It is now officially February which means that the January drought is over. February is going to be huge, with AAA open-world games and I think a Kirby game. So, this week I decided to take on a game that I knew absolutely nothing about and even after playing it know nothing about. This week I remember fondly the days of old Zelda games, this week I played The Forgotten Castle.

The Forgotten Castle is a top-down action-adventure game from Dogking Games and it is set to release on PC in 2023.

Honestly, the plot is quite cryptic, but the only thing that I know is that you start the game as an old man falling down a long ass shaft into a mysterious dungeon at the bottom of a castle. The developer notes shine some more, but not much light on the game’s story:

Play as an old man who wakes up in a mysterious castle full of magic and danger. Explore every corner of the castle and discover what is hidden between the walls of this mysterious and ancient place while you keep fighting with monsters and improving your abilities.

The Old Man can move, interact and use his tiny sword to kill bad guys. The main dungeon is reminiscent of the castle basement in A Link to The Past (at least to me). Corridors are tight, there are mini-puzzles and there are enemies that resemble those electric blob monsters from ALtTP. The enemies have a few different attacks, so learning move-sets is key to succeeding. The Old Man can only take so many hits, and when fully depleted of hearts, looses all progress up until the moment you interacted with the “save shrine.” Combat is relatively easy, swipe at the bad guy with your sword until their sprite vanishes. There is a point where you fight a boss and acquire a sick dash ability. That’s a good ability.

A real hit of nostalgia for me.

Though corridors are tight, there is a lot of ground to cover. There are creatures that take note of the distance that you have traveled, so getting lost is a difficult task.

Puzzles are present, but are not difficult. As long as you can use your eyeballs and an ounce of critical thinking, the puzzles are quite easy.

Once again, the art style has something to do with pixels, so I was already intrigued and I have to say, the areas do in fact look pretty good. I really just like pixel games.

Is there music? I do not think so. I don’t remember any, so, no.

The Forgotten Castle is a game that surprised me a lot. The combat is pretty weak, but everything else is pretty dope. The main boss gave me some issues but I eventually took not of his attacks and dodged when I was supposed to and attacked when the time was right. The area to wander around in is quite large with a another section that can be accessed as well.

All-in-all, The Forgotten Castle is a dope demo.