Dwarven Skykeep Critic Reviews

Dwarven Skykeep prides itself on being incredibly hard to master, which is either a pro or con depending on the player. The game only has two difficulty levels, the lowest of which is Hard, and levels are meant to largely require multiple tries prior to victory. The game's boss battles are particularly challenging, which means they also provide a solid sense of satisfaction once beaten. Dwarven Skykeep is definitely best for RTS and tower defense fans, as it includes more of these elements in its moment-to-moment gameplay than it does deckbuilding, and certainly isn't for those who prefer the ability to adjust a game's challenge. While Dwarven Skykeep doesn't deeply reinvent any of the genres it borrows from, the way it combines them is very worthwhile, and alongside a silly and entertaining - albeit simple - storyline, Dwarven Skykeep comes off quite well-rounded and enjoyable.

A lot of the balance in the game just feels off, too. Invaders come quickly and often, and there’s just no time to get your tower into a minimal defensible state. Even if you get lucky and have the cards to close off your tower, the game punishes you for this tactic by generating enemies from a moving warp portal within your tower. Your wizard is forced to collect items from the rooms that they are produced in, but you can’t give commands to your whole tower while you’re off the throne. It feels like these and other restrictions were added to compensate for issues with the gameplay, when what was needed instead was more time spent refining and balancing it. Perhaps one day a game can make these two genres work together, but Dwarven Skykeep isn’t that game.