Have you ever played a game, a recently released game, that you really enjoy but are already worried isn’t going to get the recognition it deserves? That’s how I’m currently feeling with the indie horror game Labyrinth of the Demon King! Released a little over a week ago, Labyrinth of the Demon King is a first person dungeon crawler horror game set in Feudal Japan published by Top Hat Studios and created almost single-handedly by J. R. Hudepohl. It is very much an indie project and one I very much enjoyed my time with! Which is why I’d rather it be a gem of a game instead of an hidden gem. So let me tell you why you should play it!

Like I was saying Labyrinth of the Demon King is a first person dungeon crawler, meaning it’s a game about taking your time going down hallways, checking rooms, checking maps, and fighting enemies in very tight, almost claustrophobic, environments. It’s a genre that honestly lends itself super well to horror games! You never know what’ll be around the corner after all. It’s a genre that rewards going slowly and being very thorough, much like most survival horror games! Which is clearly where J. R. Hudepohl got a lot of inspiration from. The game gives off a lot of Silent Hill vibes especially, and if you’ve been following this blog for some time you know how much I love that! We’ll talk more about the game play later though, for now let’s talk a bit about the story to set the scene a little better.

Labyrinth of the Demon King takes place in Feudal Japan, you play as a nameless Ashigura, a foot soldier, seeking revenge for your fallen Lord who was tricked by the Demon King. In order to reach him however, you must first fight your way through four different towers while collecting and managing your resources while you solve puzzles and try to survive. The game hardly has much of a deep story but that’s more than fine! The lore it provides with it’s notes scattered about does more than enough to set the scene and provide context to your journey and the Demon King himself. Along the way you’ll even run into a few friendly NPCs as well who will help you on your journey! Again, while the game is pretty light on story, it provides more than enough to hook you in. And once you’re in the game, its atmosphere and vibes are sure to keep you going.

The game is very clearly going for a PS1 aesthetic and feel. As someone who’s played a lot of horror games of this era I can say that J. R. Hudepohl nailed it pretty well! Especially with the character models, lack of proper voice acting, and overall ‘clunk’ of the game. That is something that might be a negative for some, but I personally feel that the clunky nature of the menus, swapping weapons, and combat not only go in line with what he was going for with the PS1 era but also add to the struggle of the combat. The blocky, pixelated, dirty look of the game not only fits with the aesthetic but also lends to the horror too! While I might not call Labyrinth of the Demon King ‘good’ looking exactly, it absolutely nails the vibes it was going for and is a joy to look at for that reason. I should also mention that you won’t be looking at the exact same kind of layout throughout the game either. Each of the game’s areas have their own look and feel which I was kind of surprised about when going from area to area! I was expecting new layouts with the same walls and floors and what not so it was very much a pleasant surprise when I discovered each area of the game looked pretty unique! Still fitting within the same theme of course, but managing to feel completely different from one another. There are three major areas you’ll be exploring and solving puzzles in each with their own unique puzzles and looks. They tend to vary quite a bit in length and size but I enjoyed all of them! There’s also a tea house hub area that features a kappa blacksmith for upgrades and nekomata shop keeper that you can spend your money on. She provides quite a bit actually from weapons to upgrade materials to just healing items! It’s probably the one and only place you’ll be feeling safe in throughout your adventure too so it’s good they nailed the cozy, relaxing vibes of the place.

So now that you know about how cool each area you’ll be trekking through is, let’s talk about what you’ll be doing in those areas!

Like most dungeon crawlers and survival horror games, the game play of Labyrinth of the Demon King mostly revolves around puzzle solving and fighting the horrors of the Labyrinth! The puzzles vary from tower to tower with one tower basically being one big puzzle when it comes to figuring out how to navigate it. There are some more traditional riddle puzzles here and there, but for the most part the puzzles are pretty standard for survival horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil! Which isn’t a bad thing in the slightest, especially given that’s what the game is going for. The combat however isn’t really like those survival horror games. While it still retains some of the clunkiness from the combat of those games, the combat in Labyrinth of the Demon King is actually a bit closer to something like Dark Souls!

The combat is mostly melee focused with some ranged weapons here and there, like a bow and a gun with limited ammo. For the most part though, you’ll be facing the horrors of the towers up close and personal! You’ll be using light attacks, heavy attacks, kicks, parries, and dodges while keeping a very close eye on your stamina all throughout! Stamina management is the name of the game really as you don’t start with much and it comes back slowly. Making sure you don’t over extend and leave yourself tired and easy to hit is extremely important to surviving! I won’t go super in depth on what counters what and all that, mainly because the game has a pretty good tutorial and training room to help you out, but there is a bit of a rock paper scissors thing going on when it comes to what beats what.

Given this game is a survival horror game, every enemy can be pretty dangerous. Enemies fight in a very similar manner to you as well. They will have light attacks, heavy attacks, kicks, parries, all that! Meaning that learning what beats what is even more important since it’ll help you understand how to fight each of the enemies. Some enemies are different and don’t have this set up of course, like the floating skulls that fire attacks from afar, but most of the enemies will have the same sort of move set as you do. However, they don’t have to worry about stamina like you do…

Now before you start worrying about combat becoming repetitive quick, there are plenty of things that will spice it up! The first thing being the weapons you use. Labyrinth of the Demon King has a surprisingly big arsenal for you to use. Something I was very much not expecting given the indie nature of the game. I was only expecting a handful of weapons but you are given so many to play around with. You’ll start off with just a broken katana but by the end you’ll be using big swords, mallets, and guns! And each one can feel pretty different. Big weapons will obviously be slower but hit harder while also requiring more stamina but there are other things to consider too. Such as piercing damage versus blunt damage, how much range your weapon provides, and what kind of weapon the enemy your facing is using. Not only can different damage types be more effective against certain enemies, but what the enemies are using to fight you with can be just as important. For instance, there are these short, little enemies with lanterns and tiny knives. They are very fast and nimble, making fighting them with a big, heavy weapon pretty difficult! Even if they don’t have much health, meaning a heavy weapon can finish them off more quickly, just trying to land a hit can be rough. This is yet another way to help spice up the combat, you can’t always tackle each encounter the exact same way.

Speaking of enemies, I was pretty surprised by how many there were in the game! While you’ll have your usual basic enemy that runs around each area doing simple punches and kicks, though sometimes they will come at you with a weapon, each tower introduces new enemies for the player to battle against, some enemies even being exclusive to those towers! For example, the prison tower is the only place in the game you’ll find the skeleton enemies and the bathhouse is the only place you’ll be finding the filth licking and spitting long tongued enemies! Just like with the variety of weapons, I was not expecting this from a small indie project but it was a very pleasant surprise to say the least. Another interesting thing about the enemies is the fact that they will actually fight each other. Something that is very beneficial to the player as fighting more than one enemy at a time can be extremely difficult! Labyrinth of the Demon King is certainly one of those games where fighting an enemy one on one isn’t a huge problem but the moment even a single extra enemy comes into the fray you are suddenly struggling horribly!

Of course, basic enemies aren’t the only thing you’ll be fighting in the game, you’ll also have to take on different bosses throughout your journey! These fights are obviously going to be tougher than fights against basic enemies as the bosses hit harder and can use unique abilities. Such as the half dead spider boss shooting web at you to slow you down and removing your ability to dodge. These fights can be really tough! However, I sadly found myself not really trying to learn the patterns of these bosses and more often than not just relying on my healing items and stamina items to carry me through them. These items are limited though, and with how hard some of the bosses hit they’ll drain you fast, but it was still a strategy that worked for me all the way until the final fight with the Demon King himself.

Overall though, combat was usually pretty satisfying and never really got that stale for me. This is both because of the combat itself but also because of the length of the game. Labyrinth of the Demon King is a pretty short adventure from start to finish. My first playthrough was around 6 or 7 hours with my second playthrough being much faster than that. This is pretty standard for a survival horror game though and honestly is more of a positive than a negative to me. The game is only $20 after all, expecting a long epic is asking for a bit too much. And like I’ve said in the past, horror games are better when they are on the shorter end. That way their scares won’t over stay their welcome! That being said though, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and vibes of Labyrinth of the Demon King, enough for me to kind of wish it was a little longer. But not enough for me to consider the short run time to be a negative! This just means I’ll very much be looking forward to whatever J. R. Hudepohl makes next!

And after you try this game, hopefully you’ll be looking forward to their next game too! Like I said up top, the passion that went into this title is on full display and I don’t want this game to become a hidden gem only a few people play. It deserves way more than that! So if anything at all sounded interesting to you about this game, please check it out. It’s available on just about every console and PC. It currently isn’t available on Xbox but it will be in the future! And again, it’s only $20 so you don’t have much of an excuse not to pick it up and give it a try if it at all sounds interesting. And here’s hoping more people give the game a try, not just because the game deserves it, but also because I’d love more games just like it!

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? Any interest in checking out Labyrinth of the Demon King? What have some of your favorite indie games of the year been? I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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