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• gamedeal user

  May 27, 2016

  [h1]'They were all defeated by the monsters. All… but one!'[/h1] [b]Intro of Castle in the Darkness[/b] __________________________________________ [h1]Introduction[/h1] 'Castle in the Darkness' is a revival of oldschool action-adventure platformers full of tough bosses and hellish platformer sequences. It takes many ideas from the classics of the different genres (e.g. from the Metroid Games, Castlevania III, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Mega Man…) mixes in some interesting new elements and spices the whole dish up with some RPG elements, tons of secrets and a lot of Easter Eggs. The result is a quite tough cookie of a retro-metroidvania that is probably not the healthiest choice - neither for your controller/keyboard nor for your nerves (sometimes it will make you swear so much that even a pub full of sailors would be impressed). __________________________________________ [h1]Gameplay[/h1] As the only survivor of the Royal Guard it is your duty to save the Kingdom of Alexandria from attacking monsters (and of course you need to save the princess as well). So you start running and jumping through the levels, armed with a sword, an armor and some magic while looking for treasures and secrets to make your journey easier. Which is quite necessary as the game’s difficulty curve jumps up quite fast and soon you have to face scary platforming sequences and unfriendly creatures. However as spikes kill you instantly (and the architect of the kingdom decided to put them nearly EVERYWHERE) they will probably be your toughest enemies and the stuff your nightmares are made of. Often it‘s a wise decision to backtrack and look for different ways and areas aside from the main path that you may have missed before. (Luckily there are some Warp points which allow teleportation between several major stages.) The amount of secrets and optional stuff is huge and if you look closely you can find lots of breakable walls, hidden entrances, fake spikes, optional areas and bosses and items to e.g. increase your health. Many of them are quite well hidden but aside from (more or less obvious) breakable blocks there are several hints to less obvious areas, secrets and abilities – keeping your eyes out in the levels is definitly recommended. Befitting the oldschool-charm of 'Castle in the Darkness‘ the game comes with good oldschool 8-bit graphics and an (amazing!) 8-bit soundtrack that may bring out some nostalgic feels (- well, at least if you are not mad at some particular spikes and areas in the game). __________________________________________ [h1]Contra[/h1] If you plan on finding all the secrets and getting all hidden items and stuff you will need some extra hours after finishing the game and it will bring you straight to some nightmarish jumping sections and plattforming areas where you have to start over and over and over and over… again. (At least it rewards you with a secret ending and a NG+ with additional stuff for completing the game 100%). Always keep in mind: After dying a lot of times the amount of happiness when you finally suceed is way much sweeter: 'Great I finally got the last page from the Book of the Dead so now I can go back to the safe poin-… "Here lies… Died 0000560 times.“ (…oh crap, I forgot about ceiling falling spikes.) You and this little counter on the death screen will become pretty good friends because you will meet each other very often. There’s an achievement for dying 500 times. If you want to finish the game at 100% you probably won’t even need suiciding to accumulate this amount of deaths. In the end it said I died 560 times – mostly to spikes I guess. Yes it can be very frustrating and even if you're used to challenging titles and tough sequences, you will probably end in hating the game or at least some areas as much as you like other parts. Ragequitting the game after dying for the 18th time on an area, isn't that uncommon. One or two additional save points in tough sections would really have been a blessing and could have ended in letting more of my nerves survive the journey. __________________________________________ [h1]Conclusion[/h1] If you expect a difficult little retro-platforming action-adventure with some RPG elements 'Castle in the Darkness‘ will entertain you a lot, providing enough content for at least ~6 hours (for the 'regular bad‘ ending) while balancing between motivation and frustration. I rate it 8 out of 10 points and can say that it’s a great little game for the common ~5 bucks in a sale. However, if you're used to difficult games and you have no problems repeating same areas a lot, the game will be funnier for you compared with those who normally tend to choose 'Easy Mode' This endorsement approved by [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/trureviews]The Reviewers' Union[/url], providing better standards for reviews and reviewers.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 6, 2015

  I think Castle in the Darkness (herein referred to as just "Castle") is proof of a few things: -You shouldn't judge a book by its cover (or a game by its trailer in this case) -There are certain gaming staples that needed to die long ago -You get what you pay for -A "Neutral" option for reviews would be really nice I'll get this one out of the way first. Yes, Castle IS fun. But it's the kind of fun that needs to come with a few asterisks (more on that later). The game has a very simple charm to it that transcends words. Movement and attacking are quick and fluid. Enemies are nicely varied, if a little arbitrary at times, and fighting them is engaging enough. Bosses are equally varied (and there's quite a few of them!), virtually no boss (from what I've played so far) is remotely like any other, and it's fun trying to figure out their patterns and how to take them down, though I would argue that perhaps they aren't spaced out very well. Sometimes it seems like you're fighting a boss every 5 rooms, other times you're wondering if the area has a boss at all. You start with basic equipment (short sword, basic armor) and gain more as you explore the world. These include various weaponry (of course), better armor, various magic (used by holding Attack to charge), relics which offer passive benefits (break certain blocks, keep traction on ice, etc), and Life increases (dropped by bosses). Some equipment you must buy from various NPC's, requiring you to keep on top of collecting all the coins that enemies drop. It is cool to explore the world and gain an arsenal of equipment, but I can't help but feel that it's also a bit superfluous at the same time. The game seems to be designed so that enemies' strength is pretty much always on par with your own, so why even put in all the stat and weapon upgrades if they never add to your power relative to the enemies'? There are a few exceptions; entering Ruth's Hall at the first possible moment is essentially suicide, but then, why even bother letting me enter at all until I'm further along in the game? The story is relatively vague, or perhaps a better word would be loose. What's there isn't bad. But at the same time, it's not really what you're there for. Playing Castle for the story is somewhat akin to playing Mario Bros. or Dota 2 for the story. Now for what I didn't like. While the action is fun, the platforming is not. It's flat out frustrating. Well, the platforming itself isn't strictly bad, it's platforming around all the stuff that instantly kills you that's maddening. There's something about the way the Protagonist jumps that just feels off. It's so close to perfect that it's maddening, but it's not quite there. As I hinted above, the developer seems to have an insatiable crush on spikes that instantly kill you, and traps that instantly kill you. I'm going to reckon the vast majority of any players deaths will be to some form of instant-kill environmental hazard. Actually, there were times I forgot I had a life meter at all. In one room, there's a rugged series of steps with a single spike on one of them, and the spike blends into the background really well. In fact, the first time I passed through that room, being somewhat focused on the enemies, I missed it by chance, and had no idea it was even there. The second time through that room, it killed me (I hadn't even seen it until it did so), and I seriously considered uninstalling the game and never playing it again. But the absolute worst thing about this game are the blocks that break when you step on them. You can (and in most cases MUST) hold Jump to gain extra height as you jump on these blocks to reach whatever destination you're striving for, generally this is "ground that doesn't have instant-kill spikes coming out of it". Which is fine and all. Except for one tiny detail: these blocks look the exact same as every other block. If a block serves a different function from a standard block, it should look different. I'm no game designer, but that seems like a basic. What we have here results in a very I Wanna Be The Guy-esque trial-and-error experience. And it's not like IWBTG, where it's so absurd it's actually funny, it's straight-up frustrating, unfair, and terribly designed. The game is withholding information from you. The final thing about Castle that bugs the hell out of me is its sense of humor. Before I go any further on that, I have to kinda explain what I mean. See, there's a difference between making a subtle, clever nod or shout-out to something, and just pointing at something, saying it exists, and that by merely confirming its existence branding yourself as a comedic genius. And what Castle seems to love to point at is none other than Zelda 2 (and to a lesser extent Zelda in general, and a few other games), but it's not pointing at it, it's just quoting it verbatim, and at the same time portraying Link as (just to avoid having to ask everyone to pardon my French) a sadistic jerk, and even then it was a one-time joke that added nothing to the game. There comes a point where I'd rather a developer just not make any nods to other video games at all, and Castle has crossed that point and then some. At the end of the day, yes, Castle is fun, but this is coming from someone who had the patience to finish Demon's Souls. My recommendation must come with the caveat that if you're not okay with dying a ton, or just dying unfairly in general, then you probably won't like this game. My recommendation must also come with the caveat that I have not beaten it yet. Perhaps I'll have a more definite stance on the game once I do, but even though there's a simple charm in Castle that keeps pulling me in, there's also the game's unrefined platforming pushing me away.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 6, 2015

  Non-linear map designs, fun boss battles and rewarding game play. Heavily influenced by classic games such as the first few Castlevania games and Zelda 2. Lots of secrets to unlock and lots of paths to take. You can unlock new weapons and armour as you progress to increase your attack power and make less health taken when you are hit and like Zelda when you defeat a boss you will recieve a max HP increase. Be warned : This game has a high difficulty and requires a large patience.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 6, 2015

  I wanted to like this game so much. And I did, too, for about three hours. Castle in the Darkness is an unapologetic love-letter to the 8-bit era of gaming, both in aesthetic and challenge. You play a peppy little knight who is the sole survivor of a curse that took hold of your castle. It's up to you to explore every corner of the kingdom to find all the gear and doodads you need to save the princess, and there is a LOT to find. The game is most like Simon's Quest if you ever played that. It's a side-scroller where the stages are stitched together into a continuous world, full of side paths and secrets. There's no map, but the level design is mostly direct enough that you should have no trouble navigating. It's important to note that Castle holds nothing back in its fanatical adoration for the NES era. Enemies are pulled right from Metroid, Castlevania, Gargoyle's Quest, and even stuff like 8 Eyes and Magic of Scheherazade. Also in line with the bygone days of gaming is the challenge. The difficulty ramps up quickly, with enemies doing huge chunks of damage to you and more and more insta-kill spikes making appearances. Finding better weapons, armor, and spells can mitigate the former, but the latter will quickly become the bane of your existence. There's no getting around it, sadly. Unless you're the kind of person who got Impossible Boy in Super Meat Boy, you're going to reach a point where the difficulty becomes too much. Mine was right at the end of the game, when I discovered that the final boss would take almost five minutes to kill and could kill me in maybe five hits. I started looking for more secrets that could help mitigate this, and got through an insane gauntlet of spikes and collapsing floors to find an even harder boss. As much as I (mostly) enjoyed the journey there, reaching that point of frustration and defeat soured me on the entire game. I really want to be able to recommend Castle in the Darkness, but I wouldn't want anyone else to suffer that same heartbreak.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 7, 2015

  When I first saw this game I thought it was going to be just another pixel platformer with "OMG ZANY MAYMAYS" and references from here to hell and back. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually bought it and played it. The controls are really solid, even if it feels the characters moves a bit too fast at times. Attacking and jumping are simple enough to do and are all you really need in the grand schema of things. The difficulty I feel is just right. Yeah, it's hard, but it's plenty fair, and while savepoints are the only healing they're spread out nicely -- not too far apart, not so close to make it a cakewalk. It makes you work to better yourself rather than to let you bulldoze through everything, which I can greatly appreciate. The sound and graphics are right up my alley, as I've always loved the bleeps and bloops of chiptunes since I was a kid, and the pixel art is honestly very pleasant to look at. Every area has a unique atmosphere as well, which really adds to a game like this. My only problem is that you can't use a controller to pause or exit to the main menu. This is easily remedied with third-party software, but it'd be nice to see it natively supported. All in all I feel I spent my money well, and have no regrets. I look forward to playing more in the future and unlocking everything this gem has to offer.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 21, 2017

  This game isn't fun. It feels like it's going to be a TON of fun in the early stages. You start getting hearts, armor and weapons to increase your power, making combat feel much better and more rewarding. However, the further you get into the game, the more you start encountering not just some areas with spike traps that you have to memorize, but entire sections where you have to make every jump perfectly, despite mediocre controls. You have to go through these long sections to pick up an item that is absolutely required to progress forward, so you cannot skip over it. This will mean you're stuck in this spot trying this challenge repeatedly until the game decides it's going to agree with your button presses and lets you move forward. So, the majority of the gameplay here is watching the same 3-6 screens while you are pulling your hair out wondering if you're doing something wrong for 10-20 minutes, only to finally get it perfectly, doing the exact thing you've been doing the whole time... I really want to like this game... The progression feels really nice, but the constant 1 hit kills ruin it all. What difference does it make if you have 50 hp or 5 if all of the traps are instant death? The combat quickly becomes more pointless than the platforming because you vastly outpower every enemy in the game. Even the bosses are a joke with the right weapon/magic combo. But, when you've downed that boss, you'll run into the next screen, and die instantly because you forgot there was a spike pit 1 square away from the starting tile, and the game didn't remove your momentum when you jumped through the screen, causing you to have to redo the entire section again... Not because it's hard, but because fk you... There is an achievement to die 500 times. This is not because the game wants you to sit in one spot farming deaths, but because the developer thinks that you dying 500 times over the course of a playthrough is good game design. Despite giving you tons of tools to avoid death from enemies in combat, you'll never get a tool that will help the game register a half jump 6 times in a row because the game decided that's the challenge you need in order to get a specific item to keep going. Couple this with random freezing and crashing, which can cause your success of these traps to be an instant failure anyway, I just cannot recommend this title if you value your time... I plan on getting 100% complete on it, but only because I've already gotten so far, I may as well finish it off, however, I can see them ramping these perfect trap "challenges" up to the point of forcing me to quit before that happens. And to be clear, I don't mind twitch gaming if the controls are on point. But that is just not the case here, plenty of times you'll have to double jump across 2 screens, and while it's switching screens, it just won't pick up the second jump, but a perfectly timed jump is required, leaving you jumping between the screens a few times in order to properly even change locations. They also have no qualms putting spikes under these jumps, so you can redo an entire section 10 times all because the game refuses to let you get that perfectly timed double jump. The buttons are just too floaty for this level of precision required. When you reach the Windy Ruins, you'll find out just how bad it all gets. Suddenly you have jumps that you have to make across multiple screens on almost every map, despite double jump only working about 3/4ths the time during this event. On top of this, you are only allowed to stand on a single block, because otherwise it's spikes for you (1 hit death despite all of your leveling to this point because fk you.) To make it even more "fun" the terrible developer decides to make this ground constantly push you toward the spikes.... Hey, it's WINDY right, and as we all know, wind pushes people in armor around like they are leaves. Not enemies though, because again, fk you. It's really a shame the developer couldn't develop some proper controls, because this MIGHT almost be fun then. Though, terrible level design that just keeps getting worse in the most unfun ways possible as you progress makes this seem very unlikely. If you get this game, get ready to die unfairly often. Spikes often blend into the ground, and they have no issues with putting a single one on a slope so that you don't notice it, but so it'll get you if you touch it on the way up, AND when you come back down, since it's naturally right in the path your character falls, but you'll forget it's there, since it blends almost perfectly with the environment. I'm a huge fan of the Dark Souls series.... This game is the opposite in almost every way. Dark Souls rewards exlporation with engaging combat and interesting item placement. This game sticks everything in a 'hidden' wall, and punishes you for not moving across every screen at a snails crawl. The combat should have been the focus here, but it quickly becomes the side dish, as you get annoyed having to fight the same guy over and over because of the shoddy platforming.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 5, 2016

  Before I start tearing into this game, I need to give it credit for its good aspects. Castle in the Darkness has an awesome soundtrack, good pixel art, and decent controls. Every area of the game has a fantastic atmosphere thanks to its color scheme, environment design, and especially music. There are a many humorous NES references that are sure to make you smile (although they rarely amount to more than just references). If you play fake retro games mainly for their stylistic appeal, this one’s probably worth it. The gameplay, on the other hand, is all over the place. The stage design, difficulty, and progression curve are stunningly sloppy in ways I’ve never seen before. For starters, Castle in the Darkness can’t decide whether it wants to be a legitimate Metroidvania or a kaizo trap game. The game immediately makes it very clear that it expects you to die hundreds if not thousands of times, thanks to a six-figure death counter on the Game Over screen, and also thanks to some kaizo traps placed in the very first area. I hate kaizo traps, but I admit that they have their place – they’re like jokes at your expense, with a clever setup and a punchline, and a perfect kaizo trap will make you say “damn, good one” even as you smash your keyboard in rage. With games like I Wanna Be the Guy, the appeal of the game is just getting to see how creative all the traps are, and with games like La-Mulana, they create a sense of tension that encourages you to keep a close eye on your surroundings and be wary of every move you make. In this game, they are neither; they mainly consist of spikes falling on you from offscreen, spike traps placed immediately after a screen transition, and unmarked crumbling platforms. They appear to serve no purpose other than inflating your death count and making the game’s other problems look better in comparison. One of these problems is that most of the game’s “difficulty” hinges on the game poorly conveying its own basic rules and forcing you to learn them through trial and error. For example, here are just a [i]few[/i] of my biggest complaints: [list] [*] Near the beginning of the game, there is a Mario pipe with a sign in front of it warning you not to enter the pipe. You’d think, “haha, cute,” but that’s not the joke – the real joke is that, unlike regular Mario pipes, this one has an invisible lip on the entrance which makes it difficult to jump over, and also unlike Mario pipes, the top isn’t solid – if you try to stand on it, you’ll just fall in. If you die to this trap, it wasn’t because the trap was clever, but because the game intentionally made you misunderstand its own physics. Had it behaved like a typical Mario pipe, it would have been a funny "Do-I-or-don't-I" gag, but they somehow messed it up. [*] There are two different types of crumbling floors with different physics, each of which could be marked the same way or not marked at all, and there's no way of telling them apart aside from trial and error. [*] After introducing NPCs and teaching you to talk to them by walking into them, the game introduces an enemy which looks like an NPC, which deals contact damage to you as it talks to you. [*] Most bosses lock you in the room with an invisible door. In one late-game boss room, the invisible door closes above what looks to be a standable ledge, and if you try to jump onto it you’ll bump and fall into a spike pit. [/list] As the xkcd comic says, “Communicating badly and then acting smug when you’re misunderstood is not cleverness.” It honestly feels like the game designer didn’t feel like changing a lot of the sloppy design, and just added a bunch of intentionally unfair kaizo traps to mask them. When the game eases up on the kaizo traps, and it starts to be enjoyable as a Metroidvania game underneath. Problem is, it’s a very bland Metroidvania. While the environments themselves are fantastic, there are no unique or interesting mechanics. You have your choices of armor and weapons (most of which become useless halfway into the game, as they just aren’t powerful enough). You have your most basic upgrades like double-jumping. You collect money to buy items, but merchants are very rare and most of the time you have no idea what you’re even saving up for. Save points are almost never placed after boss encounters, so you will usually have to backtrack through the previous area to save your game after beating a boss, or push forward into unexplored territory and risk getting caught by a kaizo trap. Also, there is no map system at all. The combat is very badly balanced. The game likes to make you use pathetically weak weapons, then hands you something overpowered which lets you plough through the enemies like butter. Then it introduces damage sponge enemies which make your weapons weak again, and the cycle repeats. You never feel like you’re honing your skill since you’re always using something that’s so powerful it requires no skill, or so weak that no amount of skill can help you. It makes no attempt to find that “sweet spot” where winning feels like something within your control that you accomplished of your own accord. The New Game+ does change up the mechanics in some interesting ways, but it relies on power creep more than ever. Castle in the Darkness should have a strong appeal to fans of the retro aesthetic – it looks good, it sounds good, and it controls well. But as Metroidvania ridden with unfunny kaizo traps, lazy design, and power creep problems, it felt unsatisfying. I give it a 5.5 / 10. Interestingly, the game includes some of its own old E3 demos. A few of them, especially the earliest E3 demo, were a blast! They seem like completely different games, and make me wonder where they went – I would have liked to play a version of Castle in the Darkness which stuck to its original intentions.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 2, 2020

  Castle in the Darkness is a love letter to classic gaming tropes and nods from a glorious time in our favorite hobby. A series of nods and tributes to well know classics ranging from the likes of Super Mario Bros and Zelda to Ghosts and Goblins and Bubble Bobble. You may even find some more obscure references thrown in, such as Monster Party. Half of the fun will be seeing these clever little tributes thrown around. Some are very blatantly obvious, while others are more subtle. If something looks familiar, it's probably because it is. Aside from having a mash up of cool retro gaming tributes thrown around, CitD is still a pretty solid game on its own. This title comprises a mixture of metroidvania mechanics with some basic combat elements and a hell of a lot of platforming. The graphics are old school. More leaning towards that of the NES era. One of the complaints I have seen about this game is that it gets increasingly difficult in the latter half of the game. and this is no joke. The difficulty does ramp up. If you compare the early parts of the game, which are a cakewalk, to the latter half, you'll find the game may appear unbalanced. But it's not really unbalanced. This is a metroidvania, and you get rewarded for exploration. If you find an area difficult, or seemingly impossible to traverse, you probably need to go back to a previous area and actually explore. You'll be bound to find new weapons, new magic, or even items that can have you reach those unreachable places, like a double jump or swimming item, or more. CitD is definitely a recommend for those into metroidvanias and classic games. As of the time of writing this, the game is only $2usd. But even at the normal price of $10, I can easily recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 7, 2015

  - OLD THOUGHTS - UPDATED THOUGHTS BELOW - THOUGHTS: 02.07.2015 I haven't finished the game yet, but at almost 8 hours in, I feel I've played enough to share my thoughts. I'll update this if/when I finish the game to update/finalize my thoughts. Here's what I feel right now. This game is fantastic. It really captures NES-style fun, platforming and frustration. - PROS - - Great art direction; I really like the look of the backgrounds and characters. - Great understanding of contrasting colors. Oftentimes a cool color will be in the background and a warm in the foreground (or vice versa ). Really makes the game pop (so many games get this wrong. It's great to see it done well here). - Gameplay is fun and varied. The jump feels great too (not *fantastic*, but very good). - Wide variety of weapons and items to keep gameplay from becoming bland. - Really good music. When I entered a certain area - I had to pause for a second and just listen to it. It sounded *very* familiar (I'll leave it at that). Once I got the reference, it made me grin from ear to ear. - Lots of cute, interesting nods to other games (Mega Man, Castlevania, etc.). - Interesting, challenging boss battles. I hate boss battles that are *just* long. Here they're challenging and varied - but not too long once you get the pattern down. That's cool. - CONS - - It took me a while to get used to the screen transition. In Super Metroid, The Binding of Issac (or a host of other games - Shovel Knight, even) when you enter a new screen, the character pauses and slides across the screen as the new area is introduced. It helps to keep everything clear: here is the character; here is a new area. In 'Castle in the Darkness' the new screen just kinda pops into existence. Then it takes me a half-second to find where the character is. I have to admit that I found it rather jarring for the first few screens. I got used to it...and this may not affect everyone - but just thought I'd mention it here. - No map system - and the game is HUGE. I may have to break out some graph paper and draw my own... - (As far as I know) No 'current objective' slide to look at. So, if you put this game down for a week and come back you would be COMPLETELY lost. - 'One-hit kill' spikes abound. -NOTES- It has to be mentioned (as I'm sure you've read in other reviews) - this game is *hard*. I think I have over 300 deaths already. It's cool, though - having a blast doing it. What's important to note is that this game uses a design philosophy that some players may not like - what I call "playing from save point to save point". It reminded me of a saying I hadn't thought of in years - "It's not real until you save." Beat a boss? Go back and save. Got a new item? Go back and save. Unlocked a secret room that's really cool and you want to explore it? For the love of all that is good GO BACK AND SAVE YOUR GAME. This is not a game where you run carelessly past save points as you vanquish foes with ease. This is a game where you jump for joy at save points, thank them for existing, give them a huge hug and kiss and then step cautiously into the next room. I grew up on games like this, so I understand this design philosophy - but I can see how others could see this as annoying or grindy. Also, as I get further into the game, the amount of 'one-hit kills' (i.e. spikes) seems to be increasing exponentially. I hope the endgame is not just jumping through like thirty rooms filled with spikes - and if you slip up and touch ONE of them - you gotta go all the way back to the beginning. I mean, Super Meat Boy has one-hit kills as well - but that game has a super-fast reload time and no level is more than one screen long. That level of difficulty in this metroidvania structure would NOT work well. I hope that doesn't happen. >_< - OVERALL - So far, I'm really enjoying the game. Great NES-style action and great music. If you love platformers and you're ready for a challenge, I say pick it up (it's less than $5!). If you want something light to beat in a weekend, though...this may not be for you. I, however, am thoroughly enjoying it and look forward to seeing what other craziness the game has to offer (and I've seen some crazy rooms in it already). I hope I'm able to finish it. *fingers crossed* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - UPDATE - THOUGHTS: 02.08.2015 I just beat the game with 90% completion (this took a little over 18 hours) and wanted to share my final thoughts. 'Castle in the Darkness' is wonderful. It truly is an engaging, challenging gem of a game. It surprised me how new enemies kept showing up right up until the end of the game. I was like, "This game is STILL introducing new enemies?!" Love it. All of my thoughts above still apply and I was impressed that right through to the end, it's was an incredible experience. Also, Matt Kap (the developer) is still fixing things and making the game the best that it can be. Much respect for that! So, in the end, 'Castle in the Darkness' is VERY much recommended. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to explore a bit more and see if I can get 100% completion. Cheers! :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - UPDATE - THOUGHTS: 02.17.2015 Now I've beaten the game at 100% completion! Hurray! *does a little happy dance* http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197994686280/screenshots/?appid=262960
• gamedeal user

  Aug 3, 2020

  Another potentially great NES-style game made middle-of-the-road by building around the faux-hardcore “impale hell” trend. On average, there are about ten times as many spikes per screen as there were hyphens in that sentence, just because. There used to be this interior design TV show called Trading Spaces. In one episode, a pro designer glued hay all over a family’s walls, just because. The stuff cows eat, yeah. Not good. Castle in the Darkness did that with spikes. If that’s not enough, enemy projectiles from the previous screen continue towards you when you switch screens, disappearing blocks are sometimes indistinguishable from permanent ones, and double jump is unreliable in several common instances. The rest of the game is actually quite enjoyable so just imagine a restaurant you enjoy—the food’s good—but suddenly there is hay everywhere even though it in no way enhances the dining experience and, if you touch it, your server slaps the fork out of your hand. If you’d still want to eat there, perhaps you will find Castle in the Darkness palatable.