Posted in: Games, Review, Video Games | Tagged: Catacombs, Catacombs 1: Demon War, game review, Simprose Studios, Steam

Catacombs 1: Demon War Is A Stripped Down Challenge

Published Tue, 11 Jul 2017 21:45:58 -0500

Catacombs 1: Demon War is a pretty stripped down RPG, with incredibly basic controls. You use the arrow keys for movement, and attack actions are turn-based and run through menus. Several aspects of the game are randomized, so you have that classic D&D feel. It should remind you of older PC RPGs, because that is almost exactly what it is designed like. Conversations bring up chat windows, you get your character's backstory in paragraphs on full-page windows. Oh, and your first quest is to clear a cellar filled with rats.

Those rats can, and will, kill you. You start the game with only 150 gold, and you've got to get yourself as well geared as you can before heading to the cellar. Depending on the random drops you get, you might be stuck dying to those rats, as there is no way to heal yourself for free. I had to restart my game a few times thanks to getting murdered by rats, and then a few more because I forgot to save my game. Because Catacombs 1, like all classic RPGs, doesn't come with an auto-save feature. Sure, you can save whenever you like – there are no save-points, but the game won't save unless you tell it to.

So, make sure to save often, or you'll be back to the start over, and over. Because obviously, dying kicks you back to the load window. So if you forgot to save after killing the rats in the cellar and then went on to the second quest in the library, get ready to start over.

The main area of the game is the town square, which you only leave through specific portals to the tavern cellar, the royal library, or off through the locked door to the dungeon, which is predictably filled with demons. Levelling yourself up and taking on the demons in the dungeon is the main plot of Catacombs 1: Demon War, and it does deliver on that, eventually.

The game's story is pretty basic, when you look at it. Your character, whose default name is Galahad, recently buried his father and is off to fulfill his father's dying wish – to rid the dungeon of the demons who infest it. As Galahad, you work around town solving problems by killing infestations of rats and goblins, and level yourself up a bit so you can take on demons without dying too much.

The drops from enemies are random, as is the local shopkeeper's inventory. Some things remain stable, but occasionally he'll have some rare item or two in stock.

The randomization also applies to attack damage, your ability to dodge, and your character's aim. Which means you have almost no control over how much damage you do and you can occasionally go a whole fight without getting hit thanks the random dodges and misses. Its actually kind of frustrating, because it means you can't quite plan fights, especially at the early levels.

The game will only take you 4-5 hours to complete at the maximum, so if you're looking for a game to speedrun, Catacombs 1 might not be a bad option.

Honestly, its mostly just an entertaining diversion. Catacombs 1 is so stripped down, there's little to hold your interest outside of your own need to complete a game. It is well designed, and shouldn't get buggy on you, but there won't be much keeping you riveted on your screen. That is possibly the only bad thing I have to say about the game. Everything else is easy enough to pick up, while still providing you with a challenge. I just don't see people flocking to Catacombs 1: Demon War for any reason.