If you have been around the PC space for the past decade or so, or have any passing interest in older games, you might have read about Nightdive Studios and how they manage to preserve the “feel and look” of an older title whilst upgrading it with new visuals. In some ways, the same has been tried many times by indie developers trying to emulate or “recreate” the PS1 era feeling without a lot of compromise. The results have been, well, mixed to say the least. But there are very, very few games that nail it the way “Labyrinth of the Demon King” does.
The project by J. R. Hudepohl and published by Top Hat Studios has one thing in mind: “What if we make King’s Field, but set in medieval Japan and with a nice touch of horror”? This is the kind of sentence that makes alarms go off in my head, has me sitting straight and paying attention.
Before I continue, let me tell you a short story. I didn’t knew much about King’s Field up until the late 2000s. I picked up a PlayStation 2 very early on in its life cycle and ended up with a copy of Eternal Ring, one of From Software’s more action-oriented RPGs.
I can’t recall how I got it. Maybe I was bored, maybe the cover looked cool to me back then, or I was just annoyed that neither Onimusha nor Zone of Enders were out yet. The thing that stood out the most for how miserable the experience was.
First, 3D movement in first person games were nowhere near as standardized as it is nowadays, second, I was — and still am — terrible playing games with a controller. I kept dying to the same enemies again and again, couldn’t get past a major fight. It felt like I was punching a brick wall until it turned into dust. It took me over two years to get to the end. As the credits rolled, my mind went “You know what? I want more of that. No wonder I stumbled upon King’s Field in a forum post (remember those?) and that I really, really enjoy souls likes.
King’s Field was a beast of itself. The original Playstation 1 version is… rough. Awful framerate, enemies that will punish every small mistake and many ways to get yourself cornered, low on health, potions.But in my head, it really did feel like I was exploring the most natural looking cave formations, the enemies looked menacing even years after its release. I haven’t played since then because I do know it wouldn’t hold up to today’s standards.
This is where “Labyrinth of the Demon King” comes in. Almost as if Hudepohl dove into my memories of King’s Field and Eternal Ring and turned into a new game.
It manages to capture the dread of exploring the unknown, the crunchy look of the PS1 down to the heavily compressed FMVs, the sluggish feeling of moving and the heavy swing of swords like the From Software titles while establishing its own framework to tell a story.
Well, calling it a story is a bit of a stretch, honestly. It’s as straightforward as it gets. You are a nameless soldier from the Takeda Clan that swears revenge on the Demon King after watching Takeda Nobumitsu and the army you’re a part of obliterated. After a long time of searching, you arrive at the gates of the Demon King’s castle.
Without going into spoiler territory, Hudepohl environmental work is nothing short of phenomenal. The castle itself is separated into multiple dungeons that are equally unique in its design / theme, and an absolute hell to navigate. Rooms are filled with enemies, corridors are tight and claustrophobic, secrets are aplenty, and caves will be some of your worst enemies.
What really took me by surprise is how many puzzles “Labyrinth of the Demon King” has. You will still be doing a lot of fighting (more about that soon), but the game prides itself on having multiple layered puzzles — ranging from how to unlock a door by finding the proper route to collecting gems or finding small hints in a dungeon to figure out where a key or item is located. No hand holding here, not even a map in some areas. Either you pay attention to your surroundings, or you will die trying. More likely the second option.
Much like King’s Field, “Labyrinth of the Demon King” combat is slow paced and brutal, for the most part anyway. The pool of enemies isn’t huge, but the few stand out due to their sheer relentlessness. Basic “zombies” will try to knock you out with a piece of wood or a blunt weapon, faster ones will poison you if you’re not careful and some will jump on you if they get the chance and suck you out of health in a couple of hits.
Stamina management is crucial, if you try to snuck an extra hit or two, you might end up out of breath, easily countered, slaughtered. Every death I had — and trust me, there were many — is almost ingrained in my mind due to the gashing sounds of a sword hitting my body, the sound of my armor getting crushed and meat slashed. It’s gnarly, unnerving. I love it.
But, unlike From Software’s body of work from the mid-2000s, Hudepohl tries to make combat more engaging with the addition of a parry mechanic and kicks that temporarily stun most enemies. It creates an interesting rhythm to encounters, and one that I really appreciate. There’s this feeling of anticipation, of “what will the enemy do, will they try to kick me? Will they swing at me?” and dread that really makes the whole experience of delving into a dungeon even more memorable.
Do you know what not makes these encounters more memorable? If you thought “enemies that chase you?”, then you are absolutely right. For some unknown reason, Labyrinth of the Demon King decides to mimic a trend from the past few years since the Remake of Resident Evil 2 came out. Have one or more enemies that are either very hard to kill or completely impossible chase you through the whole game. And yes, I am fully aware that this was also a staple in the 90s, but not to the extent that it is nowadays.
To say it put a dent on my enjoyment of the game is an understatement. As soon as this enemy showed up, I stopped in my tracks and went “Really? REALLY?”. Look, I can deal with respawning enemies – which the game does have – I can deal with jump scares, or quick enemies. Being chased around by some big fella that takes a ton of hits just to get stunned for a few seconds isn’t rewarding nor terrifying at this point, it’s just annoying.
It also goes very against what the main combat ethos felt up to that point. Brutal, but fair. There was no rhythm, just me running from corner to corner, dodging enemies left and right to get to the next save point. Sure, it was intense the first time. The 10th one? Not so much.
Labyrinth of the Demon King’s saving grace is the plentiful save spots. If I had to backtrack dozens of times or lost hours of playtime just because an enemy decided to chase me down like they wanted to talk to me about my extended car warranty, I would’ve lost my mind.
Another note about the difficulty itself is that it can become a bit easier in the final hours if you have a keen eye for secrets. Talismans, and materials that can be used to upgrade your weapon with a blacksmith will turn even your initial katana into a very deadly weapon.
That wasn’t the case for me since I, somehow, managed to softlock the quest and the blacksmith was never unlocked in my first playthrough. This has been patched in update 1.21, available as a beta at the time of writing.
But even with my personal quarrels about one enemy, Labyrinth of the Demon King is so uncompromising in its vision, so stubborn to bend over modern day aesthetics and – to an extent – ideas, that I can’t feel anything but absolute respect for Hudepohl’s project.
The second half of the game is so full of surprises, little twists to the formula and unique encounters — especially the boss fights — that not even games like Lunacid, a favorite of mine, manage to evoke such a strong sense of dread. The amazing soundtrack and soundscape drive home the feeling of being a small soldier against insurmountable odds. “I am not getting out of here alive, am I?”, I wondered myself many times before reaching the credits.
And once they rolled, I craved for more. The exact same feeling that I had with Eternal Ring came rushing back. I didn’t expect to get the same emotion again, ever.
More dungeons, enemies, puzzles. Heck, even a bit of a chase wouldn’t be that bad. I guess I really do love punishment or putting myself in extremely awful situations. Perhaps I just miss the old From Software and wish they would move away from Elden Ring and the Souls like formula for a bit to work on another first-person RPG.
Thankfully, independent developers like J. R. Hudepohl or KIRA from Lunacid to fill the void. Labyrinth of the Demon King easily stands shoulder to shoulder with its progenitors whilst having an identity of its own. It’s an amazing accomplishment, and one that you must play for yourself if you’re a fan of first-person RPGs, a masochist or a horror fan.
A Steam code was provided in advance by the publisher for review purposes
