I played a game today that has a name that's a bit too long to write out. Let's just call it Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. It's from the Record of Lodoss War franchise, the origins of which I find too interesting to not share. Apparently it started in the 1980s as a series of "replay" novels of D&D games, which are basically just transcripts that have been edited and illustrated to be more appealing to read. So you'd just be reading about how some guys played a D&D campaign. Apparently it became popular enough that the author of these novels started a regular novel series. Several manga, anime, and games were also made based off of it. Most of all of this was before the turn of the century, but every now and then another something gets made. Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is one such work, focusing on the most popular character - Deedlit.
But enough about the backstory. The game is a rather linear metroidvania with some focus on action platforming. It's quite a basic implementation of the metroidvania genre, with little to set it apart. The 7 hour runtime doesn't leave for too many different abilities to be unlocked. You get better forms of jumping, which also help in combat, but most of the map unlocks through finding keys for locked doors (and the ability to breathe underwater, which was only used to access two areas). There is no stat or skill point allocation. You just get stronger with levels, and also get stronger weapons, which have only slightly different attack patterns and don't really change how you play. The main thing setting it apart is the spirit system, where you can switch between two elements. You are immune to attacks of the same element (and in fact gain energy for ranged attacks and spells from them). But enemies may also be immune to some elements, forcing you to make yourself vulnerable to land an attack. This forces certain fighting patterns, and is easily the best feature they have.
Sadly, it's about the only good non-standard feature they have. There's a whole system about how you gain spirit levels in the element you're not using when fighting, and lose them along with your HP when getting hit. At max spirit level, you passively regenerate HP, and quite quickly, while in that element. Well, it turns out that a super-aggressive playstyle allows you to deplete enemy HP fast enough and gain levels fast enough, that most bosses (and of course regular enemies) can be brute forced by just attacking them until your other spirit is full, switching to it, shooting ranged attacks at them until you're full health, and then going in again. I won multiple fights that I had no right to, because I outhealed getting hit by most hits the boss threw at me.
But perhaps it was necessary, as aside from not getting hit (which was quite difficult for not just many bosses, but also many standard enemies), there were few mechanics for counterplay. Most enemies did not use one of the two elements you could switch into. There were no i-frames, no blocking, no parrying. This made for a very tedious game of just beating each other until one of us ran out health.
Overall, while the game is pretty in terms of art, animation, and music, the gameplay, balance, and enemy design are lacking. Sadly, the latter are the more important parts of a game. At places, it feels unfinished, or some mechanics underutilized, but I would not have wished it to be longer. It didn't overstay its welcome due to being so short, even though it didn't have much interesting to do. The story, while present, was kind of cryptic and luckily not very prominent. Maybe it would have made more sense if I knew anything about the franchise.
I wouldn't say it's really a bad game, but I also wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big fan of metroidvanias, and don't mind that Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is short and doesn't have anything novel to offer in the genre.
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