It’s been exactly one year and a day since our Adam went to have a good old poke around the clearly haunted Golden Krone Hotel. At the time, the vampire-themed roguelike was already two years into development and officially entering early access. Perfectly on schedule, the final game was released yesterday after one year of additional community-driven tweaking and refinement, and it’s a lovely little thing indeed.
Golden Krone Hotel [official site] is a traditional turn-based top-down roguelike in which you play as a vampire hunter. And then, because fighting monsters tends to turn one into a monster, you play as a vampire. But you can switch back to non-vampire mode if you play your cards right, and might even find other forms to inhabit. I played before release and had a splendid time, particularly enjoying the way that sunlight moves across rooms, frying vampires and providing protection for the still-living.
If I fancy a session of old-fashioned honest-to-goodness roguelikin’, I usually turn to one of the pillars of the genre, games that have been around forever and a day. I’m talking Ancient Domains of Mystery, Nethack, Dungeon Crawl, Angband. I’m always looking for something fresh to add to the circulation though and Golden Krone Hotel [official site] is a definite contender.
You’re working your way through the wings and floors of a hotel, seeking a master vampire. Along the way you fight all manner of undead creatures and other creeps, and can even turn into a vampire or werewolf yourself. There are potions to identify, equipment upgrades to collect and spells to learn, but perhaps the most notable feature is the modelling of lightbeams shining through windows and a day/night cycle. Vampires burn in the sun, you see. Read the rest of this entry »
