Shadow Tower

Like most I found From Software by getting pulled into Dark Souls/Demon Souls, and a few years later I found myself spelunking From's old PS1 releases out of curiosity. First King's Field 2 (a magnificent game), then the critically-panned and obscure Shadow Tower.

So is Shadow Tower aged, crusty, player-hostile shovelware we should all forget about, or is it a carefully-designed bit of magic?

It is old and crusty - no DualShock support, standard King's Field/Armored Core control scheme where shoulder buttons control looking up/down, a respectable fully-realtime-but-still-decidedly-PS1-era set of graphics that trend towards grey and brown. There's no music in-game - at first this seems like a confusing missed opportunity on the part of the designers. Like King's Field. the game is slow, and something as basic as changing your equipment will throw up a loading screen (though the areas themselves are uninterrupted).

It certainly SEEMS to be comically player-hostile at first - you pay for everything with HP (yes, the game's primary currency are your own health points, and there are a finite number of restorative health potions in the game), including repair costs for all your weapons and armor that are constantly degrading, and it is exceptionally easy to stumble onto very dangerous enemies in the first level. Save points are few and far between. Resources are scarce. There are no in-game maps at all, which is one of the few true flaws of the game - you should absolutely have fan-created maps open on your computer as you play this.

And I know what you're thinking - "that sounds awful, and sloggy, and not AT ALL fun - why would I play this?" - and trust me, that's where I started.

But what begins as an offputting slog quickly gives way to something else: A methodical, thoughtfully-designed game that isn't anywhere near as difficult or as player-hostile as it first seems.

Get past the first area or two and you'll get into the game's rhythm - yes, everything costs HP and potions are rare, but you'll start to learn how to manage and, towards the end of the game, exploit this economy. Yes, there's weapon degradation - but by the end of the game you'll be swimming in powerful gear. Yes, there are enemies around every corner that sometimes feel like minibosses - but all of them have weaknesses, and crucially, every single enemy you kill in the game stays permanently dead - there are no respawns and every area has a fixed count of enemies, which means every enemy you down gets you closer to clearing the area entirely. Your frustration at the slow controls will morph into a feeling of satisfaction as you fall into a rhythm of area-clearing sweeps. This is a game about progressing slowly and carefully - every kill matters, every item helps.

It's really astonishing how much of From Software's Dark Souls-era design sensibilities are represented in this game, circa 1999. An initial feeling of ridiculous difficulty giving way to a feeling of "wait, this is totally doable", cheesable enemies, careful resource management, methodical and careful exploration, bizarre shortcuts, smart level design, a ruined, decaying, lonely world, outstanding sound design, fantastic enemy designs, a game design you find yourself admiring more the more you play - all the hallmarks are here.

This game ABSOLUTELY takes some getting into, and you will need to refer to external maps to find your way around - but if you're a fan of old-RE-style survival horror, slow-paced dungeon crawls, or especially any of the King's Field games, seek this one out and stick with it, I promise it's worth it.