Diorama Dungeon Review – Master of the Living Castle (XSX) with Live Streaming – Video Game Reviews, News, Streams & More

Published by EastAsiaSoft, Diorama Dungeon – Master of the living castle Reuses the same visual style, UI, sound effects and overall gameplay from previously released retro-inspired titles such as Escape from the city of terror, Thunder childAnd Thunder Kid II. Unfortunately, it also carries the same drawbacks and inconveniences.

Instead of using a ranged attack like in Thunder child titles, Dungeon diorama Depends on melee. The problem is that the attack range is short, your hitbox is huge, there is no temporary relief when damage is taken, and there is no incentive to fight. The goal is to reach the end of the stage and take down the boss. Along the way there are dangers and many enemies that range from annoying to frustrating. Since there’s no leveling system or super meter that builds up over time, it’s easier and faster to avoid every enemy encounter, and quickly head to the boss. Playing on platforms is also difficult due to the poor camera angle that cannot be moved; It is almost impossible to determine the depth that will lead to many deaths not due to the player’s fault or skill.

Granted, some enemies will need to be taken out just because they’re cheaply placed in front of that hole or snipe you from a distance. Most enemies take too many hits to be defeated as well. I think this is because the player can hold the attack button for a few seconds to unleash a more powerful attack, killing them with fewer hits. However, this warm attack pins the player in place so enemies will need to go into it stupidly, which rarely and never happens during boss fights. The point is that combat is a mess, made worse by the stupidly short attack range.

Boss fights are also acts of attrition, just like boss battles Thunder child games. While it’s usually easy to quickly pick up on an attack pattern, every battle is a lot more boring than it needs to be due to ridiculous hitboxes, short attack range, and an unnecessarily high health meter. Stages also feature checkpoints, but they can be very far apart; They are not even placed directly in front of each president. There are also bugs that lower grinding as well, like how you keep taking damage even after you die, a boss was able to kill me after I killed him causing a reboot, and the console keeps running with an improper battery-draining glitch.

I like the idea of ​​these new retro experiences in PSOne style but they lack any kind of polish that I would fully recommend. However, achievement hunters may want to take note because each one of them holds a significant Gamerscore value and doesn’t take long to unlock… that is, if you can put up with the flawed and inconsistent gameplay.

Also play: Maggie magnet

Do not forget: Breakneck City

Wait for it: a sequel with co-op and more polish

Written by: Zachary Gasorowski, Editor-in-Chief, myGamer.com

Twitter: @ZackGazPlease consider supporting me on Patreon.