Dungeon Fighter Online

Classes

Dungeon Fighter Online Classes

Starting Classes:

• Knight – a female-only class that can equip swords and shields. They have balanced offensive and defensive capabilities.
• Slayer – a swordsman with demon powers residing in his off-hand. Slayers excel in hack-and-slash battle. This is a male-restricted class.
  • Subclasses: Blade Master, Soul Bender, Berserker, and Asura
• Fighter – a hand-to-hand expert with powerful kick attacks.
  • Subclasses: Nen Master, Striker, Brawler, and Grappler
• Gunner – can take out enemies from long range with a gun in each hand. Gunners use powerful kicks to take out enemies fortunate enough to get close.
  • Subclasses: Ranger, Launcher, Mechanic, and Spitfire
• Mage – harnesses the power of the elements to rain down destruction on their foes. They also have the ability to resurrect fallen allies.
  • Subclasses: (female) Elementalist, Summoner, Witch, and Battle Mage // (male) Elemental Bomber and Glacial Master
• Priest – devotees who use Holy power to eradicate all evil and protect the weak. They wield massive weapons and use punches as their secondary weapon. Priests are also a male-restricted class.
  • Subclasses: Crusader, Monk, Exorcist, and Avenger
• Thief – an agile Dark Elf who specializes in delivering critical blows using dual daggers. This also a female-only class.
  • Subclasses: Rogue and Necromancer
• Dark Knight – a slayer who has mastered the use of his demon powers. Dark Knights can use all the skills of a Slayer. Their attack damage increases as they rack up more combos.
• Creator – a magician who uses magic and various items and inventions to attack the enemy. Unlike other classes, they use mouse-based controls which makes them relatively easier to play. This class is female-only.

Full Review

Dungeon Fighter Online Review

By Marc Marasigan

Dungeon Fighter Online, or DFO, is a 2D MMO beat ‘em up game developed and published by Neople. It was first released in Korea in 2005 under Hangame, a Korean gaming company, and was later ported over to North America by Nexon Games in 2009. The game was shut down on June 13, 2013 and was re-released globally by Neople on March 24, 2015. The re-launched version uses Nexon’s last English version of the game, with a few key differences: free skill resets and quicker game updates. Fans of the original game from Nexon will surely appreciate the free skill resets.

The game is set in the mythical kingdom of Arad, where the once docile monsters that inhabited the kingdom have suddenly become violent. It’s up to the hero, a.k.a. the player, to protect the citizens, eliminate the root of the problem, and bring back peace to the kingdom.

From Zero to Hero

The first step for any player playing DFO is creating their characters, assuming that they’ve already registered for an account and downloaded the game (which seems a bit too large for a 2D game). Character creation is as simple as picking from 9 classes, 3 of which have both male and female versions, which makes for a total of 12 classes to choose from. Once players have chosen their class and named their characters, they are introduced to the game’s story through manga-style cut-scenes, as well as an animated one. After the cut-scene, players are then dropped straight into a beginner dungeon to familiarize them with the controls and combat. Unfortunately, there is no option to skip the tutorial, which only takes about 5 minutes to complete so it shouldn’t be much of a bother. After the tutorial, players are transported to the town of Silver Crown where they begin their journey. Cities in DFO serve as hubs where players can acquire quests, buy or sell items, and socialize. Everything else is instanced.

The Magical World of Arad

DFO features persistent worlds with instanced dungeons and is one of the first MMORPGs to do so. This was then followed by Dragon Nest, Lunia, and Vindictus. Everything about this game feels retro, which might not appeal to some players. The game features retro-arcade style graphics reminiscent of old side-scrolling beat ‘em up arcade games from the SNES and SEGA Genesis era. The sound also has a classical RPG feel to it and fits the overall theme of the game quite nicely. The game has over 400 million registered users, so they must be doing something right.

The Path of a Hero

DFO offers players a mix of beat ‘em up action with classical MMORPG elements, and like typical MMORPGs, quests are the player’s main source of money, equipment, and experience points. Quests can be acquired from NPCs in town and come in the form of dungeon-runs that players must successfully complete to the end. Like classic beat ‘em ups, players must first eliminate all enemies in a zone before they can proceed to the next one, usually culminating in a boss fight. Aside from the quest rewards, players can also loot items from mobs and bosses. Basically, the whole game involves visiting an NPC to start a quest, hitting the dungeon, then returning to the quest-giver to collect rewards. Rinse and repeat. This tends to get boring after a while. Good thing that the bosses pose a bit of a challenge and will definitely keep players occupied, even if it’s just for a few hours. The dungeons will seem a bit easy at first, but once you start hitting level 16+ dungeons, you’ll know what frustration is. Some bosses literally take hours to take down, and it’s not uncommon to be close to dying after just one hit. Fortunately, the game allows players to team up with four other players to complete a certain dungeon. Not sure if the game difficulty increases, since I’m more of a solo guy.

Just Like the Arcades

Combat and movement in DFO uses the arrow keys to move around and keyboard keys to launch attacks and trigger abilities or items in the hotbar. The game is set up so that players can easily swap their keyboards for a gamepad or even an arcade controller. I definitely recommend using a gamepad instead, simply because they’re a lot less awkward to use than keyboards for these kind of games. Anyone who's ever appreciated classic arcade beat'em ups like Double Dragon or Golden Axe will love the retro-graphics and action-oriented gameplay in Dungeon Fighter Online.

Beat ‘em Up PvP

Being an MMORPG, DFO also features PvP options that players have come to expect from other MMORPGs. To access the PvP channel, players must be Level 35 and above. To even out the playing field, player stats are automatically balanced once they enter a PvP Game Room. Depending on the type of game mode selected, a typical PvP match requires at least 2 players to compete (up to a maximum of 8 players). DFO offers 5 arena-style game modes: Brawl, Deathmatch, Team, Team Deathmatch, and Elimination. Brawls are free-for-all matches where the last man standing wins. Deathmatch is similar to Brawl matches, but players are given two lives to work with. Team matches pit one team against another using Brawl match rules. Team Deathmatches features the same rules as Team matches but gives players a set number of lives to be shared by all members of the team. Lastly, Elimination matches have two teams going up against each other in one-on-one matches, where the winner of the match moves on to fight the next player of the opposing team. The last team standing wins the match.

Joining PvP matches rewards players with PvP experience, which determines their rankings on the leaderboard. Losers don’t gain any experience. Players also gain Victory Points, regardless of whether they win or lose. These Victory Points can be used to purchase special potions and high quality weapons.

Cash Shop

Like all free-to-play MMOs, DFO features a premium item shop that lets players purchase items using Cera, which can be bought using real money. The game is still in its early stages under Neople and so far, the premium shop contains the usual fanfare of items, but nothing game-breaking. Let’s just hope that Neople doesn’t get all greedy and start implementing OP premium weapons in the future.

Final Verdict – Great

While DFO features classic retro arcade graphics that might put off some players, underneath its 16-bit-like exterior is a surprisingly solid and addictive game. The game’s beat ‘em up style combat brought me back to the days when arcades were popular. DFO’s instanced dungeons have paved the way for popular games like Dragon Nest and Vindictus, which is saying something. Overall, DFO is a solid game, and with over 400 million registered users world-wide, DFO is definitely doing something right.

Screenshots

Dungeon Fighter Online Screenshots

Videos

Dungeon Fighter Online Videos

Links

Dungeon Fighter Online Links

Dungeon Fighter Online Official Site
Dungeon Fighter Online Wikipedia
Dungeon Fighter Online World Wiki [Database / Guides]
Dungeon Fighter Online Subreddit

System Requirements

Dungeon Fighter Online System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Dual Core / AMD X2 5600+
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 (64 bit OS recommended)
CPU: Intel Core i5 / AMD FX Series
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 400 series / ATI Radeon HD 7790
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5 GB

GoblinWorks has yet to release official system requirements for Dungeon Fighter Online. The above Dungeon Fighter Online system requirements are OUR estimates and we will revise them as soon as official data is available.

Music

Dungeon Fighter Online Music & Soundtrack

Additional Info

Dungeon Fighter Online Additional Information

Developer: Neople (Subsidiary of Nexon)
Open Beta Date: March 24, 2015 (New Neople global version)

Foreign Releases:

South Korea: August 10, 2005 (published as "Dungeon & Fighter" by Nexon)
Japan: November, 2006 (published as Arad Senki, or "War Records of Arad," by Nexon)
China: November, 2007 (published as "Dungeon & Fighter" by Nexon)

Development History / Background:

Dungeon Fighter Online was developed by the South Korean game developer Neople, which is owned by Korean gaming juggernaut Nexon. The game was originally designed to be a minor title with meager expectations, so Neople developed the game in only 5 months. Closed beta testing began on December 17, 2004 and open beta in Korea launched on August 10, 2005. Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback from testers, Neople dedicated more and more resources to the game. Dungeon Fighter Online was a unique game when it launched and still is, especially since the game's design is a 2D side-scrolling game inspired by retro arcade beat'em ups. Most games at the time were 3D, so seeing a game embrace retro graphics was definitely odd.

Since its launch in South Korea in 2005, Dungeon Fighter Online enjoyed enormous success and has been one of Nexon's most profitable games in both South Korea and China. The game reached 300 million registered users on May 25, 2011 and boasted over 2 million concurrent users in China alone. The US was a different story, though –Dungeon Fighter Online began its closed beta testing in the US on July 28, 2009, with its open beta launching on September 22, 2009. The game's popularity in the US didn't come close to its performance in Asia though, as Nexon decided to close the English servers on June 13, 2013. All hope wasn't lost, as Neople, the subsidiary of Nexon that developed the game, announced they'd be launching a global version of the game with closed beta beginning on March 24, 2015.

Dungeon Fighter's runaway success led to the creation of an anime adaption of the game called Slap-Up Party: Arad Senki (odd name, I know), as well as a manga.

Dungeon Fighter Online as of 2020 had earned over $15 billion in lifetime sales, making it the world's highest grossing MMORPG, out-earning World of Warcraft.