Spellrazor

Back in the arcade days, video games were designed to be challenging above everything else, because it was futile to pursue realistic graphics or anything of the sort. Hence, most games were seemingly impossible to finish without dozens of hours of practice, and even then you needed a bit of luck on your side as well.

Spellrazor is a retro roguelike game in which you have to survive the encounter with a variety of monsters and use a variety of spells to keep them at bay. To make things more interesting, the game is supposed to be haunted as well, or at least based on a very old video game designed by man who supposedly disappeared. All of these elements work together to create a pretty intriguing atmosphere.

The gameplay is about as straightforward as it can get, given the fact that all you have to do is move around and kill whatever comes too close to you. The levels are split into separate rooms, and you usually have to walk into a room in order for the monsters to see and attack you. Once they do, you have to react quickly, because you can only take one or two hits.

Although this is not a role-playing game in the true sense of the word, there are many skills you can find and make use of along the way. Each one of these abilities is assigned to a specific button on the keyboard, and there’s no way to remap them. Hence, it can be difficult to keep track of them, especially in the later stages of the game. However, you can just choose the ones that you feel are the most useful.

The graphics are truly retro, so much so there aren’t any pixels to speak of. Everything is designed using lines that glow like neons, which should trigger quite the nostalgic response in certain gamers. However, it can be difficult to make things out sometimes, especially since the scripted glitches make an appearance every once in awhile as well.

In the end, Spellrazor is definitely something to keep an eye on, because it truly has the potential to grow into something exquisite. Still, it needs more work to be enjoyable, and it may push away the players that are not accustomed to the ridiculous difficulty level.