The Dark Heart of Uukrul is quite the classic CRPG experience which I am glad has seen the light of day in 2020. You assemble a party of four characters--A warrior, a paladin, a priest and a mage--and venture into a vast mountain city comprised entirely of caverns. The graphics for the game are some of the best the EGA/VGA color format can afford and it shows for sure. With very detailed portraits of the enemies you will be fighting and the vast multitude of enemy sprites, the game makes the most use of the graphics that were available at the time One aspect of the game, which is a cause for controversy is the sounds and music, or the lack thereof, in the game. The game has no music, no sound effects and no bells and whisles. While a lot of people may deride that as a fatal flaw, I consider it having to use my imagination as to what the sounds of battle and dungeon delving is like. That being, i recommend playing your favorite music over the game or if necessary, create your own soundtrack. As far as controls are concerned, it's just like any other CRPG of the day. You use keyboard commands for basic stuff such as combat, searching and casting magic. Also interesting of note is the game's inclusion of an automap function, which saves the player lots of graph paper in the process. Not to mention having your characters' inventories sortted by letter key. For the meat and potatoes of the game--The actual gameplay--it is actually very lenient in terms of overall difficulty. While the dungeons are complex mazes and there's a constant need to eat while exploring the dungeon, the game is pretty user-friendly. Monsters do not fight cheaply nor is your party ever in a constant state of being "XCOM'd" to put it in more modern terms. Also, the character classes are very balanced. Unlike priests and clerics in other CRPGs, priest in Uukrul don't cast magic to heal, but rely on an RNG-heavy prayer system to do things. Overall, the game is well worth the price you for it.
