Castle Torgeath: Descent into Darkness

Barely touched this game, but I'm already done. The lousy effects, poor tutorializing, and instant-kill traps I could forgive. But this "morphic fog" nonsense is completely contemptable. Why would I want to play a game which has a core mechanic that actively punishes exploration? Morphic fog, for the uninitiated (as I was the first time it happened to me) is a mechanic wherein a "fog meter" gradually tics up over time. In addition, every time you kill a monster there's a chance of it filling up even more. When it fills up, a minotaur teleports in over the last thing you killed and tries to rip you apart. I received no actual heads up about this before it happened to me 15 minutes into the first level and I promptly died. As the appearance of the minotaur is the only thing that resets this meter - making its appearance a matter of when, not if - the gameplay implications of such a mechanic are clear: exploration is bad. Deviating from the critical path takes time and leads to fighting more monsters, both of which build up the meter. Running through areas as quickly as possible is made the most optimal solution. This is absurd. Why would I want to play a dungeon crawl game that deliberately punishes dungeon crawling? Terrible mechanic that's indicative of either clueless or malicious game design. Don't play this.

I've been on a dungeon crawler kick lately (Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, Ruzar - The Life Stone, Heroes of the Monkey Tavern, Star Crawlers, The Keep, The Deep Paths: Labyrinth Of Andokost, etc) so after picking this up on the cheap I gave it a try. I wanted to like this game, but it's just boring and falls flat fast. The game consists of you wandering around floors of a castle that is littered with junk, emptiness, and the occasional critter to fight.....oh and traps that instantly kill you when you turn a corner with no way to know you're about to die, so yay, reload. The combat in this game is...well...just horrible. I guess it would be OK if you had some way to heal yourself other than the paltry amount of healing potions that are in the game. Since those are limited, you just have to do hit and run attacks (my advice, put many points into Dexterity so you can outrun everything so you can hit and run). You can blast critters with spells(well the 1 spell I had the entire time I played the game), but the only way to get mana back is an even smaller amount of mana potions and the occasional statue....so I saved mana for the mobs that magically appear at random out of the fog/mist/whatever it was called. These mobs that pop out of the mist, well they wouldn't be so bad except as soon as I see them I start backing up(you don't want to melee them...actually seems you can't harm them with your sword anyway)....and while holding down the key to back up I can't change from weapons to spells, so I have to stop moving for a second, hit the spell key, then start backing up again to blast them with spells. Not sure I've ever played a game that can't handle simultaneous keyboard inputs like this. So when I stop to switch to spells I inevitably get hit a time or two by the mist critter when I shouldn't get hit at all. Frustrating. There are 6 levels in this game, I went through the first 2 1/2 levels and I've yet to find a new weapon or spell. Boring. You don't get to put on armor, rings, etc either. Boring. Anyway, you get the point. While I'm sure plenty of love went into the game and the atmosphere of the game is cool, the game itself just isn't fun. Play one of the titles I previously mentioned if you are looking for a fun dungeon crawler.

[h1]TL;DR - The Gamephasis Pros/Cons & Conclusion[/h1] Pros: [list] [*]Full blooded immersion [*]Great devs / Regular updates [*]Good voice acting [*]Value for money [/list] Cons: [list] [*]Combat difficulty spikes [*]No in-game tutorial [*]Clunky combat [/list] Castle Torgeath is a very solid entry into the dungeon crawler genre on Steam. At just $7.99 I would consider the pricing of Castle Torgeath to be leaning on the bargain side. Players will get several hours of immersive gameplay from the title. If you’re someone who doesn’t mind doing their fair share of reading while playing a video game and is a fan of the genre the game makes for one of the easier recommendations I have made. However, if you’re someone who abhors reading then the immersion may not hit you nearly as much as it will for others. While it is skippable you would be missing out on a chunk of the experience. Rating: 7.7/10 For our thorough review please visit [url=http://www.gamephasis.com/castle-torgeath-descent-into-darkness/review-castle-torgeath/]Gamephasis' Castle Torgath: Descent into Darkness review[/url]. While you're there don't forget to enter our awesome launch giveaways (PS4, XB1, Nintendo Switch and PC vouchers at the gStore among others). Thanks.

A pretty decent dungeon romp. Might not have the greatest replayability once beaten as from my current attempts on Rogue it seems each playthrough will be nearly the same. The pit traps affect the baddies as well as the player. Always nice when such is the case in this kind of game as it does allow for more tactics. I do wish some of the other traps worked on the baddies as well, but the pit traps were very useful. Especially in Rogue mode to avoid Morph fights. Overall, one of the few to make it out of Early Access and be a good game. Does what it says on the label and has been enjoyable. A lot of reading if you want to get into the backstory (not really necessary). I appreciate that the developer put the effort into detailing theories on magic and the planes of existence and how it relates to the game universe.

[h1] Castle boredom. First person dungeon crawler that is tedious to play and will make you fall asleep in the meantime. Explore mostly empty corridors occasionally fighting some creatures. From time to time stumble across some characters to talk with like ghost apparition of peasant. Collect loot and upgrade stats in exchange for it (only some characters). Gameplay consists mostly of extensive walking, at least there's minimap to navigate through the maze and checking each chamber. Torch get extinguished after some time forcing player to search for nearest hanging torch on the wall because nothing can be seen without it. AI is stupid and can be easily circle around doing some hit and run technique. Encounter spiders, skeletons, minotaurs, oversized rats and boars. Music nothing amazing just cymbals tapping in the dark. Not very demanding game and levels are shallow not offering much in terms of originality. If you can choose just skip it. [/h1]

Decent times in a dungeon. A bunch of weird things about this game, but they eventually grew on me. At least I can move around unlike some games I know. 7/10

I do not recommend getting this game at this time, I understand the game is in early access, but in my opinion it is still not ready even for that. There are other games to consider for the same price on steam that are either fully completed or is a lot more polished for early access then Castle Torgeath. In saying that, the game has a lot of potential, and I believe it will get better over time, the question is when? So I would recommend waiting for more updates on this game, or even after early access. Check out my video to get an idea of what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvGGAOtlP30

At first it seems like the game has potential. It doesn't. The combat is basically button mashing until the mob dies. There really doesn't seem to be any finese in melee. Mobs head straight at you so the ONE spell you get isn't hard to land. The traps are thoughtless. Some don't even give you a chance of noticing them. I am one of those players that searches every nook and cranny. This game seems to have ZERO reward for that. Just head for the exit while holding down run... After five and half hours I finally got my first equipment "upgrade"; an axe... It is worse than the sword you start with. Seriously, there is no gear to be had in this game! I find gold bars every now and again and I am still at a loss as to what good gold is for. I guess at certain parts of the game there are dudes that sell you *temporary damages buffs, but I haven't seen the point. There is tons of crap to pick up everywhere, but it is junk. Find a helmet? Don't get too excited, the game considers it junk in your inventory. Oh and then I guess if you take too long exploring in a DUNGEON CRAWLER, some super tough mob teleports in and it doesn't seem to be harmed with melee... Hopefully you didn't bother using spells... I can count on one hand the number of games I just quit before finishing no matter how bad they are, this is one of them.

First i want to say that this game is a really good Dungeon crawler game. It has alot of things that i really like. But one thing that i feel is missing is the option to look at a map. Since many areas are so so big, then there are alot of hallways that look almost the same, many places look the same too. And i feel like when playing i'm going in circles many times, or are total lost. And the worst thing is that if you can't find you're way then you run into the problem with food, the food system is alright but when you are lost and can't find the way it becomes a bigger problem. If you like a good dungeon crawler game, buy the game. But keep in mind you are proplerly gonna waste alot of hours finding you're way.