Castle Agony

Still very early in the game. It really does play a bit like a classic NES title. Everything works; no bugs or crashes. B+

[b]Foreword:[/b] Despite posting this Review in English, my main Language isn't English, so please excuse weird Phrases or Mistakes. [h1]Castle Agony Review[/h1] Bought this on a Whim, wich is extremely rare for me. And I don't even regret it. Castle Agony tries to blend in simplified Combat of JRPGs, the Level- and Riddledesign of the original Resident Evil and the Atmosphere of the old NES Castlevania-Games, all presented in a NES-Retro Look with pleasant and fitting Music. You're playing a young Vampire Hunter tasked to kill an evil Vampire. Aided by an old Priest and your faithful Dog you explore an old Castle filled with Secrets and Riddles. While exploring the Castle you may not only find Keys and Key-Items, wich open new Areas - but also new Weapons like Flintlock, Crossbow and your very own Boomstick, Crafting Items to craft Things like Potions, Molotov Cocktails and Holy Water and EXP Crystals, with which you can upgrade either you Health or your "Skill". (Skill being your Ability to hit an Enemy) Gameplay is completely with Mouse in a Point and Click-Style, the Battles being turn-based. [u]Negative Points first:[/u] [list] [*]some minor Bugs, like Battle Music keeps playing after a Battle, some Tutorials not showing up properly and a Mini-Boss intitating a Battle, while I tried to loot a Drawer, wich forced me to restart the Game, because the Game got stuck - none of these really bothered me that much and when I had to replay anything besides the Bug with the Boss, it was because I forgot to save frequently (Oldschool Saverooms, no Quick Saves) Edit: The Bug with the Boss got fixed, after I mentioned it in the Forum [*]Battles not worth your time, as you won't get any loot and only waste Ressources (Ammo, Potions), while not being able to flee Battles; Enemies tend to respawn pretty quickly [*]rather short - I finished the Game after about 3-4 Hours [...] [/list] [u]Positive Points:[/u] [list] [*]Battle may be simplified but still quite challenging, if you're not prepared [*]Graphics and Sound really fit the Theme of the Game - not real Horror but spoopy fun [*]the Design of the Castle can only be described as Resident Evil-esque and I love the Throwback to exploring a creepy old Building while unlocking more and more of it by finding Themed-Keys and Key-Items [*]optional Secrets and Items, that aren't necessary to complete the Game, but do help [*]Riddles are never too hard to figure out - I never needed any kind of Help or Walkthrough; when I got stuck, I just needed a few Minutes to figure out, where I had to go next [*]despite the short Length, I had fun playing it and for 6 € I really can't argue with ~4 Hours of Gameplay [*]Developer already announced free DLC, so there's that [*]Edit: I didn't acknowledge the Agony-Mode, wich seems to have more Story and Puzzle-Elements and is also way harder than the Main Game, so it does have Replay-Value [/list] [h1]Conclusion:[/h1] Castle Agony is a short but fun Game, that is neither too hard nor too easy. Everyone who enjoyed the original Resident Evil for it's Mansion-Exploration should take a look at this Game. It might need some polish in regards of minor Bugs and without knowing, what the DLC will add, it might be a bit too short for some. I for one really enjoyed the Game and for six Bucks I won't argue about the Length.

Started playing this for a YouTube series, and ended up really liking it. The shortest summary of this game for me would be: Resident Evil (original trio) style mansion-exploration, with the same-ish setting and mood, in an overhead view with turnbased combat. It really shows that this was a labour of love, and while short and slightly janky at times, I would absolutely recommend it, with a small caveat: I encountered a consistent crash after fighting my first boss (it's a fairly open trip, might not even be the first boss for all I know) which resulted in me losing the drive to continue, mostly because it occured specifically when trying to talk to one of the few NPCs in the game you meet right before it. I'm not sure if the game would allow my continuation apart from that particular scene, but being the curious guy I am I just couldn't stand leaving that room alone so I ended up hesitating too much to continue. Bug report submitted, dev has acknowledged it, and it might have just been me experiencing this bug (nobody else seems to have mentioned it, but that might be because it's not a well known game). Only con I can think of is the slow movement, with camera stuck on your character, which leads to some jittery screen movement. It's a tad annoying, especially if you die and have to re-do some things. Not enought to not recommend though.

This game is bad. The music is horrible. Your character moves at a super slow pace that makes exploring a torture. I love pixelated graphics, but this one is just bad.

One of those obscure, hidden gems I stumbled upon entirely by accident in the 2020 Halloween Steam sale. The images and description and gameplay all looked fantastic from what little there was, and the tiny handful of reviews over the course of two years only made it sound better. Castle Agony is a *very* old-school style adventure game, reminding me of attempts to imitate the Lucasfilm Games on console, with faint touches of Resident Evil and Castlevania thrown in for style points. While the graphics look more like Zelda, the gameplay is pure point-'n'-click using the mouse to interact with the environment and choose your next moves.* Even though the setting riffs off Resident Evil, the tone leans a bit closer to Maniac Mansion -- fluffy horror, I think, perfect for the post-Halloween mood. Depending on luck, you might have some difficulty early on, but assuming you're thorough and constantly making progress, the game never really hits notable difficulty walls and the ending is a bit of a cakewalk. I might even say it's unbalanced in favor of being too easy on the normal difficulty. The types of items I got in my run -- not sure if it's randomized -- meant I was only able to make a handful of the possible items a hundred times over, and the rest only a couple. This also meant I wiped out the final boss using a nigh-endless barrage of molotovs. As the level design takes so many nods from the Resident Evil series, the mansion is full of secret nooks and crannies and lore. There's a lot of love put into this game by its lone, part-time developer, and while it ain't perfect, I'm really happy I stumbled upon it and got the chance to play it. One of those indie gems where the developer immediately joins my list of must-support artists. * Don't use a traditional controller with this game. Steam controller works well, however.

This game could be a really fun point and click adventure if it wasn't so buggy. It's frustrating to replay the same section over and over because the game keeps freezing.

Fun game with good exploration. Battles can get a bit tedius at times but overall, very fun.

awesome.

https://youtu.be/ez33EvTgWao This bite size survival horror game may have plenty of rough edges but the overall product is far more than the sum of it's parts.

great game and well made but i refuse to give a positive review until the friggin dev answers my question in the discussion section! it's annoying really that no one can bloody answer a simple little question :/ edit: i got my question answered and the bug regarding it has been FIXED! thanks for a awesome game!