Dungeon Keeper

The Dungeon Keeper series is what happens when you hand the villain the controller—and let them have a little too much fun with it. Developed originally by Bullfrog Productions and released in 1997, Dungeon Keeper flipped the script on fantasy games by putting you in charge of an evil overlord building a dungeon to fend off heroic do-gooders. Yep, in this game, you’re the bad guy—and it’s glorious.

At its core, the series mixes real-time strategy, base building, and management sim mechanics with a heavy dose of British humor and dark fantasy. You build rooms, mine gold, set traps, summon creatures like bile demons and horned reapers, and make sure your minions stay loyal (or at least too scared to betray you). And when those annoying heroes come barging in? Smash them. Torture them. Or better yet—convert them.

Dungeon Keeper 2 (1999) took everything from the first game and dialed it up with better graphics, improved AI, and even more wicked laughs—plus one of the best sarcastic narrators in gaming history. Fans still quote lines like “Your dungeon has been breached!” with a nostalgic shiver.

Sadly, the series never got its true Dungeon Keeper 3. Bullfrog was swallowed by EA, and the franchise went into hibernation. In 2014, EA released a Dungeon Keeper mobile game, which was basically just a microtransaction-riddled mess that got torched by fans and critics alike. It’s still used as a case study in how not to bring back a beloved franchise.

But the spirit of Dungeon Keeper lives on. Games like War for the Overworld and Dungeons 3 were clearly inspired by it, and fans still hold out hope that one day, a real, honest-to-evil reboot will rise from the depths.

Summary: Dungeon Keeper is what happens when SimCity and Sauron have a baby. It’s twisted, funny, and still one of the most unique strategy games ever made—because being bad has never felt so good.