King's Field IV

The perfect culmination of the King's Field / Shadow Tower series. The graphics have received a big upgrade for the PS2 era, with more open, realistic environments. And the models and textures are just beautifully crafted. There are classic enemies like skeletons and slimes, but as you progress you will meet more and more impressively bizarre looking enemies. In terms of gameplay, the exploration is the most important aspect. There is combat of course, but like many RPG's, it's not the most awesome action ever but more an obstacle to progression and sometimes a test of strategy. You move and turn quite slowly, but so do the enemies. You learn to perform a sort of dance, strafing around them and ducking away until the chance to strike arises. You also need to consider what enemies are weak to what attacks. But about the level design. Upon starting the game, the first thing you may find is an instant death trap directly in your path. This became a bit of a staple in the series, but traps like that are actually not common at all in the rest of the game. From there, you will explore the outdoors areas and some side structures for awhile until finally beginning your descent into the eponymous ancient city. Thus begins is a continuous descent into the gigantic labyrinth, where the game really starts to shine. Because the design of the whole tower is just masterful. It feels so satisfying exploring the side areas, discovering secrets and new abilities, and unlocking new paths in the tower. The labyrinth is non-linear, although some areas have tough enemies or hazards to encourage you to explore elsewhere and return later. One interesting feature of King's Field is the use of warp stones. You can find a handful of these, which, when placed in a corresponding location, become points you can warp to. This gives you the option of fast travel, but only to/from certain points, and it gives you the option of what those points will be. From Soft's Shadow Tower had a similar feeling of descent, which worked fairly well, but here it feels much more smartly designed. Because of the enhanced graphics of the PS2 era, there are a lot more unique textures, props, and architecture, which make individual areas stand out more. That helps the gameplay by making it harder to get lost. And the pacing of the areas is quite good. You may start to get tired of a certain area and its enemy roster, only to shortly enter an area that feels totally different. My favorite was the forest area, which you enter from the ancient city, and is so beautifully serene it works perfectly as a contrast to the oppressively dark atmosphere of the labyrinth. Overall the atmosphere of the game is incredible. It has a dark fantasy theme, placing you in a land that has been desolated by evil. You only rarely encounter NPC's, most of whom are despondent survivors. Sometimes they request items from you or have a little storyline that happens in the background as you progress. Quite similar to the Souls series. The puzzles I felt were pretty reasonable and even clever at times, I dont recall getting stuck for long or needing a guide. My favorite is the one where you need to put on an enemy's set of armor to pass an area. If there's one thing to criticize, for me it's the weapon smith system. You free a dwarf smith partway through the game, at which point you can find him in a certain cave and he can upgrade your weapons. I didn't end up using this system very much, because you have to repeatedly travel to that one location, and you have to wait in REAL TIME for him to do the work. This didn't feel worth the tedium considering you frequently find new, better weapons. But anyways, back to the main game. By the end of it, you have descended so far down it feels like you're in hell fighting literal demons. And once you think you've seen the worst, you end up in an incredibly bizarre, alien world where you must fight the final boss. No spoilers, but just make sure to get that iconic moonlight sword!

Please do not let the first impression this game makes discourage you - give it an hour or two. Once you get used to its odd controls and the rhythm of its unusual slow-motion gameplay, the initial impression of intolerable jank gives way to an excellent, well-designed dungeon crawling RPG. Most people, including myself, are likely coming to King's Field from the Souls series, and the inspiration for those games is clearly felt in its darkly atmospheric, unforgiving, densely interconnected world, as well as its minimal, oblique storytelling. But one big adjustment of expectations is in order: this is a game more about exploration than action. And despite its fairly simplistic combat, this game does a terrific job of making the exploration interesting, tense, and rewarding,

Inmersion is the best word to single-handledly explain what's so legendary about King's Field IV. The somber structures abandoned long ago, the feeling of everything surrounded by dark forces, the ruins of a once thriving land. What it remained in Dark Souls from this monolith is how it presents its themes of deception and corruption: simple yet occult storytelling about the rising from the depths of an unstoppable force, of a merciless end for all humanity. What "The Last of Us" giraffes sequence achieved from a modern post-apocalyptic perspective, but made in an entire game's philosophy: Ruthless forces of nature and decay. A beautiful yet haunting spirit that returns civilization to rubble, ashes and bone.

It's funny how the real ending is so happy, however. Fantastic, underrated gem. Don't let the clunky, weird control layout scare you - there is more than slow pace and it cannibalizes that motif, a characteristic commonly panned by the mainstream. Take a deep breath, be smart and prepare for one hell of an slowburner action RPG.