I was on the hook the minute I read the description of Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe. Not only does it have a kick-ass name, but it’s also a super interesting tactical turn-based roguelike about sneaking around a mountain crawling with monsters and baddies on your way to battling a demon in a castle. Here’s how developer Lab Rabbit Games puts it:
Step into the shadows as a lethal ninja, or go in katanas blazing. Shadowed is a traditional roguelike with a focus on stealth, combat, magic, and long-term planning. Beware, because at the bottom of the demon castle, the red-handed Shuten-doji revels, and there’s no turning back to grind.
I’ve played well into the double digits now, but I can’t claim to have got very close to the big bad in that time. You might argue that my hours have been wasted given my frequent deaths at the hands of the local fauna, but I’ve had a good time doing so, and I’m definitely going to keep chipping away at this one.
What is Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe?
Shadowed, as I’ll no doubt call it for the most part, looks and feels like a traditional roguelike. The tileset is minimalistic, the controls relatively complex, and the mechanics full of nuance. You control one of three different starting characters, and go on a mission to reclaim your honour or die trying at the hands of those who wronged you and your former master. Nice and simple, as it should be in this setting.
It took a while for me to get to grips with the mechanics, I won’t lie, but I’m glad I persisted because after a couple of hours of scratching my balding noggin, everything clicked and I started to make good progress.
This classic turn-based roguelike has you entering a variety of different locations that sit in the shadow of Mount Ooe. You’re always heading from one side to another, from entrance to exit. There are regular opportunities to use stealth, but of course you don’t get to take loot from your fallen foes if there are no foes to have fallen.
There are several different martial techniques to explore, as well as an elemental system to further mix up your combat options. I honestly feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of the tactical possibilities that this medley provides, but there appears to be a significant amount of depth for players to unlock.
In and out of the Shadowed
After I found my groove, I started to make inroads, and that’s when the challenge ramped up even further with greater numbers of more powerful enemies. I’d repeatedly get caught out by a swarm of chasing beasts. One or two can be dealt with, but once surrounded it’s just a matter of time before you fall.
With enemies everywhere, the focus then becomes getting past them to the exit without getting hit. I started looking for the edge of the map to skirt around the more open areas, using foliage to conceal myself as much as possible. You can see when you’re hiding because your once solid avatar becomes slightly opaque when in cover – a neat and simple visual distinction that I thought worked well.
I played the vast majority of my time on the starter build, the Shinobi. There are currently two more advanced builds open to players, but I didn’t think I was ready to mix things up just yet, given how often I am still dying. There are pre-set builds for each class or you can buy your own gear and skills from the pre-game loadout menu.
I experimented with picking my own gear, but normally opted for the recommended loadout as I felt it gave me good balance without me having to think too much. One way or t’other, you can equip a bunch of helpful items including curing pills to wash away those minor stab wounds, and smoke bombs, which are great for creating confusion and a potential chance to escape from danger.
Early Access and the path ahead
The plan is to keep the game in Early Access for 6-12 months, so let’s just wait and see how that plays out as these things can take longer than expected, especially when the focus is on mechincal complexity and systems driven gameplay, as it is here.
As for my experience: I’ve already seen first-hand how active the dev is when it comes to bug fixing and working with players to ensure they have a good experience. Thus, I think the community will be in safe hands despite the game’s EA tags, regardless of how long it takes for the project to be considered finished.
As mentioned, there are already three different playable classes available in the game at launch, but there are more in development, eventually bringing that number up to six. Not only is the plan to expand the number of playable character archetypes, but Lab Rabbit Games also wants to add additional features to certain level types as well as “more perks, spells, items, and enemies.”
After well over a dozen hours logged so far, I have to say that I’m rather taken with Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe. I think it’s in good shape for an Early Access project and the developer is attentive to the game’s burgeoning community. I’ve yet to finish the content that’s already here, and there’s even more to come in the months ahead, which bodes well for a traditional roguelike that already delivers a thematically rich gameplay experience.
Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe is out now in Early Access on PC (Win) and I played via access kindly provided by the game’s developer.
