Dark everywhere, deaf everywhere – review of the game “Dark Castle”

In the Castle

I saw this production for the first time when I was browsing the publishing information on one of the fanpages. When I found out that the Polish edition would be the responsibility of Rebel, it was only a matter of time before I put it on my shelf. The players play the roles of wrongly imprisoned prisoners thrown into the prey of a gloomy castle, which they can leave only by cooperating with each other. The game is designed for one to four people and takes about 30 minutes to finish. Personally, I played the best with three people.

I’m getting dark

The game mechanically is very simple, not to say banal. The first step is to select characters (in solo mode – two), which are characterized by three fairly classic attributes (wisdom, strength and cunning). The size of the attribute is equal to the number of given symbols on the character cube. Then, items are selected according to the number of players, and we decide how to distribute these items. The chapter and overlord cards are shuffled and a deck of the first fifteen resting on the monstrous lord of the castle is formed. The whole game is based on turning over the cards (the players agree on who to open the door) and making simple choices, most of which depend on the die roll. Characters have a relatively small amount of health and the game has been designed to slowly, albeit systematically, deprive them of him, which is to build the ever-increasing tension. It is a zero-to-hero game, but it will be very difficult to become that hero here.

Pros

The great advantage of the game is its performance. The box includes a manual, small and large cards, cubes, a notebook and four pencils. All this in a well-thought-out and functional molding. This is ugly. Even a lot. And dark .. It does not change the fact that many players will like keeping the monochromatic style. The monsters are scowling, and the castle itself does not look like a place where you would like to spend your all-inclusive vacation. If Nosferatu himself showed up, he would undoubtedly be delighted with the game. The characters remind me of Count Monte Cristo on steroids, locked in some nasty fantasy world. The gameplay is fast, fluid and provides a lot of excitement. As in most good cooperative games – the more people at the table, the more interesting the game is. It is through reading the texts written in italics on the cards and interactions over the table that you can feel the atmosphere of the game and get the greatest satisfaction from it. At this point, I must point out that the game itself is quite difficult and you will lose it much more often. A nice touch for me is also winking at old RPG players by attaching a notebook and pencils to the box, which is designed to primitively reproduce the character sheet.

Minuses

The thing that bothered me a lot was the system of items in the game. A player may have a maximum of one in each hand or one two-handed. There were situations when, right at the beginning of the game, someone stumbled upon an item with which they stayed until the end of the game, and sometimes there were also moments when all subsequent items were thrown away. I think that a good solution could be to take from, for example, Roll Player and classify and arrange items from theoretically weaker to stronger ones. I also think some of the end opponents are just too powerful and the game is trying to cheat. There is also a lack of even a slightly sketched character development, but this can be understood due to the planned simplicity of the game.

Summary:

Dark Castle is a solid title that seems just right for an evening out with friends. As long as you don’t mind randomness, you will have a great time. Music, gloomily squeaking in the background, will also help to build a good atmosphere. I recommend. If someone does not like this type of atmosphere, the developers are planning a sequel in space. What does the Rebel say?