Labyrinth of the Demon King is easily among the best games I've played this year so far, I've played through the game in a couple of sessions, enjoying every minute. The game felt like an open admission of admiration for the fifth and sixth generation of consoles and the horror game classics those systems carried. There are hints of King's Field, Kuon, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc. However, trying to boil down the game to just an homage would do The Labyrinth of the Demon King a disservice, as it accomplishes many things that are singular to this game, making it a stand-alone and notable entry in the genre. Labyrinth of the Demon King is an excellent, dark and gross trek through the uglier side of Japanese mythology, featuring some great deep cuts in the enemy roster that you'd be hard pressed to find being depicted in other pieces of media.
Overall a good game with some blemishes The biggest strength of the game is its story and the presentation of that narrative. The way story is told is the combination of short scenes between levels and the levels and their designs themselves. The writing is a lot of fun, it does harken back very much to the Max Payne series, especially Max Payne 2, telling a story about overcoming the past, finding the strength to do right by yourself and not just others. Some of the reveals and topics are things rarely touched upon and were intrigueing to see them handled here with decent amount of grace and subtlety, as much as the noir horror styling allows, all wrapped up in a lo-fi artstyle Gameplay is very much, Max Payne 1/2, the main downfall being the arsenal which while serviceable and not having any really bad weapons, comits the cardinal sin of just being boring, even if it's funny seeing enemies being propelled into shadow realm by the shotgun. The levels can be a lot of fun, especially some that are designed to go along with a ''theme song'', usually those relating to the different story beats. The issue comes from the game having a lot of filler levels that don't really stand out, don't move the story forward and feel like they are there just to keep the game length up. I'd be fine if the game was just 3-5hrs of really well paced noir horror without the fluff, instead of around 7-10hrs that at times didn't grab me as much. When it comes to encounters most of them are a lot of fun, needing the use of your entire kit, what bogs them down the is the complete lack of feedback on your part to damage, there were several encounters I've finished on low HP with no idea how I've lost all that HP. This turns up the frustration to 11 during the game's few boss fights. But still the game is insanely stylish, confidently told story and overall super fun game to go through over the weekend, especially at the price point it usually sits at.
To start off, the launch of the game was plain and simple a complete and utter disaster. CDPR should have just bit the bullet and delayed the game, ax last gen versions and focus on making it the game they wanted it to be without the restrictions imposed by at the time already ancient hardware. But alas the launch happened the way it did and we all remember the anger, memes and disappointment. I was one of the people that cancelled their preorder after the final delay from Oct 2020 to Dec 2020, there was something brewing and I wasn't going to waste money on it... Two years later, buying the game at half price with all the patches, reworks and additions it's a damn good game that still falls very much short of the vision originally presented. But the core of an amazing game is there with fun combat, open world that actually is not tedious to traverse and explore, story that takes twists and turns towards several endings that each have place in the narrative and make sense and not to forget a very colourful cast of characters that had me gripped well past the credits roll. At the time of release I would have not even probably bothered to play the game past act 1, most likely wouldn't have been able to given the state in which the game's been released. But now two years later with all the work done on the game to give to the players what they wanted in the first place and more in the future with expansion and further patches and reworks, it's a game I'd recommend. Let Cyberpunk 2077 just be another reminder that preordering videogames is kinda dumb and that developers need to get at least 99.5% of the game right on release because what's the point of releasing a game if the development has not finished and all you'll get from the community is ridicule and anger from paying customers.
