DARK LORD'S MAZE

wow!

(This has been edited to be a review of v1.2)

I came into this game not really sure of what to expect; it looks like a retro screensaver, and an old school maze game that would be fun to pass the time.

The game's story is pretty simple: you're on your way to slay the Dark Lord, and everything in his castle is trying to stop you. You have a wide array of enemies; from bats to skeletons, ghosts and other creatures, you fight your way through small enemies and bosses to reach your final destination. This game has a nice blend of RPG elements as well as puzzles and traps that'll keep you on your toes.

Since the release of v1.2, massive overhauls like the addition of a mini-map and crosshair have made the game extremely enjoyable to play as you can navigate from room to room, have a better grasp on finding secrets, and be able to traverse tight walking sections with a lot more reliability (though this definitely doesn't make the tight walks any easier!). Although the control scheme does make this game awkward to get used to at first (more on a good way to play this in a second), the game now presents itself as both a fair and difficult challenge as you have good gauges towards enemy hitboxes and tile coordination; bosses are also now less frustrating because of this.

TIPS SECTION:
While the controls can feel really weird to deal with, here is the best way to get a feel for them right from the start:

- Don't focus on up/down camera movement; there are very few sections where you will need to move the camera down (during tight walks), and only one section where you have to move the camera up (no spoilers)

- Use shift (run) and ctrl (attack) with you left hand; for most people, the way the controls are setup will be foreign, so having one hand for movement and one for attack will help better coordinate your mind

- Turn on the mini-map (m) and have the crosshair on (c). While the mini-map does feel more of an optional choice, it'll help locate secrets easier and doesnt take up any real space, and having the crosshair on will help acclimate you to how hitboxes work in this game (they work, it's just really hard to feel them without the crosshair) 

- Take a deep breath; this entire game is beatable without taking any other armor upgrades as long as you play it slow, turn corners cautiously, and learn enemy movements, so you can beat it the intended way with enough patience

- Make sure to defeat every enemy in the game as doing so ensures you level up (this one is extremely important)

- All levels are beatable, some just have gimmicks

- Strafing is really only important to line up shots with ranged weapons

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I want to emphasize that I in no way am sponsored or paid to test the game, nor do I know Voxelvoid in any way; this critique was made purely out of a desire to help the game dev update the game (if it is still going to be updated) or help with future endeavors, and these are purely my feelings having played through the game. Thank you to Voxelvoid for releasing this, as I can genuinely say there were parts that I enjoyed myself

All in all, this game feels like a nostalgia trip that would definitely have a following for it's artistic and stylistic choices, as well as it's difficulty. If you do download this game, I recommend sticking it out, remember to kill every enemy you come across, and breath. You can get through the Dark Lord's Maze :)

My Playthrough (v1.1; v1.2 fixes all the issues that I addressed in this playthrough):

挺好的