Labyrinth Of The Demon King is a dungeon crawler developed by J. R. Hudepohl and published by Top Hat Studios. Set in feudal Japan, you play as an Ashigaru, a soldier under the service of a Lord. War, disease, and demons have made the land inhospitable. With your Lord slain by a demon king, you venture forth to enact your revenge. It’s a hard road ahead.
GRIME, RUST, AND MORE GRIME
As usual, let us focus on the presentation first.
The presentation is one of the strongest parts of the game, if not THE strongest part of the game. Even with just a glance, it is clear the game draws heavy inspiration from classic PS1 and PS2 franchises. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, King’s Field, and Siren. I’d say that Silent Hill and Siren are the most obvious.
The models are primitive with a letterbox view (to tickle nostalgia), with a careful utilization of color and environmental effects to create mood. Castle walls comprised of rotting wood and stained stone. Hallways covered in dust and blood. Outside, you’re battered by rain and fog. Similarly to Silent Hill’s nightmare levels, the environment design really manages to sell the idea that the world is warped and dying. The land is plagued by strife, and every room is a reminder.
The game has a decent number of cutscenes, which is where the Siren inspiration shines. Similarly to Siren, Labyrinth Of The Demon King adopts a “found footage” approach to the cinematics. Compressed quality, weird angles, skipped frames, and shakiness make it feel like you’re watching footage shot on an old, busted Sony camera. They do a great job of reinforcing the mood.
Besides cleverly crafted visuals, the soundtrack also deserves praise. The music is composed by Remu Daifuku. The music, whether intentional or by happy accident, shares a lot of similarities with the works of Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) and Kuniaki Haishima (Forbidden Siren 2). Okay, maybe intentional. There’s a reliance on ambience with ritualistic chanting to create a constant sense of unease. Even if there aren’t any enemies in your current vicinity, the soundtrack does a good job reminding you’re never really safe no matter where you go. There are also tranquil tracks, such as when in the courtyard or the tea house, which help create separation between rest and running for your life.
DUNGEON LESSONS FROM FROMSOFTWARE
You have a few weapons to choose from. Attacks are limited by stamina. There are projectile weapons like a bow and a matchlock rifle, but given the limited ammo, they are best for the bosses. You have light attacks that can be strung into a combo and heavy attacks. Different weapons have different speed, damage, and stamina ratings. You’ve got a kick to interrupt enemies and give yourself some space. Kicks and heavy attacks cannot be blocked by enemies, same goes for the player. Keep that in mind.
The game has status effects like bleed and poison, which can be cured with the appropriate consumable. Items can be dropped by enemies, found lying around, within containers, or purchased from a cat demon trader. There’s a smith that’ll upgrade your weapons and armor. Don’t expect a power fantasy, though. The money gained from looting and fallen enemies is paltry, and the trader’s prices are steep. The smith requires special ingredients that are few and far between. Given the rate at which you gain resources, going a jack of all trades approach is possible, but not exactly favorable. At shrines, where you save your progress, you can use incense to increase your stamina or health. Small, but meaningful. While the world is dirty, items have a faint glitter effect to make them stand out, which is a great quality of life improvement.
Besides consumables, the player has three other defensive options. Running, dodging, and parrying. Each type of defensive maneuver has its pros and cons. Running does not consume any stamina and is a good way to escape into the next area, but it does halt stamina regeneration. Dodging is a good way to maneuver during a fight, but with a caveat. Your character can dodge once without consuming stamina, then enter a cooldown. Until the cooldown ends, all subsequent dodges cost stamina. So, evading all the time will eventually leave you vulnerable.
Similarly to soulslikes, parrying an enemy’s attack will give the player an opening. Enemies can feint, retreat, hide around corners, mix their attacks, and retaliate immediately after a hit. Entering a new room respawns enemies, with the spawns being somewhat randomized. It’s a simple system, but the claustrophobic environments, enemy behavior, and scarce resources mean being careless will result in a game over. And then there’s the enemies you can’t kill. Oh, and they are horrifying.
And claustrophobia is the name of the game. Well, labyrinth. Besides decay, the environments are made in such a way that you can never truly feel comfortable. You’re never quite sure what’s hiding behind a corner. You’ll be frequently entering new areas and unlocking shortcuts, the bread and butter of dungeon crawlers. The magic behind the game’s combat is simple but done in such a way that every encounter feels like a big deal.
The map isn’t as detailed as other dungeon crawler maps, providing only the bare minimum in terms of information. When entering an area, you’re only shown your general location on the map. There’s no compass, nor does the map get updated with hidden passages you’ve discovered, nor do you have the ability to leave notes. There are areas where a map is unavailable, but they are straightforward. And between combat and exploration, there’s going to be puzzles. The puzzles are a nice change of pace, acting as nice little brain teasers. The developer has tried hard to omit any notion of moon logic, the bane of puzzles. There’s also a fair bit of readables and character interactions to serve as a break.
THERE ARE GRIPES IN MY LABYRINTH
Most of my experience with the game has been good, but there are some criticisms. Some are simply due to the nature of the genre.
I mentioned how the environments are the game’s greatest strength. They are also its greatest weakness. While the environments are consistent with the theme of desolation, the limited color palette and reliance on effects make some areas blend, and not in a good way. Coupled with the barebones map, players who don’t pay attention can easily get lost and be frustrated. As you probably guessed, having a better map would alleviate some frustration.
The random enemy spawns do make areas a challenge, and seeing infighting between enemies is amusing, but there are issues. Enemies can spawn in front of you the moment you enter a new area and get a cheap hit. I’ve seen enemies like the unkillable demon get stuck on terrain or archers shooting at the wall between us. Sometimes enemies don’t realize I’m there, even though we are facing each other. These moments aren’t common. It’s a polished game, but there’s a good chance you’ll encounter something that’ll briefly pull you out.
Conclusion
Labyrinth Of The Demon King is a well-made horror dungeon crawler. It has a basic but satisfying combat system and an excellent atmosphere inspired by some of your favorite horror games. If I had to describe the game in one phrase, it would be “a simple recipe executed perfectly”. Turn off the phone and the lights and snag yourself a copy.