Shevanel's recent activity
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel (edited )Link ParentI’ve never played any entries from ACE Team but I have watched Iron Pineapple play its spiritual successor Clash: Artifacts of Chaos in his Steam Dumpster Diving series. Looks like an absolute...I’ve never played any entries from ACE Team but I have watched Iron Pineapple play its spiritual successor Clash: Artifacts of Chaos in his Steam Dumpster Diving series. Looks like an absolute riot.
I hope your friend enjoys it! There wasn’t a single spot in the game that I outright disliked, but it was definitely the sort of experience where the only reason I pushed through the second half was because it garnered enough goodwill in the first half. And the second half wasn’t bad, I’m just a very frequent DNF-er because of my limited playtime with a kiddo at home.
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel (edited )Link ParentLabyrinth of the Demon King Labyrinth of the Demon King came out of nowhere and decked me with a steel chair (or maybe a wooden one, as some of its enemies are wont to do). I had a pretty good...Labyrinth of the Demon King
Labyrinth of the Demon King came out of nowhere and decked me with a steel chair (or maybe a wooden one, as some of its enemies are wont to do). I had a pretty good feeling about this one after spending ~30 minutes with its demo, so I purposefully held it off until later in my bingo card, and I'm glad I did. What an excellent experience this was.
If someone wasn't familiar with Fieldies, I would describe LotDK as "feudal Japan meets PSX-era Resident Evil, but first person." While Fieldies are generally on the more dark and unnerving side, LotDK was especially so. The graphics are purposefully crunchy, almost grainy, as if one were watching a sort of horror-turned old school Kung Fu film. And I do mean horror, not thriller or frightfest. The game never went out of its way to jumpscare me (though I did naturally get surprised by a few enemy ambushes, not in a scary way though) - it truly was a scary game from a horror perspective only.
The really good
- Vibes off the freaking charts. I'd list out all the reasons, but I'd rather go into detail below.
- Visual aesthetic absolutely nails the PSX-era Resident Evil / Silent Hill vibes. The dev either grew up loving these games, and/or clearly did their homework here. Characters and environments are relatively low-poly, but the variety between enemies was such to where it was very easy to tell everything apart. I almost never second-guessed what I was dealing with, apart from sometimes not being able to immediately clock what weapons some early-game enemies had (which made it tough because sometimes they would move slower or faster because of this). Even the moment-to-moment gameplay visuals were dripping with RE vibes - inspecting an element of the environment would switch to a fixed camera angle, often zoomed out a bit, with words appearing at the bottom of the screen, i.e. "Seems to be a tunnel. It's big enough that a human could fit through." (next blurb) "Climb in?" (yes - no) It even has the slow "door opening" sequences between areas (but even better, you can skip them by pressing "escape" when your doomscrolling-addled brain realizes how long they take). Just scratches a major nostalgia itch with how it chooses to present itself.
- The sound design is really nice. Importantly, it strikes an excellent balance, which is something that's often missing in these kinds of experiences. The majority of the game is spent exploring what amounts to a feudal Japanese castle, and whenever you're actually within the castle's halls and towers, the atmosphere and music is dark, dense, and oppressive. You're kept on the edge of your seat, rounding corners carefully and hoping you don't run into anything too nasty before you hit another save point or find a healing item. You crack open a door, and... immediate relief. This game's version of the "save room soundtrack," i.e. where you'd find a typewriter in the old RE games. There are small pockets of safety peppered throughout the game, and they're almost always courtyards, verandas, something with an outside view. The outdoors are not terribly pretty or scenic, mind, they're just not as horribly oppressive as the castle is. Even so, when you clock that you're in an outdoor space, and the music change hits you... *chef's kiss*... these vibes.
- This is still technically sound design, but the soundtrack goes incredibly hard near the very end of the game. If you play it, you'll know it when it happens.
- The pacing. I unlocked all the achievements in this game in just under 9 hours, and it felt great doing so. Whenever I felt like an area was starting to feel a little monotonous (which was rare), it'd change gears on me or wrap up shortly after. There are only three major areas (called towers in-game), a hub that allows access to all three relatively easily, and a final, very short area, and this felt like the perfect length. At this point in my life, I am a sucker for incredibly tight, well-crafted experiences (#toddlerDad). Let me play ten 7-8 hour games that each bring something new to the table, not a single 70-80 hour game that feels like a 10-hour game spread to an atomic thinness.
- The combat, while not actually channeling Souls games at all, evokes them in a big way, if that makes sense. It doesn't really matter how far you get in the game, if you step up to an early-area enemy unprepared or not locked in, they will humble you and delete half your healthbar in a matter of seconds. This has its frustrating moments (which I'll get into later), but it kept the tension up. Until you get ~50% of the way through the game, there's really no free running around without a serious risk of death or major healing item loss. I personally felt like this was a good thing - it kept me engaged without ever straying too far into "this is bullshit" territory.
- The weapon variety is decent. Nothing is inherently bad outside of some obvious early-game choices, and there are good reasons to swap between weapons (some enemies are almost entirely resistant to either slashing or blunt). You'll eventually want to pick a main weapon for reasons that I'll mention later. There are two ranged weapons which I barely used but are quite powerful. Ammo is incredibly limited! There are also talismans which serve as one-off consumable spells. These are not terribly useful IMO but they serve as a quick combat ripcord.
- This isn't technically a good or bad thing, but something I thought was cool - after completing the first area of the game, you are free to choose which area to complete next (Tower 2 or Tower 3). There's nothing stopping you from doing them in either order. There is a reason to do one over the other IMO, but I'll drop that in a spoiler below.
The meh
N.B. I say "the meh" because there really isn't anything bad in this game IMO. It's a very solid entry and I recommend it with almost no reservations
- The difficulty. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I want to call it out first because I think it'll be a gate for some folks. First, this game's combat is, by my estimation, generally tougher than the average Fieldy. I didn't mind it, and I never really got truly stuck, but there were some bosses and enemy encounters that sent me back to the nearest save point a couple of times. I would generally say that the first half of the game is tougher than the second half, for a variety of reasons. First, you're still getting used to the combat. Second, because the combat is tough, you're burning through healing items as soon as you get them. Third, you've come across very little means to make yourself stronger, so even when you are at full health, what little health you have gets whittled away very quickly. All of these issues are mitigated over time, I promise! I would actually go so far as to say that this game actually improves during its runtime, which is a pleasant surprise and feels like it almost never happens anymore. Sidebar, you can "level up" at save points using somewhat rare items. You choose between either health or stamina between every level, that's all there is to bump up. Both are valuable.
- The combat, while generally acceptable from a Fieldies perspective, feels rougher at the start. Again, I feel like this was intentional from a design perspective, not necessarily a bad design choice, but it didn't change the fact that I spent the first hour of my playtime feeling like I was walking from one ass-kicking to the next (my ass, not theirs), sucking down any healing items I could find along the way. I've included an expand blurb below that goes more into detail about this. I will add that friendly fire is a thing, AND enemies will always focus on each other if they hurt each other until one of them dies. I baited enemies into each other virtually every time I found them in the same room, and this helped immensely with all multi-enemy situations (of which there will be a decent amount).
- The “Resident Evil Immortal,” or at least its implementation in this game. Mr. X, Nemesis, Jack Baker, Lady Dimitrescu, Pyramid Head, list goes on... There is one enemy you will encounter very early on (like first 15-20% of the game) that acts as your stereotypical immortal enemy that pops up at inopportune times and needs to be avoided. It is thankfully slow and can be avoided relatively easily, but there were times that it essentially gated progress due to it popping up in a spot where there were multiple enemies I'd have to fight through alongside this enemy. To mitigate this, I'd have to backtrack, leave the area through a door, and then come back and hope that it didn't respawn with the same enemy configuration. This was annoying, and is one of my sole actual complaints with the game. I don't mind the mechanic itself to be clear - the Lady D and Jack Baker sequences from their respective Resident Evil titles were actually some of my favorite parts of those games, because they were implemented very intentionally. This enemy seems to pop up on a (relatively loaded) dice roll. This wouldn't be that bad if you could work your way through the towers methodically, but unfortunately, enemies respawn at a pretty decent rate, meaning that you're basically dealing with this thing in less-than-ideal circumstances for a non-trivial amount of the game.
I want to end the "meh" section by saying that these concerns are, IMO, entirely overshadowed by the positives of the game. That said, if you are curious about playing, I want to assure you that virtually all of my complaints are handled by the game itself. Hopefully that's enough to encourage folks to try it. If not, I'll keep it super vague, but I'll give a few light spoilers in an expand below to give a little bit more context.
Light spoilers ahead re: gameplay improvements
After the first tower is done, you gain access to the teahouse, which houses the following:
- this game's equivalent of an Estus Flask (free rechargeable healing) which you have to return to the teahouse in order to refill
- a means to upgrade your weapons. Upgrade materials are relatively rare but it's not too hard to level at least one weapon up to max stats (+5) if you keep an eye out
- a permanent merchant location (you can access the merchant earlier but they're out of the way and hard to find)
- slightly after this progress-wise, you'll also unlock a reusable talisman which will immediately bring you back to the teahouse from anywhere in the game, free of charge
I'll also add that, technically as soon as the first tower is done, you can get rid of that immortal Mr. X-type enemy, though it is admittedly out of the way if you're following the "normal" progress of the game. I'll drop this in a double-spoiler below. For what it's worth, this is the one thing I spoiled myself on in this game because I just wasn't having fun dealing with him after a bit, though I'll blame my own impatience for that.
DOUBLE SPOILER: dealing with the immortal enemy
After clearing the first tower, if you skip ahead to the third area (called the Tower of Crushing Assembly), kill a relatively weak boss, and follow a pretty straightforward path, you will find the item you need to fix the creature's defiled shrine and banish him. Here's a Steam guide that walks you through it without much fuss.
Do note that you will inevitably run into this solution yourself if you simply play the game; I just share it because I wanted to be done with the creature earlier.
More information about combat
Enemies usually go down in 5-8 hits, depending on enemy type and how strong your weapon is. Some require special handling or are more susceptible to e.g. kicks and stunlock. Outside of the offense approach, you can mitigate enemy attacks in three ways - dodging, kicking, or parrying (which is this game's term for blocking).
Your first dodge costs zero stamina, but there is a 4-second cooldown during which time any further dodges do cost stamina. You can technically dodge as much as you want until you hit zero stamina, which is unwise. Otherwise, if you wait until the cooldown ends, you can dodge again with no impact to stamina. I don't think dodging provides i-frames, but it's decently effective if you don't overdo it. Enemy tracking is almost nonexistent, so as long as you're only attempting to dodge slow heavy wind-ups, you'll usually be successful.
Kicking is a nearly-instant, nearly-guaranteed way to interrupt almost 100% of enemy attacks, including some bosses, with the caveat that it costs as much stamina as attacking, so I wound up using it very sparingly in tougher combats. I'll add that when you get strong enough weapons and build up your stamina, it's quite viable to kick a single enemy once to stagger, and then just circle-strafe-light-attack them to death.
Finally, parrying (blocking) negates all damage, and costs zero stamina (you actually continue to regen stamina while you're blocking). This seems like it would be the obvious choice, but there is a caveat: you only parry for about ~1 second after clicking the parry button, then your guard automatically drops. This sounds generous on paper, but in reality, there are plenty of enemies that do the Elden Ring Thing™️ where they'll move their weapon quick as if they're about to attack, then delay until your parry runs out and hit you after the fact. It's frustrating as hell when it happens, but I also respect the dev for being so devious. Eventually you learn to read enemies' attack patterns better and only reflex-dodge the fast moving attacks, being more mindful of windups or enemy kicks.
I don't know where else to mention this, so I'll just put it here: you can also sprint. Sprinting doesn't cost any stamina, and you can do it indefinitely, but it does stop your stamina from regenerating. I didn't realize how big of a deal this was until I sprinted from one combat encounter to the next without thinking about it, and realized I was hosed. That said, it's a great option if you need to simply remove yourself from a bad situation quickly for a short amount of time.
If anyone is going to give this game a shot, I recommend you try engaging with all the systems early on, understanding that you'll probably revert to earlier saves when you inevitably screw up. I didn't really get comfortable with kicking and dodging until the last couple hours of gameplay, and it makes me wonder if I would have enjoyed the first area of the game a lot more. I started off basically trading parries and single swings with the starter weapon, and each enemy felt like an exercise in frustration doing it this way - I'd either nail each exchange and walk away untouched, or screw up a single time, inevitably get thrown off my rhythm and get combo'd, and walk away at 30% health from a single mob.
Is it a Fieldy?
Outside of Shadow Tower: Abyss, for obvious reasons, this entry is the most Field-like game I've played so far. I would say that it's so survival-horror-inspired that it almost feels like it's own Fieldy subgenre, but it certainly scratches the same itch. I have heard that Lunacid leans a little more into the horror elements so I'm interested to see how that one feels in comparison. Regardless, I really, really enjoyed my time with this game, and would recommend folks pick it up with no real reservations. It's $20 USD, often goes on sale, and is worth the price of admission!
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentGlover was another huge one for me as a kid, and it makes me think about the lack of a gaming monoculture back during that time too. Once I got into late middle- and high school I bought myself...Glover was another huge one for me as a kid, and it makes me think about the lack of a gaming monoculture back during that time too. Once I got into late middle- and high school I bought myself subscriptions to Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly, which were realistically the only way for me to figure out what was worth playing at that time (our cable package didn’t have any gaming channels, which is a hilarious thing to even write out anymore). Before that era, it was simply “what box art catches Shevanel’s eye at the (store / Blockbuster / etc)?”
It feels so trivial in hindsight, but it probably had a huge impact on my tastes growing up.
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentThanks, Wes! Oh, same for sure. I’m also slowly attempting to work my way through all of the Armored Core games. I got halfway through the second PSX entry (I think it was Master of Arena) and...Thanks, Wes!
I do have my limits, though!
Oh, same for sure. I’m also slowly attempting to work my way through all of the Armored Core games. I got halfway through the second PSX entry (I think it was Master of Arena) and decided that if I needed to spend another second dealing with that control scheme that I was likely to give up on the series entirely, and skipped ahead to the PS2 entries that have similar schemes to the AC games of today.
I know that I could have remapped the controls but it felt unsportsmanlike. Ironically, the old King’s Field games use almost the exact same control scheme, though IMO it doesn’t feel anywhere near as bad when you’re slowly trudging through a dungeon hallway vs. trying to fly around and fight enemy mechs.
Please keep me posted if you hop into any of the KF titles!
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel (edited )LinkShevanel's Fieldies Field Day (Blackout) Free Custom bingo 5/8 ✅ Done FlyKnight ✅ Done ✅ Done ★ (maybe) Shadow of Moonlight game(s) ✅ Done Verho: Curse of Faces ✅ Done Lunacid If you're not...Shevanel's Fieldies Field Day (Blackout)
Free Custom bingo 5/8 Shadow Tower: Abyss
✅ DoneFlyKnight Northern Journey
✅ DoneMohrta
✅ Done★ (maybe) Shadow of
Moonlight game(s)Tower of Mask
✅ DoneVerho: Curse of Faces Labyrinth of the Demon King
✅ DoneLunacid If you're not familiar with the term "Fieldies," please check out my week 1 post!
Week 2 Progress (so far)
Northern Journey
Northern Journey is a weird one, especially because I went into it expecting a King's Field-like experience given its appearance in the /r/Fieldies recommendation list off of which I built my entire backlog here. What I ended up with was a pretty interesting, if flawed first-person fantastical adventure game. I'll mention now that this was made by a solo developer, and in that context, it's a very impressive feat, and I can understand the praise it receives!
The good-to-know
- You absolutely, positively, should not play this game if you have a fear of spiders or other insects. Insects are the primary enemy type. I'd still actually praise the enemy variety of this game, there was a surprising amount of variety throughout, but that doesn't change the fact that insects were by and large the majority of the makeup.
The good
- Really incredible environments. I'm an American and have only visited Scandinavia once (and even then, really only got about an hour outside of Stockholm), so my frame of reference here is terrible and I won't attempt to hazard a guess at the earthly location this is most similar to. The developer is Norwegian (I think), for whatever that's worth. But my goodness, they did a fantastic job building this world. Even given its sort of low-poly, somewhere-between-PSX-and-PS2 vibes, there are tons of excellent vistas throughout, from more realistic fjords, bluffs, and glaciers to misty bogs and caverns presumably inspired by Scandinavian folklore, the dev hit the nail on the head here. Of special note is the scale of it all. These environments feel huge, and not in a "empty field with zero assets" way, but like how I actually felt hiking in the woods in Sweden. The world feels indifferent to you, but still lived-in and very organic. Huge plus here.
- The sound design is fun! It's very weird and sometimes jarring, but it feels like it's intentionally so. The word "whimsy" comes to mind. I can't remember if I caught if there was a separate sound designer in the credits or if the dev did this themselves, but either way, props to the sound designer(s).
- The "obstacles" found by way of creatures and elements of folklore that pop up as set-pieces across the game. I don't want to spoil anything, but areas randomly had moments of great excitement and surprise (even sometimes bordering on scary, not ever horrific but just getting spooked by something unexpected). They are peppered throughout the game and kept things interesting throughout, knowing that I'd always be wondering what was going to happen next when I entered a new area.
- Lots of solid moment-to-moment gameplay. I wouldn't go so far as to say there are any puzzles, but there is some key-hunting and clever level design that I could appreciate throughout.
- Interesting weapon design and weaponplay. Nearly all weaponry is medieval in nature, and thus is considerably more affected by gravity than e.g. a gun (with only a few exceptions for some more magically-affiliated items). With this in mind, the crosshair uses a sort of distance / dropoff gauge that is unique to each weapon. Additionally, weapons have ready times (e.g. to swing a sling up to full speed) and cooldown times (e.g. to reload and ready a big crossbow), leading to intentional combat choices. The fastest weapon in the game is a repeating crossbow which shoots around maybe 80 bpm, and it's the weakest weapon by far, meaning there is really no run-and-gun gameplay here. Choosing to aim and fire needs to be deliberate, and ammo is scarce enough that you definitely feel the pain of being hasty with your shots. Weapon variety itself is fun and relatively varied.
- The characters. The actual makeup of characters in this game was very weird, and the character design themselves (like, folks' actual faces) is very very strange. I enjoyed it but some might be turned off by how weird things look. It helped contribute to the general "fever-dream" vibe of the whole game IMO.
The not-so-good
- The pacing. This game took me just under ten hours to beat, and I think the game would have been made better if it had been compressed to about seven or eight hours. This is made worse by the fast that my playthrough was actually fast according to How Long To Beat, which lists it as ~11 hours to complete a standard playthrough. The first half of the game feels pretty good and relatively open-world, with lots of interconnected level design and reasons to travel between areas, featuring travel mechanisms that help make backtracking feel like less of a slog - all good things! That said, the back half of the game features an almost entirely linear path from A to B, and it starts to feel like a real slog by the end. There were still moments of fun throughout, don't get me wrong. I just wish it had been compressed into maybe a final act of 2-3 hours, not drawn out as long as the first half.
- The mid-to-late-game balancing. In addition to the game feeling more drawn out in the back half, there were combat encounters that simply weren't fun. They were either so drawn out that they got tiring, or the enemies were balanced to be so tough that I felt as if I had to use all of my ammunition on them without screwing up to beat them in a sensible amount of time. Couple this with the aforementioned lack of ammo if you're not careful, as well as how slow weapons feel, and it's a weird combination. I never truly got stuck because of this, but there were moments when I'd finally finish a really tough encounter and think, "I really hope that's the last one of those for a while."
- This is small potatoes for me given it was a solo dev, but there is a little jank still present. It's actually surprisingly well-made given that it was a solo dev, but that doesn't change the fact that it has its moments. There are tons of precarious walking sections across cliffs, bluffs, between rivers, etc. Your character dies instantly if they fall in deep water, or if they fall from a high enough height. Fall damage is actually relatively forgiving, but it's all-or-nothing - you either survive the fall and take no damage, or die instantly. But either way, I can't tell you how many times I was in the middle of a walking section, got to an intersection in a staircase while running down the stairs, and the level geometry was such where my character bumped into a raised floor and essentially mini-jumped off the stairs to their death.
- Speaking of the above, there is no autosaving. You can save whenever you want as long as you are not mid-"interaction" as the game calls it, i.e. speaking to someone or in combat. But the catch is that you have to do all your saving manually. In practice, this was not a big deal to me, but I'm used to major save-scumming when playing DOOM WADs. Those of us spoiled by autosaves in modern games would do well to get used to spamming the quicksave button whenever possible.
Is it a Fieldy?
Not at all, IMO. This is a bespoke first-person fantasy adventure game which brings you through a variety of beautiful hand-crafted scenery in pursuit of a fun but somewhat forgettable story. Folks interested in this sort of Scandinavian folklore aesthetic looking for a first-person experience in this vein should definitely check it out, understanding that it's rough around the edges and you'll need to be patient during the back half.
Edit: moved the "good-to-know" section to the top of my thoughts, lest the arachnophobes among us miss that blurb!
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentLOL. Gave me a great laugh, thanks. That’s a great question! If you want to make sure that you wouldn’t bounce off the genre as a whole, Queen’s Domain has a free demo on Steam. If you don’t like...Justin McElroyShevanel!LOL. Gave me a great laugh, thanks.
That’s a great question! If you want to make sure that you wouldn’t bounce off the genre as a whole, Queen’s Domain has a free demo on Steam. If you don’t like that, the genre probably isn’t for you.
After that, if you wanted to jump in proper and get a good feel for the roots of the genre, King’s Field: The Ancient City is your best bet. It still has a lot of the old school charm and foundational conventions of the genre, but it’s way more approachable than the older PSX entries. The stories are unrelated so you’re not missing any context jumping right into this entry. And if I recall correctly, you have a Deck - it emulates great on that!
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentI grew up in the N64 era and I looooved Chameleon Twist. If I recall correctly, we never owned it, so it was one of those games where I begged my Mom to please take me back to Blockbuster to rent...I grew up in the N64 era and I looooved Chameleon Twist. If I recall correctly, we never owned it, so it was one of those games where I begged my Mom to please take me back to Blockbuster to rent it for just one more week oh please oh please
I must have beat it a dozen times over the course of my childhood, and to this day random melodies from the soundtrack will pop into my head. I tried to play it on emulator a couple months back and I have no idea how the hell 7-year old Shevanel had the patience to deal with those tongue mechanics.
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Comment on November 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Shevanel (edited )LinkHey everybody! Thought I would join the fun this year if you wouldn't mind adding me to the list after the fact, @kfwyre :) Overview I've decided to take a bit of an atypical approach to Bingo...- Exemplary
Hey everybody! Thought I would join the fun this year if you wouldn't mind adding me to the list after the fact, @kfwyre :)
Overview
I've decided to take a bit of an atypical approach to Bingo this year, in that I have a very specific goal in mind and need to clear more of my backlog in service to that goal. Completely over-the-top historical context hidden below for those interested:
The deeply unnecessary nitty-gritty
In this era where we have a ton of incredible games readily available to us, and tons of reviews / aggregates / resources that help us make informed decisions as consumers & players, I really like to sort my play order by... increasing quality(?) Not sure how exactly to capture this, but my fear is always that I'll stumble into a game that I absolutely love, then look for more games that scratch the same itch, only to find out that I accidentally played the best entry in the entire subgenre and nothing will ever give me that high again. Is this crazy of me? Probably a little bit. But allow me to justify this a little bit.
As a successful example of this, I realized several years back that we were coming into a sort of "Boomer Shooter Renaissance," so in anticipation of that, I put together a list of historical boomer shooters / DOOM WADs that I felt were worth experiencing before I jumped too deep into the modern resurgence. And I'm incredibly happy that I did this! Not only did it give me a huge and fun backlog through which to work (#patientgamers), it also essentially allowed me to experience these games as if I were someone growing up with them - the struggles and friction of earlier entries, why certain conventions began to form over time, what QoL improvements the genre has experienced across years and engines, etc... as well as develop my critical lens for what makes a standout of the (sub)genre. Because of this, once I jumped into (for example) newer games like DUSK and Ion Fury, I was able to appreciate their nuances and intricacies far more than just going, "oh, cool, those were fun FPSes."
Conversely, I wish I had done more digging into "Metroidbrainias" and taken this approach with them, because the very first game I played in that subgenre was Outer Wilds, and finishing that was a nigh-spiritual experience, the likes of which no other game in the genre has come close (though I'm still working my way towards Tunic so we'll see).
In short, while I am incredibly excited to play Queen's Domain, which just dropped this past Friday (10/30), I feel like I need to work through my backlog of King's Field-adjacent games, affectionately referred to as "Fieldies" online, before doing so. In service of this, my Backlog Bingo card is just a free-form blackout 3x3 of all the games I'd like to complete before jumping into Queen's Domain.
Shevanel's Fieldies Field Day (Blackout)
Free Custom bingo 1/8 Shadow Tower: Abyss
✅ DoneFlyKnight Northern Journey Mohrta
✅ Done★ (maybe) Shadow of
Moonlight game(s)Tower of Mask
✅ DoneVerho: Curse of Faces Labyrinth of the Demon King Lunacid What is a "Fieldy"?
Fieldy? Fieldie? I've never actually written it in the singular form so I'm at a loss
In short, it's a game in the spirit of FromSoftware's very first game(s), the King's Field series. Notable elements include, but are not limited to:
- First person POV (this is essentially mandatory)
- Usually a mix of "sword 'n' board" gameplay with some magic thrown in (there are some notable exceptions to this), though generally, magic (and other elements) tend to take a back seat
- Usually, though not always a fantasy setting, or at the very least, fantastical in some way
- In a dungeon (not mandatory, but there should be some sense of risk/reward in terms of diving to unfamiliar places and the potential to lose lots of progress. I would even consider most Soulslike games to capture this feeling in a sense via hunting for the next bonfire)
- Exploration is often encouraged and rewarded
- Adjacent to the above point, there's usually a good amount of clever level design (something something Undead Chapel elevator)
- Secrets and puzzles throughout
- Combat is often very slow (deliberately anymore, though it was a necessity given the original series's engine!) and methodical. Players are rewarded for playing it smart and safe... or at the very least, for circle-strafing around a skeleton and poking it until it dies
- ... just vibes, man. I want to get lost in the world that's been carefully curated.
In short, lots of first-person dungeon crawlers are Fieldies, but not all Fieldies are first-person dungeon crawlers.
I’ll add that I originally built this list out of a sidebar thread from the Fieldies subreddit. Some of them fit the mold of the genre very well, and some not so much. I’ll add a blurb to the end of each game and share my thoughts on if a game qualifies as a King’s Field-like or not.
Week 1 Progress
Mohrta
I'll admit that I actually completed this one during the last week of October, but it was on the same list on which the rest of these fell, so I'll count it for the sake of being able to fill the 3x3.
Mohrta is a really interesting game that admittedly fits the least in the "Fieldies" category. It finds itself at the crossroads of an RPG, a Soulslike, and a DOOM WAD (i.e. boomer shooter). On paper, this should be one of my favorite games ever. In practice, it isn't, but it's still pretty good! The developer Scumhead has put out several games that I enjoyed (Shrine, Shrine II, and Vomitoreum to name a few), and Mohrta is no exception.
First, the art direction is impeccable. The atmosphere in these games and the story told through its level design is some of the finest work I've seen accomplished within GZDOOM. Compared to nearly everything else on my list, Mohrta is incredibly straightforward - there's a hub world where you can upgrade your weapons, your armor, your doll (read: Estus flask) and interact with a few NPCs. The primary game is split into several "worlds" all accessible via the hub, and each world has three levels within it. The hub, and each of the worlds it holds, is dripping with atmosphere. It's truly impressive what the developer & team was able to pull off - a fully realized 3D game with this much personality within the GZDOOM engine is a sight to behold.
From a gameplay perspective, well, it's still good old DOOM gameplay. Enemies zig-zag towards you at best, beeline straight into your face at worst, or strafe from a distance and stop to shoot at you a couple of times. You don't really play this kind of game for the gunplay, so I'm fine forgiving it, but given that the rest of the game doesn't feel like a DOOM WAD, that the combat mirrors old DOOM WADs so closely is almost kind of jarring.
The weapon variety is fun, if a little overzealous. There's a unique upgrade system where you can melt down weapons you're not using (permanently) in exchange for extra weapon upgrade parts you can use to soup up the weapons you want to keep. These weapon parts exist in levels too but they're relatively rare. There are probably 15 weapons in the game (ish), and I melted down all but 4-5 of them by the end in order to max out the power of the ones I chose to keep.
Final quick note: there are bosses throughout the game! I was pleasantly surprised at the boss and enemy variety, and the bosses all actually played decently well. It unfortunately only highlights the "DOOMiness" of the non-boss mobs even more, but I'm glad that they helped spice the gameplay up.
Is it a Fieldy?
Nah, not really. It’s still a solid game, and I’d recommend it to anyone who can appreciate unique DOOM WADs, especially if the aesthetic design of a world is important to you!
Shadow Tower: Abyss
Shadow Tower: Abyss (which I'll call St:A henceforth) is the only Fieldies OG on my bingo card, and likely the last OG I'll play for a long while. The only FromSoftware Fieldies that I have not played at this point are the original Shadow Tower and Eternal Ring. Shadow Tower was honestly just too much old-school PSX-era Fieldy for ol' Shevanel to handle after I played through the first three King's Field entries back to back. I needed to give myself a break so I skipped ahead to the PS2 entries and told myself I may come back one day.
St:A, on the other hand, was an absolute treat and I'm glad I saw it through. It was the final Fieldy that FromSoftware released before they moved on to greener pastures, and their growth is evident. St:A and its immediate spiritual predecessor (KF: The Ancient City) are still some of the heaviest hitters in the Fieldies world and their impact on the subgenre is incredibly apparent. One only need compare screenshots of The Ancient City next to Queen's Domain to see the obvious influence!
I've written at length about both of these games before (even though this entry is technically just supposed to be about St:A, oops), so I won't go any deeper on them here. I'll only add that I'm glad to have seen St:A all the way through, finishing it just earlier this week after slowly working my way through it from several months back. The quality maintained throughout and it was a really fun romp.
Last note: I emulated both The Ancient City and St:A on my Steam Deck and they ran beautifully!
Is it a Fieldy?
It’s not just a Fieldy. It’s one of the Fieldies, friendo.
Tower of Mask
I was really pleasantly surprised by Tower of Mask. It wasn't on my radar at all until Steam's algorithm managed to dig up its demo for me during a Next Fest, and I finally got around to giving it a shot. I should submit it for a Tildes hidden gem one of these days, it's currently sitting at 365 reviews but its level of polish stands head and shoulders above that.
Tower of Mask is much more akin to a true old-school dungeon crawler, operating on a grid system of movement, with the added twists of real-time combat, some real-time physics and object collisions, and free mouse look. It was a refreshing addition to what can normally feel like a somewhat stuffy genre. It managed to make the gameplay feel quick without ever straying into Soulslike reflex-based combat. There are tons of secrets spread throughout, though given that it's on a grid, the secret-hunting is relatively rudimentary with a few clever set pieces thrown in. A little bit of moon logic in some of the puzzles (i.e. an object you picked up three floors back with no inherent value needs to be thrown on a ledge, which is especially frustrating when inventory space is at a minimum), but it's manageable. Weirdly reminiscent of Shadow Tower: Abyss in ways that I won't get into lest I spoil the fun. I 100%ed the game in somewhere between 10-12 hours (I have a terrible habit of leaving games opened in the background) and it didn't overstay its welcome.
Is it a Fieldy?
Mmmmmmmaybe a little bit? True old-school dungeon crawlers with the grid-style movement and square frame around the gameplay window (think entries from the Ultima series) definitely scratch the same itch as our beloved Fieldies, but they definitely exist in different lanes. Kind of a square-rectangle deal. But I think Tower of Mask is probably one of the closest dungeon crawlers to a Fieldy due to its real-time combat approach, so make of that what you will!
“Important” edit!
Oh me, oh my, imagine my pleasant surprise when I visited YouTube this evening to discover that the Internet’s very own Justin McElroy kicked off a new series in which he is going to play through a variety of Fieldies old and new, beginning with King’s Field (US) and eventually making his way to Queen’s Domain as well. I had no idea this was happening; truly a serendipitous turn of events here!!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentI stopped reading your comment halfway through to keep myself as blind as possible, but I’m glad the experience has improved if anything. Makes me all the more excited to dig in!I stopped reading your comment halfway through to keep myself as blind as possible, but I’m glad the experience has improved if anything. Makes me all the more excited to dig in!
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Comment on Divine Frequency Early Access launch in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentThanks for the info! Will definitely be picking this one up sooner than later.Thanks for the info! Will definitely be picking this one up sooner than later.
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Comment on Divine Frequency Early Access launch in ~games
Shevanel LinkAs someone pretty big into DOOM WADs (and their more official derivatives), I’ve had my eye on this one for a while. I played a little bit of an early demo but was enjoying it enough that I...As someone pretty big into DOOM WADs (and their more official derivatives), I’ve had my eye on this one for a while. I played a little bit of an early demo but was enjoying it enough that I figured I’d wait for the release so I didn’t spoil myself too much.
I recall that, at least in the slice I played, it felt a little big on ammo management, i.e. it leaned into the more survival horror aspect so you never felt like an overpowered war machine. Does the current full product maintain that throughout, or do you eventually start feeling more powerful?
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Comment on Scribbles: a small drawing canvas and a gallery of what visitors send in ~creative
Shevanel Link ParentHey, you drew the boat! That’s my favorite one on the site at the moment!Hey, you drew the boat! That’s my favorite one on the site at the moment!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentThat’s totally fair. I feel like I spent more time than that in older KF entries, and it was decidedly clunkier gameplay, and that’s even when I had emulation speed set to 200%. So fingers crossed...That’s totally fair. I feel like I spent more time than that in older KF entries, and it was decidedly clunkier gameplay, and that’s even when I had emulation speed set to 200%. So fingers crossed that it stays more manageable!
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Comment on Halloween night! in ~talk
Shevanel Link ParentThat’s how I feel about it too. It’s sort of a chicken and egg situation. I’d love to invest more time in our decorations and experience for the kids who do show up, but it doesn’t really feel...That’s how I feel about it too. It’s sort of a chicken and egg situation. I’d love to invest more time in our decorations and experience for the kids who do show up, but it doesn’t really feel worth it if only 10-15 kids show up on bad years and 20-30 in the best of conditions. Realistically, we’ll keep doing what we did this year and “take the party elsewhere.”
Credit where credit is due to our neighborhood kiddos though - for the last 5 years straight, we’ve put out a bucket of candy and asked kids to only take 2-3 pieces so we can leave the house, and every year they seem to honor that system. We’ve always come back home to a bowl with some candy still in it.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentI’ve been trying so hard not to get too hyped about Queen’s Domain so I don’t overhype it before I get the chance to dive in, and your thoughts have unfortunately not helped matters, haha. Glad to...I’ve been trying so hard not to get too hyped about Queen’s Domain so I don’t overhype it before I get the chance to dive in, and your thoughts have unfortunately not helped matters, haha. Glad to hear that my experience with the demo seems to continue ringing true as the game progresses.
Per the grinding point, judging by how you mention the KF games, I wanted to ask if you had played all the earlier entries. I ask because I played the originals and I would say the same could be said about them, but more specifically in leveling up enough to be able to use sword magic (which almost feels like a requirement to beat those early entry final bosses). If you played those, do you feel like the grind is any better or worse than those? I’m not huge on grinding but if the gameplay loop feels good, I can certainly tolerate it.
Regardless, I’m very excited to jump in myself ASAP!!
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Comment on Halloween night! in ~talk
Shevanel Link ParentI think that’s the only way to make those numbers make sense, yeah. I had never seen it play out that way, at least not to that degree, so I was still plenty surprised!I think that’s the only way to make those numbers make sense, yeah. I had never seen it play out that way, at least not to that degree, so I was still plenty surprised!
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Comment on Queen’s Domain | Release date and console reveal trailer in ~games
Shevanel LinkUpdate: Queen’s Domain released yesterday and it’s been a very warm reception so far, sitting at 95% recommended on Steam with about 550 reviews at time of writing. I’m trying to keep my...Update: Queen’s Domain released yesterday and it’s been a very warm reception so far, sitting at 95% recommended on Steam with about 550 reviews at time of writing. I’m trying to keep my expectations tempered but all signs point this one being an excellent spiritual successor to the likes of King’s Field, and more recently, Lunacid.
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Comment on Halloween night! in ~talk
Shevanel LinkWe packed up the kiddo and headed to my sister in law and her husband who live closer to Chicago to help them pass out candy. They counted ~500 kids before they ran out of candy and had to call it...We packed up the kiddo and headed to my sister in law and her husband who live closer to Chicago to help them pass out candy. They counted ~500 kids before they ran out of candy and had to call it a night. It’s their first Halloween in this house (and this town), and they’re realizing they need to budget for ~1,000 visitors in the years to come 0_0
Definitely a far cry from the 30 kids we usually get in our sleepier suburb!
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Comment on Anyone here listen to NPR Tiny Desk concerts? in ~music
Shevanel Link ParentAs a drummer, this resonates with me on a spiritual level. Too many percussionists use dowels as a catch-all “make it quieter” button, and it makes for a totally flat presence. 9/10 times, I’d...As a drummer, this resonates with me on a spiritual level. Too many percussionists use dowels as a catch-all “make it quieter” button, and it makes for a totally flat presence. 9/10 times, I’d prefer when the percussionists switch up their entire setups for TDC to allow for more expressive playing while keeping it low-volume.
+1 to everything said here! @sundaybest, if it helps at all, I was the least excited when I started Sekiro out of all of FromSoftware’s titles and now it’s probably in the top 3 for me. It is challenging that it relies on parrying the most, but IMO when you get used to it the parrying is also the easiest out of all their titles with the way all of the mechanics encourage a parry-based playstyle.