Firstly, in D2 you just had the control of 1 of 2 factions (horde or demons), while here you have all 3 factions at once (horde, demons, undead).

Secondly, you have a leader unit in the map (Thalya), you can level her up and send her to battle like in D1.

Aside of that, it's the same as D2.

I'm also more of a campaign type and I personally am enjoying 3 more than 2. You play as a dark elf who serves the ultimate evil and it's be a nice change of pace having a main character out on the battlefield.

There's still a fair bit of start up but since they switch the snots over to a constant supply and researchable I'm liked not having to micro them as much.

Overall it's the same dungeons experience but with more polish and improvements. Splattercat who gives first impressions on a lot of game said 1 was bad, 2 was good, and the rest just keep getting better and improving upon the last iteration.

Almost any new installment that follows "more of the same" tactics is a glorified map pack. 3 is one of those rare instances when it's not. Unlike 4, rather.

Dungeons 2 was frankly patronizing with its low level of difficulty and slow pace.

Dungeons 3 is much faster paced. First thing I noticed about the game after not liking 2 very much. Much of the solution involved consolidating things that didn't need to be split up. You also have more to fight for in the overworld and you're rewarded for being proactive.

Besides achievements/challenges making a return, some of the DLC missions can be pretty close on timing, and in general, enemies attack the dungeon more. You need to go into the overworld to get more upgrades, and the sooner you go, the better.

There are still some instances of combat units also being work units, but it largely doesn't matter. You don't need converted heroes and you don't need traps. Using both would grind the pace of your game to a halt. Some missions end before you can use either of them at all.

Meanwhile, autonomous buildings like the prison are always producing skeletons and upgrades for you.

The initial building time is much faster in this game as well. In many missions you can set out immediately or within the first few minutes after adding one or two rooms, but you need to be careful not to open up too many rooms full of spiders/worms/etc