Lord of the Dark Castle

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This game is better than many RPGs on the NES! For just 29 cents, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of entertainment it provided. I recommend playing on Easy difficulty for the first playthrough. Definitely worth the price!

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Game is fun to play need some sort of tactical thinking and not engaging everything to properly enjoy it but nothing too hard.

Literally D&D Rules in a simple 2d game.
Frustrating and confusing at first, but with a thirst for more.
Games are relatively short in terms of duration from start to finish, but its the mastery of the random seeds that is the true test.

I got a discount code for this game crafting a badge for TF2. When I saw the game was only 99c i figured I could save a buck. I regret not paying full price. Unassuming at first, this game has an interesting set of rules and mechanics that lend to lots of replayability. Turn based RPG elements and premade assets lend itself to a neat game worth a couple runs and a few hours worth of time.

The game's controls are very unresponsive, making it more annoying than fun to play.

The underlying concept of a turn-based retro dungeon crawler is neat. If not for the janky controls, I could've seen myself play this a couple hours.
But as is, there are certainly better options to choose from for this genre.

A cheap indie game, you know you don't have to expect too many of it.. but it's worst than whatever you could imagine

No matter how good is your start, if you meet more than 1 spider, it just end your run
you will never be able to move again, you will never be able to kill spiders, they are RANGED ENNEMIES (??why??) and you will just die slowly from their poisons ... because webs (yes, they also throw ranged webs on you) prevent your move ENDLESSLY, you have a low chance to break them (... 4% !), but it can immobilise you for 100 turns if your are unlucky... a totaly unfair and undodgeable way to die...

I could also talk to you about these ennemies stealing your 3 times enchanted weapons (so, they do huge damg when you are almost not able to hurt them...) and NOT DROPPING IT when you kill them (ending unfairly your run)... Or the damned ability some ennemies have to just DESTROY your armors (erased without any way to repair it). Or ... That many stupids mechanics that you can't counter and that instantly ruin your run that you thinked it really well started

This "game" is a total fail from developpers if they wanted to create something entertaining or challenging (maybe it wasn't their objective ? They could be fan of torture and sadism) ... At least, they also failed coding the achievements restrictions and you can earn your steam achievements in easiest difficulty while you can't earn them in-game ...

So, if you are reading this before buying it, and care about my opinion, I would say it not even worth the 0.79€ ... It'll cost less to clap a door on yours fingers five or six times, and it should bring the same kind of fun (without the frustration of the unfair fails)

... oh ! I forgot to say, the game often bug and freeze totaly for 5-10 seconds while you are playing, isn't that funny ?

If you want to try that kind of game anyway, i'll recommand you to check "Rogue Fable III" it's also a frustrating roguelike (a roguelike, so :P) dungeon crawler using a turn by turn system, but better

Easy game, wont melt your computer, and Cheap as hell to get... has what you need on a basic level only...

Whats not to enjoy?

This is better than many RPGs on the NES. For 28 cents, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of entertainment this little game gave me. I recommend 'Easy' difficulty for first playthrough.

well exucuted dungeon crawler, grafix need a lot of work

This is more statistic ("luck") than skills. There is no way you can finish this game in all the possible maps that generates randomly. Only you cant beat it in a few generations. No classes, only a little gold could be retrieved after you die if you achieve some of the cheevos. I do not imagine myself playing this after I finished at first time. 2/10

Extremely difficult permadeath game that I always have fun playing.

Easy to learn and play, but hard to win. Be prepared to die a lot and pray for better luck next time.

Quaint little turn-based dungeon crawler
Take on the role of a solo dungeon crawler, gain skills as you advance and items that can be modified using scrolls.
Tricky as all hell when you start off, though it does get a bit easier as you progress with the various skills and item upgrades.

Great point about this game is the low price.

Recommended : For its price why not
Replayability : Frustrating but yes
Drawbacks : Cheesy and a few glitches

-Universal Gamer

It's cheap but it is boring. Would suit better as a free browser game.

I really enjoyed playing this. Kudos to the developer for the flexible class system. I liked that a lot. I would recommend for old-school Rogue/Net-hack/Slash-em folks. It's not a clone of any of those by far, but has the same fee to it. Better character advancement and game UI than those IMHO. Took me around 12-13 hours and MANY, MANY dead adventures to get my first win. Technically unlimited replayability and more in-game achievements to unlock if I really wanted to, but I'm satisfied with my win and ready to move on at around 13 hours of play.

They'll look high and they'll look low
They'll look everywhere we go
But when the sinners find us we won't hide
They'll come loud and they'll come fast
But we shoot first and we can last
Keep your rifle by your side

Singing
Oh Lord, this Earth was made for us
Singing
Oh Lord, the sinful life just ain't enough

So we'll take a stand 'cause we must protect our land
Keep your rifle by your side

They'll come day and they'll come night
They'll have our children in their sights
But if they don't have faith their eyes are blind
They can scream and they can shout
But they can never smoke us out
Keep your rifle by your side

Singing
Oh Lord, this Earth was made for us
Singing
Oh Lord, the sinful life just ain't enough

When we hear the voice, we know we have no other choice
Keep your rifle by your side

They'll have bombs and they'll have tanks
'Cause they've got money in ther banks
But we won't fall as long as we can fight
They'll go on and preach their hate
But they won't get past the gate!
Keep your rifle by your side

Singing
Oh Lord this Earth was made for us
Singing
Oh Lord the sinful life just ain't enough

And when I see your face
I know I must protect my place
I'll keep my rifle by my side
I'll keep my rifle by my side
Oh Lord!
Keep your rifle by your side

The store page is an accurate description of what's here, and really look close at the screenshots.
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This feels like a single-player board game. You have your character token and stat sheet, and move turn by turn through simple fantasy style map layouts. You have all the classic concepts; an adventurer out exploring the wilderness and dungeons fighting trolls and skeletons in search of treasure and magic items.

There's a bit of depth in skills and spells, if you can live long enough to explore those options, but you can be limited based on what you find, which is entirely random. And make no mistake about it: This is a rogue-like. Death is permanent, there's no carry over or unlocks as you would get from a rogue-lite. You're starting from scratch every play through. You can save & quit then continue, but death means restarting.

There's no deep story, but there is some challenge with variable difficulty choices and there's adequate replay for the price if this is the type of genre you enjoy. Overall it's a pretty straight forward dungeon crawler with an intentionally retro style.
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Bottom line: It's a $1 game, don't expect more out of it than it can deliver at that price and you'll find a few hours of dungeon crawling to dig through if you take the time to learn how to navigate a roguelike.
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This game could be fun,but it isn't.It needs work.If you encounter a spider either run away or try to get close enough to kill it.If you don't it webs you then eventually kills by spitting poison on you and there is nothing you can do.If they don't get you the spectre's will.I cleared the first level(despite the spiders) and then went looking for the entrance to the next level.(couldn't remember exactly where I had found it.)I had 2 healing potions 4 anti-poison potions a great weapon and armor,and full health.While looking for the entrance to the next level I was attacked by a spectre,then another and another and ..well you get the picture.I died trying to get to the stairs to the next level while at full health and 2 potions on me.This while playing on easy.Very frustrating.Vampire's are almost impossible to kill,no fun fighting one until you die.Also a couple of times I went to a pile of gold and the game just stopped working.I could move my mouse and exit the game but I couldn't get my guy to move no matter what I did.If they fix all the bugs,no pun intended,it would be a fun game to play.

I really wants to like the gameplay, however it has some things which creates a rather frustating experience and make the game feel less fun to play which I hope developer fixes. Otherwise there is a risk it will be easily forgotten few monthes later.

1. It's how you die which feels to much of a random affair. For example, there are to many traps which instant kills you, which you have no chance of avoiding with your eye (personal skill) or character skill. This leads often to an instant death which you can't control at all which leads to a waste of time playing the game in the first place. Either make the traps less deadly (higher chance you survive them) or at least let you have a decent chance avoiding them, so the game feels less lucky based.

2. I also hope developer invest more time making the game a longer experience so it takes longer time finishing the game than 1-2h or so. Yeah, I know it's supposed to last that long but it feels a bit short. Make the game last at least 5+ hours.

Other than that I like how most characters and mobs looks like. I will update my review if the game becomes better regarding the issues I have with the game. I don't recommend this game as it is, but hopefully in the future.

Great game and if you like games like Tales of Maj'eyal, Dungeons of Dredmor, or even Desktop Dungeons you should like this. It does things differently when it comes to leveling up with all skills choices open on your first level up and you pick what fits your playstyle and whats happening at the time you level up. It also does health differently with no constant health regen between turns meaning you can only heal from potions and spells. The game has cool levels,enemies, and loot with secrets and portals sprinkled in. At 5$ you really can't go wrong with this game and the dev already has a good list of things planned. BUT it is EA so you know how that goes but dev seems active and passionate about his game. I recommend this game and if your worried you won't like it there's a demo so you can try before you buy.

A great little roguelike. Nothing exceptionnaly original, but it definitely looks solid enough as well as entertaining. The price is right too, and the dev seems to be willing to enhance the game based on feedback and suggestions.

I do not have enough game time yet to judge the interest on long term, but I see no reason not to recommend this game.