Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle

This history-focused dungeon crawler may have some new mechanics, but the core of the action is essentially the same as older games, which becomes tedious after a while. Hyakki Castle allows four heroes to split into two parties (of two warriors) to explore and defeat the variety of monsters (some very gruesome) in their path. Jumping from one side of the monitor to the other is intriguing at first, but starts to wear a bit thin as the difficulty ramps up. There are three difficulty levels, though, allowing players to get their hack-and-slash boots worked in before taking on the tougher mobs. Unfortunately, the game is a bit weak and redundant when it comes to the graphics and game flow. While the game can be played with either a mouse and keyboard or a controller, the control settings aren't particularly intuitive when it comes to keymapping on the gamepad.

The game uses the traditional four-member team of ranged/magic users, fighters, and healers, but the game graphics could have been a lot more vibrant than presented. The game also forces players to split the party in order to solve puzzles -- the easiest of which involves leaving one party on a pressure plate to open a gate while the other party goes through and steps on the pressure plate on the other side to keep the gate up and reunite the party. Overall, Hyakki Castle feels like a missed opportunity. The game draws on an intriguing time setting and has an array of mythological creatures to intrigue Western players, but it dips into traditional first-person gameplay elements rather than using the setting as a launching point for something truly inviting.