Are you one of those people who wants an unrelentingly brutal video game? Instead of throwing your controller at the wall, do you just grit your teeth and try again? Do you love the feeling of accomplishment when you finally vanquish that impossible boss? Well then The Dark Spire is for you.
The Dark Spire is a first person dungeon crawler for the Nintendo DS whose primary inspiration comes from the classic game Wizardry. You start off in a town, assemble your party out of the standard human/elf/dwarf warrior/thief/priest/mage combinations, and set out on your way. The story itself is nothing you have never heard before…climb a tower, vanquish the bad guys, save the day. There is more to it, but that is the basic idea behind your actions within the game.
Everything in The Dark Spire will remind you of classic dungeon crawls from the early 80′s…no indication of where to go or what to do, unbelievably brutal difficulty, not a lot of resources, and death around every turn. There is even a “simple graphics” option that makes everything wireframe and changes the menu system to look oldschool. If I’m playing late at night, I find that this mode is useful to keep my eyes from hurting, as well as filling me up with a pleasant sense of nostalgia. When you switch the graphics over to the wireframe style, the music and sound effects even change!
The Dark Spire is certainly not for everyone…even if you enjoy your video games providing a major challenge, if you don’t have some bit of nostalgia for the games of old you may get frustrated with this one. I recommend saving after every successful fight, and spend your money wisely…you could very quickly find yourself in a position that you have no way to get out of. I highly recommend you go on GameFaqs to find out what everything does in the game, it will make it a lot easier to jump right in. Do NOT read the “walkthrough” portion of any FAQs though…that ruins the experience and purpose of a dungeon crawler.
Over all, The Dark Spire is a great throwback to a simpler time where games destroyed your soul rather than coddle you on the way to the ending screen. If you have a long road trip coming up, if you like spreading games out over a long period of time, or if you are just plain nostalgic about the early 80′s…The Dark Spire is for you. Just remember, don’t chuck your DS at the wall; a new one is far more expensive than a new controller or keyboard.
Great review. I may just have to go pick that up. It’s been bothering me lately how games don’t challenge like they used to. Would that I had a PS3; there’s a game called Demon’s Souls that is very unforgiving.