Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (2021)

So this has been sitting in my backlog for quite some time. Caught some free time this week, and decided to give it a go.

The gameplay has some extremely fun features. In the first few minutes of the game, you encounter two elemental spirits, fire and wind. You can have one of them equipped on the character, imbuing your attacks with their element. Switching between the two is done by a push of a button, which is a core gameplay mechanic. Enemies can be weak, resistant or neutral to an element. There are some even some enemies who can change their weakness and resistances on the fly. Furthermore, having an element equipped makes you immune to attacks of that element. Instead of damaging you, those attacks fill up your mana bar. You get a bow, which wastes mana, instead of arrows that you have to have in your inventory. Overall, it's fun to hit stuff and cast spells.

When it comes to difficulty, I didn't find the game hard to beat at all. I died to some bosses, sometimes on the map to enemies, and that's basically it. Died maybe 5-6 times altogether. Given that I like difficult video games, this was rather disappointing.

The world is designed in a metroidvania fashion. However, I can't say this has been executed well. It feels very linear. I backtracked occasionally to get to places I couldn't before, with a new power-up, but that's pretty much it.

Overall, while the game offers fun gameplay elements, good design and good music, it's too easy, too short and not metroidvania enough to get a higher rating than 3* from me.

This game is basically a clone of Castlevania SotN that's objectively better than the original. The boss fights are difficult and frenetic, reminding me of Hollow Knight's combat. If you've played Touhou Luna Nights, then you know what you're in for because it's from the same developer. If Wonder Labyrinth had come out at the same time as SotN, it would have stomped all over that game, but of course it's been decades since then, and the level of competition has gotten much higher.

The only thing that hurts the game is that it's short and fairly basic. One of the central gameplay mechanics is switching between wind and fire to absorb and do damage for that element. It's critical to exploiting boss weaknesses and surviving, and I personally found it kind of gimmicky and annoying to have to switch between elements so often.

As Castlevania-style games go, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is fairly by the books. Most of the progression is gated by simple switches (keys, effectively) rather than character abilities. The level design is okay but doesn't have any standout moments. I found that there weren't enough fast travel points, leading to annoying slogs.

Not having a warp room near each major boss is bad level design. Leaving the area and coming back more prepared is going to be a common occurrence. None of my complaints are game breaking, but it's missing the little quality of life improvements that push a retro game from good to great.

I was surprisingly engaged by the game's lore. There are definitely some translation issues, but it's an interesting story and I appreciated having a reason to keep pushing forward. Most of the boss fights are solid, but the decision to make you run an entire gauntlet near the end is awful, and feels like they just didn't have time / money to make a proper Karla fight. The first phase of the final boss revolves around not getting stunlocked, and it evoked all the worst parts of 90s design. Taking four subsequent hits because I didn't hover at the right moment is an awful feeling. The design of phase two is much more fair, but it still took a few tries because I always started with low health.

I appreciate short, to the point experiences and this one was a great fit for Game Pass. It's no Bloodstained, but if you've got the subscription I'd say it's worth giving a go. Wouldn't pay $20 for it though. Definitely a wait for sale / bundle in my opinion.

I enjoyed this game game a whole lot. It's a straight up Metroidvania with a Record of Lodoss War theme, something I didn't know I needed until I played it. The game-play is tight, very reminiscent of Symphony of the Night, but there is a fun mechanic where you early on gain a fire and wind spirit, sort of like a familiar from SOTN, but the whole game is tailored around switching between the two for different circumstances, both in combat and in the platforming. It also has a very expanded magic selection and the ability to have your basic melee attack, magic and additional bow and arrow attack buttons, it makes for some very fun freestyle combat. The game keeps you on your toes with its mechanics and the challenge is just the right mix of frustrating and motivating to keep you coming back for more. My only possible complaint is that some may find it a bit too short. I found myself putting about 7-8 hours in total and that was with some grinding and taking my time thorough it. There is a New Game + mode and also a Boss Rush mode for replay-ability value as well, which means I'll hold on to this for another go around in the future.

Basically, if you're looking for a solid metroidvania experience this game is more than just SOTN with a fresh coat of paint, It's a very well made and balanced experience worth your time, especially if you are a Lodoss War fan. That's where it gets the extra rub from me, but non-fans can still enjoy a great game here.

Tämä hölmön pitkäniminen peli on melkein kauttaaltaan laadukasta tavaraa. Se on nopeatempoinen ja huolella tehty Metroidvania, jossa on hieman bullet hell -piirrettä ja Ikaruga-vaikutetta. 2D-grafiikat ovat ihan todella hienot, musiikki on taidokkaasti tehty, pelattavuus on hyvä ja etenkin pelimaailmassa liikkuminen on erittäin sulavaa ja hauskaa. Kuulostaa erittäin maukkaalta sekoitukselta. Jostain syystä se ei silti kolise hirveän kovaa.

Pelin selkein heikko kohta on sen tarina. Vasta pelin lopussa sain itse kiinni, mistä tarinassa on kyse. Tämä lienee tarkoituskin, mutta se ei puolestaan liene positiivista, että noin 80% pelin kestosta mietin, että onkohan pelin lokalisointi hoidettu huonosti koska missään ei tunnu olevan oikein järkeä.

En silti laittaisi tarinaa syypääksi pelin kolisemattomuudelle: pelin ehdottomasti suurimmalla inspiraatiolla, Castlevania: Symphony of the Nightillakaan ei ole silläkään kummoista tarinaa. Isommat tylsykkeet ovat pelin nopea etenemistahti ja loppupuolen taisteluiden kaoottisuus. Pelissä saa todella nopeaan tahtiin uutta asetta ja taikaa, mutta näitä ei oikein jaksa lähteä kokeilemaan. Aseet ovat yleisesti turhan samanlaisia keskenään ja pelin ensimmäinen taika on liian käyttökelpoinen siitä luopumiseksi. Loppupuolen taisteluissa alkaa taas tapahtua liikaa inan liian nopeasti, jolloin ne tuntuvat ajoittain hieman kohellukselta. Tai sitten aloin vain puutua peliin, tiedä häntä.

Myös Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -vaikutteet varmaan osaltaan laskivat innostusta peliä kohtaan. Vaikka tämäkin peli oli hyvä, oli monessa kohtaa mielessä vain se, miten mikäkin juttu oli siistimpää tai hauskempaa Castlevaniassa. Tämä on epäreilua peliä kohtaan, mutta pelin aikana kokemani tunne joka tapauksessa.

Uskon kyllä, että peli voi kolista paljon kovempaa muille pelaajille. Jos arvostelun pari ekaa lausetta kuulostivat kiinnostavilta, kannattaa peliä kokeilla. Itse pelasin sen Gamepassissa, joten testaaminen oli varsin suopean hintaistakin. Ja peli on ilmeisesti jonkin ysäri-animen lisenssituote, joten jos Record of Lodoss War on sydämenasia, varmaan pelin hahmot ja tarinakin iskevät syvemmälle sydämeen.

I played this on Xbox Games Pass. As far as I know, the game is complete (release says early access for some reason). I've played several metroidvania games over the years, but never really got into all the castlevania's. They were just too hard for my 8 year old self. This game felt like it was easily accessible for anyone to pick up and play. You explore the map, which is set up in stages (or areas). Each new stage is inaccessible until you obtain an item or defeat a boss which allows you to hit a button to open doors to the new area. The main items are katanas/hammers/great swords/or boomerangs. There are also different types of bows. I really never felt like the bows were particularly useful until almost the very end, and the boomerang ended up being pretty awesome for some of the bosses. But overall, the varying weapons weren't all that different. The main mechanic of your character is switching back and forth between fire and wind. Each have unique purposes that you have to use throughout your time in the game.

There are plenty of saves along the way too, which was nice when trying to defeat some of the bosses and dying. I'm not one for getting repeatedly crushed by bosses ala dark souls, and thankfully this game felt just right in the difficulty realm. If the boss defeated me (and plenty of them did), it was because I didn't recognize their pattern or I didn't jump at the right place, or switch powers between fire or wind. Once I learned their pattern the fights became much easier.

I didn't really understand the story while I was playing. Apparently it's based off of some manga and there's a lot of background to the series before this game, so I was totally lost. That didn't take away from the fun though because the gameplay is just good. If you're a hardcore metroidvania player you might have some qualms with certain aspects of this game, but as a casual player I really enjoyed it.

I think if the story and weapons were a bit more memorable I would have given this game 5 stars. I'm giving it 4 because I just kept wanting to come back to it when I wasn't playing because I wanted to get to the next section and find out what the next boss was. That hasn't happened for me in a game in awhile. It only took me about 7 hours, so it's a nice short little game. SGDQ did a speedrun of it back in 2021, so you should check that out if you've already played it.