Although, due to the devs design decisions, the usual Unreal Engine problems didn’t rear their ugly heads, but, at the same time, the only strength of Unreal Engine was thrown to the wayside, but I am getting ahead of myself.
As its the tradition for these introduction paragraphs, this game did run pretty well, no problems whatsoever, if anything, it made me wonder as to why they even used Unreal Engine in the first place…
Does it show that I hate Unreal Engine?
So, enough rambling, lets continue to the game.
Story & Setting
It is a time of strife, famine, war, and roaming monsters have made every day a waking nightmare.
The people have given up, hoping for the sweet release of death. Very few dare to defy destiny.
You, a samurai serving Lord Takeda, are left to your luck after a disastrous campaign, in which your lord sacrificed himself in order for you to survive and run to the wilderness.
Finally, after gathering yourself, you realize that a samurai is nothing without his master, and those who took your master’s life shall pay.
With nothing but your armor which has seen the wear of countless battles, and a broken katana, off you go.
Your objective? The castle of The Demon King, the one which has not only taken your lord’s life, but the one behind all the evil roaming the land.
Off you go, to the Labyrinth of The Demon King. Revenge shall be sweet indeed.
The people have given up, hoping for the sweet release of death. Very few dare to defy destiny.
You, a samurai serving Lord Takeda, are left to your luck after a disastrous campaign, in which your lord sacrificed himself in order for you to survive and run to the wilderness.
Finally, after gathering yourself, you realize that a samurai is nothing without his master, and those who took your master’s life shall pay.
With nothing but your armor which has seen the wear of countless battles, and a broken katana, off you go.
Your objective? The castle of The Demon King, the one which has not only taken your lord’s life, but the one behind all the evil roaming the land.
Off you go, to the Labyrinth of The Demon King. Revenge shall be sweet indeed.
Presentation
First thing first, lets address the most noticeable thing, this game is a homage to PS1 games, as I said, it wears its influences on its sleeves, most notably, King’s Field and Silent Hill.
That, follows to the presentation, with a lot of design decisions being affected.
Its inspired, and follows those inspirations very closely, for good and for ill.
Its folklore horror, and has a lot of influence from Japanese folklore, and a great deal of Buddhist mythology is mixed in.
You will encounter all manner of youkai and vengeful spirits, most aggressive, some actually helpful, and, some humans who will aid you in your quest, by selling you stuff.
The graphics, are meant to emulate the look of a PS1 game, with wobbly polygons, and some details in cutscenes to make them look as if they are pre-rendered. This detail, can make or break the game for you, cause, there is no beating around the bush, its ugly, but the ugliness is by design.
That, follows to the presentation, with a lot of design decisions being affected.
Its inspired, and follows those inspirations very closely, for good and for ill.
Its folklore horror, and has a lot of influence from Japanese folklore, and a great deal of Buddhist mythology is mixed in.
You will encounter all manner of youkai and vengeful spirits, most aggressive, some actually helpful, and, some humans who will aid you in your quest, by selling you stuff.
The graphics, are meant to emulate the look of a PS1 game, with wobbly polygons, and some details in cutscenes to make them look as if they are pre-rendered. This detail, can make or break the game for you, cause, there is no beating around the bush, its ugly, but the ugliness is by design.
The same goes for the level design, either going for lots of backtracking, or annoying labyrinth.
The draw distance in dark areas too was meant to emulate the PS1, with it being quite limited, even with a torch/lantern.
Most enemies have tells for their attacks, but, they can be quite fast, so it takes a bit getting used to.
There is also a simple system of gibs and decapitation, nothing too crazy.
The environments look decayed and filthy, the game has a certain vibe which accomplishes very well, oppressive, and claustrophobic. Its also riddled with environmental storytelling, for those with a keen eye to piece together what actually happened in this place, there are also secret passages filled with goodies for those willing to examine everything.
There are also Resident Evil/Silent Hill like transitions of doors, stairs, or crawling through holes, when you travel through loading screens.
Moving on to sound, each enemy has an identifiable sound, either their voice/shriek, or their footsteps, you will quite likely know what you are dealing with by sound first, before it rears its ugly head.
The most annoying enemy, always appears after the sound of a bell, impossible to miss, and lets you know he is on the prowl.
There isn’t much on the music side, but it does the job well on maintaining the atmosphere of any given area, working together with ambiance, making the experience quite immersive, and serving to maintain that oppressive vibe I mentioned before.
As for voice acting, there isn’t any, enemies just make noises or shrieks, and when NPCs speak, they speak in gibberish.
The draw distance in dark areas too was meant to emulate the PS1, with it being quite limited, even with a torch/lantern.
Most enemies have tells for their attacks, but, they can be quite fast, so it takes a bit getting used to.
There is also a simple system of gibs and decapitation, nothing too crazy.
The environments look decayed and filthy, the game has a certain vibe which accomplishes very well, oppressive, and claustrophobic. Its also riddled with environmental storytelling, for those with a keen eye to piece together what actually happened in this place, there are also secret passages filled with goodies for those willing to examine everything.
There are also Resident Evil/Silent Hill like transitions of doors, stairs, or crawling through holes, when you travel through loading screens.
Moving on to sound, each enemy has an identifiable sound, either their voice/shriek, or their footsteps, you will quite likely know what you are dealing with by sound first, before it rears its ugly head.
The most annoying enemy, always appears after the sound of a bell, impossible to miss, and lets you know he is on the prowl.
There isn’t much on the music side, but it does the job well on maintaining the atmosphere of any given area, working together with ambiance, making the experience quite immersive, and serving to maintain that oppressive vibe I mentioned before.
As for voice acting, there isn’t any, enemies just make noises or shrieks, and when NPCs speak, they speak in gibberish.
Mechanics
As I said before, for good and for ill, it follows its inspirations closely.
The best way to describe the combat is, clunky, it takes a bit getting used to, thankfully, is simple.
You have a light hit, and a heavy hit, combine them for combos, both of which consume stamina, you can actually see the combo list for the specific weapon on the equipment menu.
You have a dodge, which is free the first time you use it, but, it will consume stamina if you use it too often, once the cooldown is over, it can be used for free again.
You have a parry button, but, be mindful that its not a block button, your character will stop parrying after a bit, and it has a slight delay to parry again.
You have a kick which pushes enemies back.
You get some consumables, arrows and ammo, and talismans with various uses.
Enemies can block, you break the block with a kick or a heavy attack, be mindful, that enemies can do the same to your parry. Some attacks can even stun you, and its easy to get stunlocked if you are careless.
You also can sprint, its free, but, your stamina won’t regen while you are sprinting.
The best way to describe the combat is, clunky, it takes a bit getting used to, thankfully, is simple.
You have a light hit, and a heavy hit, combine them for combos, both of which consume stamina, you can actually see the combo list for the specific weapon on the equipment menu.
You have a dodge, which is free the first time you use it, but, it will consume stamina if you use it too often, once the cooldown is over, it can be used for free again.
You have a parry button, but, be mindful that its not a block button, your character will stop parrying after a bit, and it has a slight delay to parry again.
You have a kick which pushes enemies back.
You get some consumables, arrows and ammo, and talismans with various uses.
Enemies can block, you break the block with a kick or a heavy attack, be mindful, that enemies can do the same to your parry. Some attacks can even stun you, and its easy to get stunlocked if you are careless.
You also can sprint, its free, but, your stamina won’t regen while you are sprinting.
Some enemies have specific resistances, like being weaker to slashing damage, or being weaker to blunt damage. The game has a lot of weapons for you to find and use.
There is an specific enemy with a gimmick to kill it, and, there are some enemies which can’t be killed, and will wake up after a few seconds.
Then, there is the most annoying enemy, an enemy who will be following you throughout the game, if you beat it, it will take a knee for about 5 seconds, then go back to attacking you. He is the one with the bell, and there is a trick to getting rid of him permanently.
There are status effects, bleed and poison, which are obvious, cured with bandages and antidotes, you can also apply those effects to enemies, there is also another one I wasn’t sure what it did, filth, you get it by being near vengeful spirits, or the annoying one. I think its related to stamina, but don’t quote me on that.
You save your game by praying in shrines, and you can use special incense in those shrines to increase your maximum health and stamina.
Dying in this game is easy, but its fairly merciful with the consequences, when you die, you are taken to the last shrine you prayed at, but, you will lose any consumable you used before dying, that’s it.
Bear in mind, that enemies will respawn regardless, some areas will always spawn enemies somewhere as soon as you go in, and you won’t know for sure what you will be dealing with at times, as there are areas in which the game likes to switch what to spawn and when to spawn it, just to keep you guessing.
Throughout the game, you will find a few NPCs, they will move to the tea house after you finish the 1st tower, there, you can use their services.
The tea house is a safe area, there you can have some tea for free to heal yourself, and get some free healing items, as well as buy equipment from the multiple vendors, and upgrade your equipment with the Kappa… Using Shirikodama (if you know, you know).
You can destroy some crates, and barrels, to get stuff, or be ambushed by poison bugs, fun times.
Keep in mind, that you won’t be able to see the map of an area, until you find the map withing the zone, and, some zones don’t have a map.
You will be solving puzzles, backtracking, and beating bosses to progress through the game, sometimes finding notes giving you lore, hints, or info on enemies.
The game its quite short all things considered.
There is an specific enemy with a gimmick to kill it, and, there are some enemies which can’t be killed, and will wake up after a few seconds.
Then, there is the most annoying enemy, an enemy who will be following you throughout the game, if you beat it, it will take a knee for about 5 seconds, then go back to attacking you. He is the one with the bell, and there is a trick to getting rid of him permanently.
There are status effects, bleed and poison, which are obvious, cured with bandages and antidotes, you can also apply those effects to enemies, there is also another one I wasn’t sure what it did, filth, you get it by being near vengeful spirits, or the annoying one. I think its related to stamina, but don’t quote me on that.
You save your game by praying in shrines, and you can use special incense in those shrines to increase your maximum health and stamina.
Dying in this game is easy, but its fairly merciful with the consequences, when you die, you are taken to the last shrine you prayed at, but, you will lose any consumable you used before dying, that’s it.
Bear in mind, that enemies will respawn regardless, some areas will always spawn enemies somewhere as soon as you go in, and you won’t know for sure what you will be dealing with at times, as there are areas in which the game likes to switch what to spawn and when to spawn it, just to keep you guessing.
Throughout the game, you will find a few NPCs, they will move to the tea house after you finish the 1st tower, there, you can use their services.
The tea house is a safe area, there you can have some tea for free to heal yourself, and get some free healing items, as well as buy equipment from the multiple vendors, and upgrade your equipment with the Kappa… Using Shirikodama (if you know, you know).
You can destroy some crates, and barrels, to get stuff, or be ambushed by poison bugs, fun times.
Keep in mind, that you won’t be able to see the map of an area, until you find the map withing the zone, and, some zones don’t have a map.
You will be solving puzzles, backtracking, and beating bosses to progress through the game, sometimes finding notes giving you lore, hints, or info on enemies.
The game its quite short all things considered.
Final Thoughts
Its a fairly short, but quite engaging game.
The clunky controls and interface do take a little getting used to, but its not a deal breaker in any shape or form.
Some critiques I do have, is that its quite front loaded, with the 1st tower having the most complex layout and puzzles. And being the one with the most things going on environment wise.
After you are done with the 1st tower, the game lets you chose which of the other 2 do first, the bathhouse, feels like an afterthought with how simple it is, and the Jail, which is mostly an annoying labyrinth. After you are done with those, you are off to the final tower.
The final tower is a joke.
I beat all the bosses in my first try, solely by running in circles… Even the ones which spawn enemies were beaten by a samurai running in circles.
Compared to the struggle that was getting used to the controls and the flow of combat at the start, the late game felt like an absolute joke difficulty wise.
Upgrades for yourself don’t feel too meaningful, sure they do stack up by the end, but just adding 5 points when upgrading doesn’t have the impact you would expect, taking into account how rare the upgrade incense is. There is also pretty much no point on upgrading armor, as upgrading weapons has more impact and reduces having a need for a strong armor anyway.
All in all, its a fairly enjoyable game, I am a King’s Field fan myself, and quite the sucker for folklore horror, so of course I would like it. But, as much as I enjoyed this game, I must warn you that this game is best, when you play it by its own terms, understand that the ugly look and the clunky controls are by design.
Still, that’s The Labyrinth of The Demon King, a fairly short, yet quite fun and atmospheric game.
Will you give it a try?
The clunky controls and interface do take a little getting used to, but its not a deal breaker in any shape or form.
Some critiques I do have, is that its quite front loaded, with the 1st tower having the most complex layout and puzzles. And being the one with the most things going on environment wise.
After you are done with the 1st tower, the game lets you chose which of the other 2 do first, the bathhouse, feels like an afterthought with how simple it is, and the Jail, which is mostly an annoying labyrinth. After you are done with those, you are off to the final tower.
The final tower is a joke.
I beat all the bosses in my first try, solely by running in circles… Even the ones which spawn enemies were beaten by a samurai running in circles.
Compared to the struggle that was getting used to the controls and the flow of combat at the start, the late game felt like an absolute joke difficulty wise.
Upgrades for yourself don’t feel too meaningful, sure they do stack up by the end, but just adding 5 points when upgrading doesn’t have the impact you would expect, taking into account how rare the upgrade incense is. There is also pretty much no point on upgrading armor, as upgrading weapons has more impact and reduces having a need for a strong armor anyway.
All in all, its a fairly enjoyable game, I am a King’s Field fan myself, and quite the sucker for folklore horror, so of course I would like it. But, as much as I enjoyed this game, I must warn you that this game is best, when you play it by its own terms, understand that the ugly look and the clunky controls are by design.
Still, that’s The Labyrinth of The Demon King, a fairly short, yet quite fun and atmospheric game.
Will you give it a try?
Pros
- + Magnificent atmosphere.
- + Immersive Lore and Environmental Storytelling.
- + Very Good Use of Folklore and Mythology.
Cons
- - Ugly Graphics.
- - Clunky Controls.
- - Quite Short.
8
Gameplay
Its clunky, but its intended to be that way, it also takes sometime getting used to, but, it can be quite cathartic once you become good at it, it never actually gets in the way of enjoyment.
8
Graphics
Its ugly, but its intended to be that way, what lacks in pretty, it makes up in droves with its magnificent atmosphere, the aesthetics convey exactly what its going for, and it does it very well.
7
Story
Its OK, but its mostly an afterthought once you are past the intro, sure there is the environmental storytelling, but that can be easily missable.
8
Sound
It works together with the graphics to enhance the magnificent atmosphere its going for, without sacrificing the need of conveying information to the player, its always fitting to the area as well.
2
Replayability
There isn't really an incentive, its a player's discretion affair, mostly if you wanna find the secrets and/or collect all the weapons.
8
out of 10
Overall
Labyrinth of The Demon King is an ugly duckling, when you look past the clunky controls and the ugly graphics, and accept the game on its own terms, you are met with a very atmospheric action-horror game, sure it wears its influences on its sleeves, but it does so without sacrificing its own identity, although its quite front loaded with content, all the areas retain a certain vibe and uniqueness to them. All in all, its a very good showcase of folklore horror, and a nice love letter to King's Field and Silent Hill.
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