Labyrinth of the Demon King Review (ecouto)
Overall a really stylish first person combat super cosy horror game if you love ps1/ps2 era style graphics :)
About 8 - 12 hours first play through.
8/10 for me - depends on your own personal taste/nostalgia and acceptance/enjoyment of abit of jank.
The game is set in a creepy demon infested feudal Japanese settlement. The world is gorgeously grim and the graphics are amazingly done, a really unique and well executed style. There are also other interesting characters to meet and talk to, although I wish they had more of an arc. The safe area a bit later in the game is really atmospheric and a welcome haven from the rest of the settlement.
The level design is expertly done in my opinion, with atmospheric intro and outside sections and just maze like enough dungeons that are navigable if you're paying attention to landmarks. The puzzles are just right, sitting in the silent hill/resident evil level of difficulty, where they aren't too difficult if you think but still creepy/interesting and in theme.
The combat is abit janky, but rewarding if you choose to buy into it, with boss fights as well as regular enemies to encounter roaming around. It is however a bit too easy to run past enemies later in the game when exploring, and sometimes waiting for stamina can take too long after fights. Ranged weapons also break the combat system by allowing you to simply kill enemies from afar but there is limited ammo. You can also instantly heal or regenerate stamina by using the consumables in combat, I wish these had an animation to add another level to the finesse of combat. I also wish there was a difficulty setting as I personally found it was abit to easy with the deaths not being punishing.
The music is well done and does a great job of being genuinely creepy in the later levels as well as soothing for the safe and atmospheric sections, blending well with the environment sounds.
Aside from the UI having too many sub menus - my real biggest wish is that it didn't end! which is a good one to have :) The game as it is, is suitably sized and well paced but the format we have here is just so fun! With following updates (maybe NG+ 👀?) or a sequel this game would easily shine as a 10/10 for me.