As we approach Halloween, I wanted to find some spooky games. Having ticked off all of the major releases, I found myself at something of a loose end. So I turned to Steam. Searching for unknown games with few reviews, I wanted to find a genuine hidden gem. Something few people had played, something unfairly overlooked by the majority. Death Crown was what I found. With just over one hundred Steam reviews, was this the hidden gem I was searching for?
The most immediately striking aspect is the visual design. Developers CO5MONAUT describe it as 1-bit, and you can see why. Everything is 2D, with black and white, single line visuals, and it helps Death Crown to stand out immediately. These visuals add a real sinister tone, and the character designs only add to this.
The main campaign map, and indeed the battles, retain this look. While I loved the visual design from the off, Death Crown does have some problems. What I found charmingly sinister in cutscenes and on the campaign map occasionally tends to be cluttered mid-fight. This is not so bad during early battles, but as you progress through the game there ends up being a lot going on that the 1-bit visuals struggle to convey.
The gameplay itself is simple. Deceptively so. You have just three buildings at your disposal throughout the game: a mine which generates gold; a barracks which spawns disarmingly cute little skeletons that attack on your command, and finally a tower that defends your precious castle. If your castle dies, it’s game over.
At first I found this to be limited. With so little at your disposal, how can you strategise? This turned out to be the wrong way of thinking altogether. Each mission is more a puzzle than a battle. Survey the landscape, assess your enemy’s abilities, and then act.
Death Crown gets a lot of mileage out of this formula. While few levels truly shake things up, there’s enough variety here to keep you involved throughout. My only complaint is the map size. While I understand that the smaller maps force you to utilize the limited space available and create densely, fiercely contested zones, I would have liked at least a chance to play on a grander scale.
There is no other way to put this: Death Crown is hard as nails. So hard in fact that I found myself unable to get through every level. While it starts off at a serene pace, the difficulty ramps up fast. While I was generally able to work out the strategy to beat each level, some left me scratching my head and shaking my fist.
My other complaint here is that this difficulty occasionally feels unearned. While some levels have clever mechanics such as seizing your towers, or limiting you strictly to certain areas of the map, others feel like the AI is just given unfair advantages. It’s at this point Death Crown started to feel like a grind. Fortunately these levels are few, and generally the design is excellent. Be warned, though, that this is anything but a cakewalk.
I enjoyed my time with Death Crown, though not without reservations. I may have had my frustrations with the difficulty at times, but the minimalist approach and striking visuals generally offset this. Casual gamers will no doubt be turned away, but for hardcore strategists there is something here to really challenge them. I would like to finish all the levels, and I’m sure I’ll be back to throw myself against the AI in future.
A code for Death Crown was provided by the developer.
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