ConraDargo

An amazing experience that is dripping with atmosphere, albeit not without some frustration. The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] successfully captures the feel of an 80's or 90's platformer and manages to so much with so little, painting a beautiful world with its unique and oddly colorful visual style. -- The one thing that will leave people frustrated and possibly even angry as they try to make their way through the game, is the controls. Not only will you have to either figure out most of it on your own or look them up, but the running-and-jumping parts can be especially punishing, as are some of the fights and shootouts. With gameplay, exploring and puzzles like what we have here, it's quite crucial to have tight controls, and sadly we don't. -- Despite this flaw, the feelings that The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] could leave you with are well worth getting a little frustrated, especially since you'll make your way through the game in only 3-4 hours. There's something about the world, what drives the character, and how the story is told that makes quite the impression and those of us who make it through it all are sure to want to come back at some point.

An amazing experience that is dripping with atmosphere, albeit not without some frustration. The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] successfully captures the feel of an 80's or 90's platformer and manages to do so much with so little, painting a beautiful world with its unique and oddly colorful visual style. The one thing that will leave people frustrated and possibly even angry as they try to make their way through the game, is the controls. Not only will you have to either figure out most of it on your own or look them up, but the running-and-jumping parts can be especially punishing, as are some of the fights and shootouts. With gameplay, exploring and puzzles like what we have here, it's quite crucial to have tight controls, and sadly we don't. Despite this flaw, which I actually believe to be part of the design and throwback to this era in gaming, the feelings that The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] could leave you with are well worth getting a little frustrated, especially since you'll make your way through the game in only 3-4 hours. There's something about the world, what drives the character, and how the story is told that makes quite the impression and those of us who make it through it all are sure to want to come back at some point.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Take the game for what it is, and SEE it for what it is, and you'll have a very joyful experience! It definitely helps if you, like myself, is a board gamer who has experience with the Arkham Horror games and Mansions of Madness. Cuz it's really clear that that's where the developers got most of their ideas and inspiration from, as is to be expected - since that's what they do: they turn board games into digital experiences! And this particular "port" is a really good one imo. It has a good, old-school Lovecrafty feel to it with the way the camera works and how certain scenes have been directed, combined with a fitting soundtrack. I think that the presentation is really good and well thought-out! As for the gameplay, I'm certain that many will find it clunky and as old-fashioned as the game's graphics, but to me it all blends in with the general old-school feel and the fact that the developers are making digital versions out of board games! I enjoy the mix of real-time exploring/investigation with turn-based combat and the many RPG-features that the game has, especially since it (once again) ties in well with the board games. And interestingly enough you'll always have to think twice about what to have a closer look at in the environment, as many things will leave your characters mentally scarred - and you might not even be rewarded with an item for it! This prevents a leave-no-stone-unturned behavior, which I think is great. Also, the voice actors does a surprisingly good job with delivering all the spoken dialogue.