Creepy Castle
Sorti le 31 décembre 1991 sur Mac, Creepy Castle est édité par Reactor et développé sous GameMaker. Il est proposé au tarif de 8,19 EUR et affiche un score Metacritic et une note agrégée de 82.
Le jeu possède deux présentations distinctes dans les bases de données. La fiche IGDB le décrit comme un beat 'em up à défilement horizontal inspiré des films d'horreur vintage, où le joueur affronte loups-garous, goules et vampires dans un château en ruine pour sauver une jeune fille enlevée par un savant fou. De son côté, la fiche Steam présente une tout autre expérience : un RPG d'exploration en défilement latéral mettant en scène Moth, un papillon aventurier enquêtant sur une conspiration au sein d'un château ancien. Cette version met en avant un système de combat au tour par tour original, les « Duels », qui intègre des mini-jeux d'adresse pour obtenir des coups gratuits, ainsi que des phases de plateforme en temps réel. Le contenu est découpé en plusieurs scénarios — dont Creepy Castle, Ghostly Mystery, Lost and Due Exaltation, et le final The Final Fist ajouté dans la mise à jour 1.1 — chacun offrant ses propres personnages, intrigue et mécaniques. L'univers de Dopterra s'étoffe via une collection de tomes, un bestiaire et une interface personnalisable.
Compter environ 9 heures et demie pour boucler l'histoire principale et 22 heures pour une complétion totale.
La presse a globalement salué le titre. The Overpowered Noobs souligne un scénario décalé mais significatif, une direction artistique et sonore rétro élégante, ainsi qu'une exploration et des combats simples mais engageants. CGMagazine évoque une reconnexion nostalgique avec l'enfance. Du côté des joueurs, les avis positifs sur Metacritic mettent en avant le plaisir des duels, la qualité de la bande-son, l'originalité du protagoniste insecte et la richesse des scénarios. Un avis Steam le qualifie de « jeu "Forget Me Not" », estimant qu'il vaut son prix même s'il reste inachevé.
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« It just hit all the right notes with me: quirky but meaningful plot and characters, elegant retro art and sound, and simple but engaging exploration and combat. »
« I may be older now, but thanks to my time with Creepy Castle, I was able to reconnect—if only briefly—with all the wonderful moments in my childhood that have led me to this very moment as a games journalist. That’s a magic that, as a lifelong player, I can’t put a price tag on. »
« Once you come to grips with what Creepy Castle is, you'll fall in love with it. The retro style is done well, warts and all, but it still manages to pull off a look that makes it stand out in a sea of other retro-themed titles. »
« The story is fun, the graphics are out-of-this-world impressively retro, and the controls have been updated for modern computers and controllers (or keyboards, if you so chose). I found myself completely immersed in the castle’s world — except when the audio cut out — and plan on going back again soon. »
« Creepy Castle is one game for players who enjoyed Undertale or Cave Story. It has a very particular art design, but if it's not a problem for you, you'll find a great game. »
« Though not quite matching the Everest-high peak of its contemporaries, Creepy Castle delivers enough charm and quirkiness to leave a satisfying impression. Satisfying enough to look past the aspect ratio, put it that way. »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« pro: 1- the duels (mini-games battle) is the fun part of the whole game 2- great soundtracks 3- the protagonist is a bug 4- have 4 scenario, one of them is optional cons: 1- the game is slow, takes only 6 hour just to finish first scenario 2- **** start to get serious about the story, despite the cutie art style 3- THE MAP SYSTEM IN THE GAME IS A LITERAL **** 4- and it's been 4 years and there's no season 2 »
« A wonderful, cute little adventure game with a good story, minor RPG elements, some light hearted humor and plenty of content, Creepy Castle promises and it delivers. The game is segmented across 5 different scenarios, which I will cover in as brief and non-spoilery a way as possible: The first scenario, Creepy Castle, is the only one you have unlocked to begin with, and your character, Moth, is tasked with entering the creepy castle and figuring out what's going on inside. After that, you unlock 3 of the remaining 4 scenarios (the other one is best left as a surprise): Ghostly Mystery, Depth, and Due Exaltation, which are all branches off of the original story. Ghostly Mystery involves you delving into the mysterious ghost palace shortly after the events of the first scenario, and is thematically similar to it as well. The next scenario, Depth, is all about being hopelessly lost in a labyrinthine cave system, and sadly this has little story until the end. Next is Due Exaltation, a space adventure where you... actually, I think I'll leave that for you to find out. After a scenario is completed, you will usually be given the scenario's free mode, where you can replay the scenario with any character you wish. As for the quality of the game, it is an indie gem. »
« I'm really, really digging this game so far, though, just because I give it a high score doesn't necessarily mean it comes recommended to everybody. Interestingly enough, one of this game's strongest points is also one of it's weakest, that being that it isn't quite like anything else I've played. Sure, you can compare certain aspects of it to other games easily, but as it is, there's really no clear genre to lump Creepy Castle under, in my opinion. The Steam store page calls it an Adventure and RPG, and yeah, those are technically true, though the RPG elements are very light, and it's certainly not like any adventure game that I've personally played. Erm, anyway, that aside, this makes the game difficult to describe for two reasons: 1) as said above, there's few games that it can be directly compared to as a whole and 2) The mystery and oddity of the game is one of its drawing points. I think this game would be best enjoyed going into knowing very little. Actually, I bought the game judging only on the screenshots. I had only skimmed through the description on Steam and didn't really watch the videos. But the screenshots alone were incredibly intriguing to me. What the hell are you playing as? Just what kind of game is it? And damn, that is one fine ass retro art style. Yeah, some people might not dig the Commodore 64/early PC graphics (just 2 colors per sprite!), But I found them immediately eye-catching. This game comes recommended to those who enjoy quirky stories with cute characters. I want to say that fans of Undertale would probably enjoy this game, but the fanbase for UT is so ridiculously immense now that I don't think that's safe to assume. The game also has great music which is unfortunately nowhere to be found on the internet yet, however a bandcamp page is supposedly on the way. To conclude, if you're unsure on whether or not you might like this game, consider holding off for a sale. If by chance you're like me and are immediately intrigued by this unique looking game, I'd say it's worth taking the plunge. I don't make impulse purchases for the full price hardly ever on Steam since sales are so common, but I honestly feel that $15 is a pretty fair asking price. The game does have a lot of content; after you beat the first scenario, three new ones are unlocked as well as the ability to play through the first scenario with different characters, adding a new perspective and unlocking new sides to the story. »
