itself.

Other player notes:
- My Pet Dungeon homage differs (weight 0.22): Reviewers compare this to Dungeon Keeper 2's My Pet Dungeon mode but note that only one level reuses that design while the rest are different. Others feel it improves on DK2 by offering better dungeon customization.
- More replay value than base (weight 0.1): Players find this expansion has more replay value than the base game itself. Suggests the added content is more engaging or repeatable.
- True Dungeon Keeper successor (weight 0.1): Reviewers call it the true successor to Dungeon Keeper. This is a strong endorsement of its quality and faithfulness to the original.
- Relaxing expansion, little difficulty (weight 0.09): The expansion is intentionally designed as a relaxing experience with no real difficulty in the new maps. This makes it a low-stress addition rather than a challenging one.
- Homage with own identity (weight 0.09): The game pays homage to the original Dungeon Keeper while still maintaining its own identity. Reviewers see it as a respectful successor rather than a simple clone.
- What War for Overworld should be (weight 0.09): Reviewers compare it favorably to War for the Overworld, implying this is what that game should have been. Positions it as a superior alternative in the genre.
- Campaign vs Pet Dungeon length (weight 0.09): Base game campaign missions average about 40 minutes, while Pet Dungeon maps take 2 to 3 hours. Highlights a significant difference in time investment between modes.
- Free pocket dungeon is harder (weight 0.09): The free second pocket dungeon is reported to be harder than all of the paid ones. This creates an odd value proposition where the free content outpaces the paid content in challenge.
- Compared to Dungeon Keeper playstyle (weight 0.09): The game is compared to Dungeon Keeper's playstyle. Reviewers use this as a benchmark for how well it captures the classic formula.
- Base already has sandbox (weight 0.09): The base game already includes a Skirmish and Sandbox menu for building without extra payment. Raises questions about the value of paying for similar features.
- Decent value for price (weight 0.09): For the price, the value is considered not bad. Reviewers see it as a reasonable purchase despite some reservations.
- One of three paid expansions (weight 0.08): This release is identified as one of three paid expansions for the base game. Contextualizes it within the larger DLC lineup.
- Heavy game, slow startup (weight 0.08): War for the Overworld is described as not lightweight and takes a long time to start up. This is a performance note rather than a direct critique of the expansion.
- DLC expands the base game (weight 0.08): This DLC is explicitly described as an expansion for the base game. Clarifies its role as add-on content rather than a standalone title.
- Played on Ubuntu 18.04 (weight 0.07): One reviewer ran the game on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic. Indicates Linux compatibility for that specific distribution version.

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.24): Players enjoy the pleasant gameplay and well-designed missions that allow for leisurely pacing and freedom to set difficulty. The DLC adds fun mechanics and a relaxed playstyle, with the last level offering a massive base and engaging Possession Challenges. Building dungeons and completing objectives that require exploration and recruiting contribute to the overall enjoyment.
- Fun (weight 0.14): The game provides fun through diverse levels with unique challenges, allowing players to tinker with layouts and extra objectives without immediate danger. The creative sandbox campaign further enhances the fun experience.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Frustration arises from technical issues such as excessive memory usage causing system stalls, frame rate drops, and game crashes. Additionally, bugs that prevent basic actions and completion, as well as save system problems that break baby creatures and block leveling quests, make the mode unplayable for some.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.14): Satisfaction comes from the game being perfect for building large dungeons, with the DLC providing a nice break from the main campaign and adding enjoyable content. The inclusion of god mode and new levels adds value, leading to a satisfying experience.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.1): Nostalgia is triggered by memories of playing My Pet Dungeon in Dungeon Keeper 2 during childhood Sundays, as well as memories of playing the original Dungeon Keeper.
- Disgust (weight 0.05): Disgust is caused by having to use possession mode to enter a door in the last level, which players find unpleasant.
- Dizziness (weight 0.05): Dizziness is experienced due to the motion from possession mode making the player feel sick.
- Annoyance (weight 0.05): Annoyance stems from the expansion being just as obnoxious as the main campaign.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.05): Enthusiasm is driven by the return of the best game mode, My Pet Dungeon, with clever and interesting objectives, as well as the sandbox freedom and unlocked Mutator and God Mode options.
- Appeal (weight 0.05): The appeal lies in being able to build dungeons at your own pace, offering a personalized and unhurried experience.
- Relaxation (weight 0.05): Relaxation is achieved through no pressure or timers, allowing players to build at their own pace.
- Entertainment (weight 0.05): Entertainment is provided by the narrator accompanying you throughout the game, adding a engaging element.
- Surprise (weight 0.05): Surprise results from the DLC being better than expected, exceeding players' initial assumptions.
- Disappointment (weight 0.05): Disappointment occurs because most levels are focused on conquest rather than building the dungeon of your dreams, which some players prefer.
- Happiness (weight 0.05): Happiness is felt because the DLC caters to the audience that enjoys a relaxed building playstyle, fulfilling their preferences.}