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Erudāsukurōruzu: Sorrowind
Labyrinth of the Demon king is a 1st-person dungeon crawler set in a nightmarish alternate reality Feudal Japan, where the world has being consumed by war, disease and famine, and demons roam the earth. You are an ashigaru, a lowly foot soldier, set out on a quest for vengeance: your daimyo was deceived by the Demon King and died, along with his army, in an ambush. You are the sole survivor and take a vow to find the treacherous demon and end its life. After finding the entrance to the fiend's castle, your bitter journey for revenge has begun.
The slow buildup of anticipation -and dread- in the starting area of the keep's courtyard and its surroundings, is brilliant. The game starts as a walking simulator, giving you time to breathe in the foggy air before violently submerging you in the squirmy, rot-infested innards of the castle. The inspiration by Silent Hill and Resident Evil is obvious in various ways: The suffocating, mist-filled enviroment, dreary ambience, clunky combat system and also the door-opening transitions while traversing the castle are the most indicative ways that Labyrinth of the Demon King pays homage to the classic PS1 titles.
As you explore the castle's towers, you will find yourself in many dark, oppresive corridors, leading to grimy, delapidated rooms or similarly depressive locations. The retro PS1 pixelated graphics of the game are instrumental in enhancing this grim experience. The dimly lit areas of the Demon King's Labyrinth receive an added menacing aura from the effects of these grainy graphics and the forced 4:3 aspect ratio, which initially threw me off, serves its purpose in presenting the game as an old school title. After getting used to it, I've actually come to appreciate the narrowed focus effect that applies to the camera. Still, I'd also like to be able to have the option to turn forced ratio off. The navigation system is primitive, with the maps not even displaying your exact location, but an approximation of it, making you have to think (oh no) where you currently are and where do you want to go. I didn't find this troublesome, as it aligns with the general approach that the game has on making things harder for the player. There are even whole areas that have no map to use -at least I didn't find any, and therefore you have to navigate them by memory and intuition.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3485448969
An Oni Mush: Way of the Gore
Onimusha is the only game that comes to mind where accursed Bakemonos were smashed, slashed, pierced and shot in a more satisfying way. In Labyrinth of the Demon King this satisfaction is derived from the tastefully increased difficulty when it comes to battling it out with Japanese folklore abominations. There is variety in the unnamed ashigaru's arsenal (provided that you discover the weapons), with melee and ranged options provided. The melee arsenal, the one I found myself using the most, as bullets and arrows are scarce, is characterized by the different types of damage that weapons can inflict upon your monstrous foes, which is definitely something that isn't there just to add flavour to combat: some enemies are vulnerable to only one type of damage and therefore the means to dispatch them become very restricting -for example, skeletons are destroyed only with blunt damage. There are also spells available to use in the form of a special type of consumable items dubbed Talismans, that you find while exploring and have (limited, to my experience) offensive and healing/buffing capabilities.
Some weapons drain more stamina than others, a fact that can make combat with cumbersome arms (such as two-handed swords, mallets and clubs) debilitating very quickly. There is an option to kick and evade enemies as well, but to be honest I almost never used these features as I opted out for the Sekiro playstyle approach: well-timed parrying and lightning fast attacks...yes I died a lot, let's move on please. Combat is slow, clunky and tough but also satisfying, in a weird way. Perhaps, the desperate katana swings as you are completely out of breath, bruised and beaten within an inch of your life, is the element that make the game's combat truly exhilarating.
Bodies are smashed and chopped, heads are rolling and black blood flows in copious amounts, painting the walls as.. nevermind they are already black from the rotting mold. Adding to the general creepiness, the twitching bodies of fallen enemies with their post-mortem spasms is an interesting touch. The enemies will frequently start fighting one another, which I found interesting -without going into spoilers, I think it holds some importance lorewise but in any case, it's hilarious to watch when it happens. There are also horror elements that are quite effective: the enemies can sometimes sneak up on the player (aided by the creepy ambience) or straight up ambush you, leading to panicked battles as you frantically try to regain your composure. Also, I got jumpscared more than once due to poor visibity, as I didn't notice a monster that was in the room I just entered -but it certainly noticed me, or I took a sharp turn down some corridor only to be greeted with a window pane to the face.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481125236
アリアドネのスレッド
You awake, finding in your possesion a wooden coin with some blue arrows painted on it. A sign of Ignorance, it won't be the last of the symbolisms that the Labyrinth of the Demon King holds. The hints at themes of Japanese spirituality or Buddhist teachings are various and many, which is astonishing for such a short game: for example, the form of the Five Great Buddhas makes yet another gaming appearance and I thank Youtuber Max Derrat for his great video essay on this phenomenon. Labyrinth of the Demon King is filled to the brim with references to Japanese folklore, with some being rather obvious and others delightfully obscure. I learnt some new tidbits myself but only after searching about them: the game retains its mystique by only name-dropping various myths and rarely goes into detail about the lore behind them. If you are a wee..*ahem* Japanese folklore enthusiast, you will love this aura of mystery all the better.
My only gripe with the game is the way boss fights are designed, as they feel rather simplistic (with only one notable exception). The initial shock from the short video introduction of the ungodly monstrosity you are about to fight quickly devolves into disappointment as the boss' main strategy is to chase you around while playing a deadly version of tag, allowing you this way to cheese them with relative ease.
The soundscape of the game is fittingly soul-crashing and suffocating, sometimes humid in nature, ominously gurgly and other times as cruel as nails on a chalkboard -the unholy chants, during the push towards the last boss fight, are still ringing in my ears with their anxiety inducing effect ever prominent.
An amazing addition from the developer is the Teahouse, which is easily the most somber area I visited in the game: a respite from the maddening world of the Demon King which is made aesthetically, as well as narratively (the maiden's tale...), sorrowful. The story of the game itself is not unique and it bears a certain element of predictability, but it progresses organically and the exploration of the castle will make the player privy to bits of lore, just enough to build up momentum towards a crescendo that feels well earned with the story's inevitable conclusion.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3485980988
Lose yourself in the Labyrinth of the Demon King -it's worth it.