Odallus: The Dark Call Demo

Back when the preferred method to deal with enemies was to jump on top of their heads, video games had a simple job: to entertain the players. Whether the graphics featured anything exquisite or not it didn’t really matter, as long as the gameplay was addictive and it kept the audience trying to pass tricky sections for hours on end.

Odallus: The Dark Call is a retro platformer with solid RPG elements in which you play the role of Haggis, a brave warrior trying to rid the realm of evil creatures. In his journey, he meets a variety of awful creatures, including dragons, zombies, and the usual huge monsters that terrorize entire villages. Your role is to guide him through this world and survive the encounters with all kinds of horrors.

As previously mentioned, the game looks and feels like something you might have played on NES, in the sense that the graphics are in 8 bits and the gameplay mechanics should be just as familiar. Besides having to jump around from platform to platform, you also have to gather items or buy them from vendors. These include better armors, weapons and a variety of other nice gimmicks to make your life easier.

Although the game is not exactly open world, the levels are explorable, and you can unlock many secrets by deviating from the regular route. However, some paths may hold traps you are not prepared to deal with. You might sometimes even have to come back around again, in order to visit previously unexplored sections.

As far as the combat part is concerned, things could have been better. You can either strike using your melee weapon of choice, such as a sword, or you can opt for a ranged attack when melee just doesn’t cut it. The mechanics feel a bit stiff and glitchy, but you can get used to them after enough practice. Things get a lot more difficult when you have to deal with the bosses, on the other hand, or at least they do until you recognize their pattern.

In the end, Odallus: The Dark Call is definitely one of the most polished and good-looking retro platformers on the market right now. It is also quite difficult and challenging, which means that it should appeal to those who are not afraid of a tough boss fight every now and again.