The Eternal Castle Remastered Reviews
Watch a video of someone playing The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED], and you'll love it. The faux-retro, 2-bit colour palette has been used to paint a dark, grungy, and deeply atmospheric post-apocalyptic Earth, whose style will surely be appreciated by - very - old-school PC gamers. A great art style can never replace great game design, however. The visuals make it hard to understand what's going on, leading to even more trial-and-error that's already needed, not to mentions that the controls are a bit of a mess. There are things to like here, but the ride isn't usually that exciting.
If this was the “remastered” version of The Eternal Castle, I would hate to see what the original was like. The best thing about this was the marketing gimmick and the music.
The Eternal Castle Remastered delivers a faithful MS-DOS inspired title. That means it comes with all the issues those games carried with them. If it was simply a visual representation with modern game mechanics, The Eternal Castle Remastered could have been an amazing title, but alas, the broken platforming, melee combat that sees you button mashing until you win an encounter and gunplay that leaves you running for your life more often then holding your ground all conspire to make The Eternal Castle Remastered feel desperately dated. The unique art design is visually appealing, and when the electronic music plays, it sounds incredible. Unfortunately though, it's not enough to save The Eternal Castle from being a below-average title.
Confusing marketing and a visual choice that impedes while in motion will probably alienate potential customers. The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] is targeting a narrow audience, with a 2-bit CGA graphics gimmick. Some will enjoy it a great deal. Others, like myself, will develop eye strain, and end up reaching for FLASHBACK instead.
This faux-remake does what it sets out to do eerily well. There's just the question of whether that goal was worth achieving.
The Eternal Castle [Remastered] is a mysterious cinematic platformer. The main character needs to find parts to repair their ship. In doing so, they will encounter ferocious beasts, find fascinating characters, and uncover the secrets of the world around them. Does The Eternal Castle [Remastered] stand the test of time? Find out in this Rapid Review.
The Eternal Castle [Remastered] is nostalgia trip that’s mysterious, brutal, and sometimes even enjoyable. It’s a hard game to love, but an easy one to admire. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but it certainly stands out in a morass of bland Nintendo eShop releases.
Working as a throwback to games from a much earlier era that were the first to dabble in a cinematic adventure experience The Eternal Castle will probably feel quite familiar to fans of the likes of Out of this World or even earlier fare like Prince of Persia...
The Eternal Castle successfully captures the visual magic of cinematic platforming, but it's unnecessarily frustrating thanks to poor controls
Aside from visuals that sometimes get in the way of reading the text parts and even understanding some of the actions, The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] provides players with some interesting and totally different deep levels that have many secrets hidden in their nooks and crannies.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Getting the 80’s gaming into the modern era it’s not easy, but The Eternal Castle [Remastered] made it! Probably not in the best way because of all the mistakes that it has but the idea is there! Giving us some of the experience of what it was like to play games on that era it’s a nice reminder for the old fashioned gamers.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Eternal Castle: Remastered is a fun cinematic platformer that sparks imagination and frustration as you make your way through the minimalist levels. The developers have taken the genre and made it their own by implementing more action-centric elements and branching paths.
If like us, taking one look at a screenshot makes you immediately wanted to play it - be sure to check it out.
Your enjoyment of The Eternal Castle will weigh heavily on either having fond memories of the era or wanting to leave it buried. It’s difficult to see how younger players will react to its visuals and punishing difficulty, but it serves as stark reminder that we’ve come a long way, baby.
The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] is a faithful replication of nostalgic cinematic adventure games like Prince of Persia and Another World.
The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] prevails through its devotion to the garish glitz and grime of its early 90's apocalyptic techno/retro-future. It's a complete aesthetic that romanticizes graphical antiquity and idealizes a parallel with the maximum of its era's volatile culture. The artifact of The Eternal Castle may be invented and artificial, but it's no less effective in proving its power.
The Eternal Castle Remastered is a stunning, evocative cinematic platformer that recalls a long-past era of PC gaming.
With that older era comes a much more vague approach to the story that I actually appreciated. It is strange how little you are given to know, but the entire time through the game I always felt like I was progressing towards something and getting closer to my final destination. And each area of the game itself feels like it’s own thing while still fitting with the game’s overall theme, from a doomed lab to an abandoned cityscape, and a wasteland in the middle of a war.
Leonard Menchiari, Giulio Perrone and Daniele Vicinanzo have demonstrated, with this fake remake, the maxim that the current video game can be decomposed to return to the most basic origins
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Eternal Castle is a vintage-flavored adventure inspired by classics like Prince of Persia, Flashback and Another World. The limited color palette and minimalism does not prevent it from being a visual poetry, as well as its hard and challenging gameplay. The soundtrack deserves a separate mention and is one of the reasons why it deserves to be played. A real independent gem.
Review in Spanish | Read full review