For those who miss Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper series, Realmforge Studios has now unleashed Dungeons III to help you indulge your inner, evil overlord!
Although primarily a single-player game with a straightforward campaign and randomized sandbox maps, there are options available for competitive multiplayer with four players or co-op campaign multiplayer with two players.
The four-player open skirmish games are announced in the multiplayer chat if you simply select “Notify” by going through Extras in the main menu, then navigating to Options and then the Game section.
However, the immensely popular Dungeons 3 co-op campaign mode doesn’t work that way and is currently quite hampered by how players need to setup their own private matches. There aren’t any in-game options (yet) to resolve this issue, but there are workarounds available if you are willing to do a little searching.
Finding Co-Op Campaign Players in Dungeons III
Getting a co-op match started works quite a bit different on the matchmaking front than you might be used to.
For the multiplayer co-op side, you actually can’t find a random match at all, and instead, the game works more along the lines of Necropolis, where you have to know specifically who you want to join ahead of time.
Because both of the two co-op campaign players are controlling the evil overlord’s hand, the thinking there is that you’d want to actually know the person on the other end of the co-op match.
Solid reasoning, but perhaps a lack of foresight on what gamer’s want. At least they are acknowledging the issue!
In this dual-control style, there’s so much room for disruption and griefing that you probably wouldn’t want some random Steam-troll to get in a match and just constantly cause you problems and undo whatever you are currently trying to accomplish.
To find a campaign co-op companion, you can send an invite to anyone on your Steam friend’s list. That limits your options, obviously, since not everyone on your friends list is going to have a copy of Dungeons 3 bought and installed. I suppose that’s a solid reason to spread the word about the game, though!
One hand to wield the unicorn on a stick, one to drink
from the ghoul head martini
If you want to find a player who isn’t on your friend’s list, for now, there’s a multiplayer mega-thread available here where you can share your game ID or join a game with someone else who has already shared their ID while looking for a co-op match.
If you can’t find anyone currently on the forums ready to go for a match (since players aren’t reading that thread 24/7), some forward-thinking players have set up a Discord account here. This service offers more of a real-time match searching ability since you can just ping anyone online and ask to play. Just make a username and pop into the chat to find someone willing to get started in co-op.
It’s definitely not an ideal setup for Dungeons 3’s multiplayer, but that’s all there is to it at the moment. The developers have acknowledged co-op was more popular than they expected, so it’s possible that open matchmaking will be implemented in a future Dungeons 3 patch. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for when that happens.
Two hands, one game. Get ready for shenanigans to ensue!
Are you looking for players for a campaign co-op match? Leave us a comment below and we’ll add you on Steam so we can get playing!
