Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle Review

Back when I first started playing games, like on the ZX Spectrum, games were extremely tricky. It was all about learning patterns, dying a lot, and then trying again. Save points were things we could only dream of; whispered in the ether like gold-filled pots at the end of the rainbow. So when the opportunity to save came about over the next couple of decades, gaming become more relaxed. 

But since the popularity of Metroidvania and Soulslike games, we find ourselves back in that age of die, learn and repeat once more. Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle has a retro feel in how it looks, and it certainly comes with that tricky rinse-and-repeat gameplay mechanic. But is it fun?

There isn’t a complex story at the heart of this game. You play a Knight with a big hammer and there is something evil in the castle that you have to kill. On your way there, you will have to kill loads of other horrible things; like wizards, skeletons, and huge slimy square monsters. That’s the story and that’s the game’s narrative thrust. Personally, I like the old-school simplicity and the minimal use of text and cut scenes. Yet it’ll only be decent if the gameplay matches up. 

You play a nameless Knight and you have a big hammer. You can slam this hammer down on enemies and you have – on occasion – a special attack which sends a wave attack towards your foes. Or another one that sends a radius blast to kill more enemies in your path. These special attacks can be found by destroying small and large jars, as you play your way across some seven chapters. 

Movement is a thing that feels very retro in Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle. The maps are presented in a 2.5D format and the knight animation is quite stilted, hammering home those retro feels. Getting used to how to navigate depth perception is tricky, as is taking in the more platforming sections of the game where you have to jump and avoid traps. 

The thing is, I can see what the development team wanted to achieve. But for me, I just didn’t find it fun. The movement is awkward and trying to work out angles in terms of contact and jumping is a bit of a nightmare. Of course, others might not find this a problem at all. 

Combat involves learning enemy attacks and then going in for your own swipe. There isn’t any block so you just have to time everything to perfection. Later on in the game, when you have projectiles coming at you as well as people trying to stab you, it does all become a bit too much and – at least if you are like me – you’ll find yourself dying fairly regularly. However, as alluded to previously, that’s the old-school game mechanic coming into play, as you try to understand your purpose, learning the patterns in order to try and try again. 

There are mini-bosses and a big boss in each chapter. As you’d expect, it’s not easy to get through these guys, but as the game moves on you soon learn the move sets needed; patience is the key to survival. That said, checkpointing in Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle can be annoying and at times I found myself just running through the levels again, not killing the scrubs, in hope of getting to the boss so I could have another go without dying countless times along the way. 

What I do like though is the visual template of Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle. It is very pleasing to the eye, complete with a nice retro feel to it and the levels almost look like a paper-crafted diorama. The colour scheme is vivid and I loved the creature design as well. 

The soundtrack once again employs the retro card, what with its synth music that repeats and gets in your head as you play. It’s a nice touch with some inventive elements to the tracks that work brilliantly with the action. 

You may well applaud the basic story setup and retro visuals in Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle. But the gameplay loop gets too frustrating at times, more annoying than anything as we are left to repeat levels. Of course, many will love that mechanic, relishing the challenge on offer. 

A game that can be completed in a couple of hours and offers some easy achievements, it does occasionally feel good to go back in time with Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle. Just don’t give us too much of it.