Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle Reviews
In many ways, Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is a pretty traditional dungeon crawler with its grid-based movement, first person perspective and numbers-heavy combat on the back end. Where it breaks the mold a bit is in how it allows you to split your party up for its real-time combat and Japanese-infused aesthetic. This is a genre that sometimes can get a little stodgy, and does not generally bring a lot of innovation to the table, so despite some annoying difficulty spikes and some lackluster overall presentation values, Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle still makes for an interesting addition to the genre.
While I wish there was a greater variety of Yokai, at least their attack patterns and behaviors differs a bit so they aren't merely cosmetic variations slapped on the same base. Save points tend to be fair in their spacing and the choices you make for upgrading your characters open the door to some variety depending on the skills you choose, further encouraging replayability. If you've been looking for something a bit different on the Switch, for a variety of reasons Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle sets itself apart as unique, even if its style and pacing may not be for everyone.
Hyakki Castle is a solid dungeon crawler with some fun classes, mechanics, and amazing monsters to keep drawing players into the labyrinth.
Hyakki Castle puts up a welcome challenge and offers players something rooted in a very authentic Japanese (Shinto) spirituality. It's an artifact of the country and comes from the same place that the likes of Okami, Nioh and God Wars does. It's truly amazing that the Nintendo Switch has had three of those four released on it in the span of just a couple of weeks.
Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is a clever twist on the traditional dungeon crawler, with a focus on the split-team function. Learning to work with separate teams can be tough at first, but it's well worth the effort. The combat is otherwise simplistic and easy to pick up, making it easy to jump in for hours at a time.
If you're in for some meditative classic gaming, Hyakki Castle is for you. It's a game that knows exactly what it is, and it has no interest in punishing you or making you feel like you don't get it. It's a friendly, old-style game that wants you to succeed, and that seems to be less and less present now. It also has cat people in it.
Simple, satisfying, vertical and easy to binge on, like a tube of Pringles. Hyakki Castle feels like a generic alternative. It'll fill the gap for a while, but once you pop, stopping might be easier than you'd hope.