If you’re anything like me, you could feel your stomach tighten just a bit when you first heard that Trendy Entertainment was going the free-to-play MOBA route for the sequel to their sleeper hit Dungeon Defenders. Not to knock the genre, but it felt less like a logical fit for the cooperative tower-defense/RPG hybrid and more like an attempt to chase a fast-growing trend. As it turns out, the folks at Trendy started feeling the same way, and after realizing that they just weren’t passionate about the they were making anymore, they tossed the entire MOBA concept out the window, along with all my doubts about the upcoming sequel.An unreal color palette for the Unreal Engine. “Forget the footage you’ve seen, which was running on a stripped down, mobile-friendly version of Unreal Engine 3. Put to rest any concerns about how controls built for a third-person, over-the-shoulder game translate into a top-down MOBA. Dungeon Defenders 2 now looks and plays like the sequel that the fans (and developers) of the original were truly looking for.

Fantasia disney. Then we move on to the sprightly and energetic 'Dance of the Hours' from Ponchielli's 'La Giaconda'. Finally, the discs close out with a knockout doubleheader that begins with Mussorgsky's terrifying 'Night On Bald Mountain' and ends with Schubert's tranquil and lovely 'Ave Maria'. (Be sure and listen for the aggressive brass and percussion that prefigured the shark material in Jaws.)Disc two gives us the lengthier tracks, starting with Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony (always the least interesting part of the film for me, made worse today by Disney's revisionist history removing some glaring racial stereotypes from the proceedings – I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here, but there is a real lesson to be learned there if today's Disney wasn't so busy burying it's sordid past). Rounding it out is Stravisky's 'Rite Of Spring', sure to be a revelation for any soundtrack fan unfamiliar with this source of much inspiration for modern day composers such as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.

And having now played it, I couldn’t be more excited. The first thing that jumped out at me was how DD’s visuals have evolved, both from the first game to the second and from the original incarnation of the sequel to the current build. Dungeon Defenders was easily one of the most colorful Unreal Engine licensees ever, and Dungeon Defenders 2 carries that torch.

Everything you need to know about Dungeon Defenders II. Release DateJune 20, 2017. PlatformsLinux, Xbox One, PC, Macintosh, PlayStation 4. Dungeon Defenders 2 now looks and plays like the sequel that the fans (and developers) of the original were truly looking for. “ Forget the footage.

Much like the four returning heroes, the art style has matured, sporting a palette that’s at once more diverse and less saturated. Where the early footage came off flat and lifeless, even the pre-alpha I played was filled with the kind of vibrancy that made the original such a treat for the eyes.It's hard not to be charmed by Dungeon Defenders II's character design.The beautiful new effects on the many new towers and abilities have a lot to do with that. Many towers apply different states or statuses to their targets now, and the visual design of each attack make these effects readily apparent. Cyclone traps launch enemies skyward with a swirling vortex of wind and suspend them there to be juggled. The steady stream of pale blue energy shooting from an ice turret looks like it can freeze enemies in their tracks.which it can, setting them up to be smashed for bonus concussive damage by a cannonball turret. With all sorts of synergy to discover, seeing it come together visually amid the chaos of a pitched battle definitely put a smile on my face. A more subtle change that I really loved was the introduction of separate resources for tower building and ability use.

Anyone who played the original knows that using your attack skills felt kind of wasteful because it was cutting into your resources for building. With the two now being discreet, you can go ham on your attack skills guilt-free, which is nice seeing as how each character has more of them to use than before.A cyclone trap in action. “I chatted with Trendy marketing director Philip Asher about how Dungeon Defenders was always at its best when things were right on the verge of going horribly wrong. To that end, there’s now a wider variety of ways things can head south in entertaining fashion.

For instance, failure to protect a wayward gate lock from destruction will result in a new path for enemy hordes to rampage down, forcing you to adapt your defensive strategy on the fly. A slew of unique enemies have been cooked up as well, and they spawn dynamically without warning to throw a potential monkey wrench into the proceedings.

Theses elements add tension, and just a pinch of random variance to keep you from setting up the perfect defense and going on autopilot. What seemed like a giant step away from what made the first Dungeon Defenders great has turned into a bigger, better, more refined take on the original concept. I have to give Trendy a ton of credit here. Not a lot of devs would have pulled a design 180 after investing so many man-hours.

But from what I’ve seen, following their hearts is already paying dividends, and I can’t wait to play more Dungeon Defenders 2 when it enters its beta phase.