Guarding the Labyrinth: A Review of Eldritch
In this review, Pyroclastic_Snow delves into Eldritch by Minor Key Games—a roguelike steeped in Lovecraftian horror and retro charm.
Blending atmospheric tension with creative gameplay, the article explores how the game captures the eerie allure of cosmic dread while offering a fresh take on stealth and exploration.
H. P. Lovecraft has done well to inspire a whole new world of storytelling by enlightening us to nightmares we could have never possibly been able to comprehend that could ever exist. Minor Key Games has tapped into this wellspring by giving us Eldrich, a rogue-like wherein you face cultists and creatures beyond comprehension…. literally!
When you open the game, you find yourself in a library surrounded by open books that tell the story of this world, a world almost overtaken by eldritch creatures until a ritual was performed to keep the Old Ones in a labyrinthine prison. Thousands of years passed, and a group of archeologists (of course, it’s the archeologists, they just can’t keep their hands to themselves, can they?) found the ritual site and awoke the Old Ones so that they could again wreak havoc upon the world. The rite is performed again, naming the Librarian as the one to be inside the labyrinth to keep things from getting shaken up again from the inside. Someone fudged the ritual a bit, though, and now the mind of the librarian protector and their memories went kaput.
The room that is appropriately called “The Library” in the pause menu is also where the game’s version of a tutorial is, giving you several open books that tell you how to navigate the different layers of this prison. The game even has a lean function so that your enemies are less likely to notice you while you’re sneaking around, giving you a chance to pick up any of the numerous forms of weaponry littered about, including rocks, daggers, various guns, and even level deforming dynamite (it works a little like Minecraft). There is also a crouch and sliding crouch function, minimizing the sound of your footsteps so as to not alert the roaming enemies that get more interesting and more dangerous the deeper you go.
In my own playthrough, I found it to be a good challenge. Enemies respawn soon after you leave the area and take more hits to take down when they notice you, versus you shooting them from a distance without them knowing. The ambiance is absolutely there, mostly quiet with some tense music as you go through the areas. I did find the sounds the cultists make sort of amusing. They’re in a labyrinth of horrors, walking around amongst fish men and able to shoot a ball of fire, and they sound so bored with themselves. The fish-men’s “gulping” sounds are also… interesting. I know that those noises serve to tell the player where the enemies are in the environment (and other creatures, depending on the world), but they are just very unusual sounds. The random generation of objects also helps and gives reason to explore just a bit more, even if I’ve found the exit already, just so I can find more in-game currency (artifacts) and an extra bullet or two. With 3 worlds to explore, plus bonus worlds and content, this game is absolutely worth the $15 to purchase! Make sure to give love to the creators of Eldritch, as they put so much effort into this game.
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