As a fan of the first two Gargoyle's Quest games, I was always left with the feeling that something could be done to take advantage of all the potential that these two games posed. And well, the game that came to fulfill that fantasy has been Demon's Crest, a game that is a masterpiece, one of the best platform adventure games, not only of the Super Nintendo era, but of all time.
Demon's Crest begins with an epic introduction; flames that cover the entire screen revealing little by little a demon in the title, after that if we stay without pressing any button for a while the introduction of the story of this game will begin.
I'll talk about the improvements and changes of how this game improves over the previous two, and wow, its transition from GB/NES to SNES has been more than perfect. The gameplay feels more agile and responsive, although the mobility is still not very fast, as it is reminiscent of classic Castlevania. The graphics and music now create an atmosphere that in my opinion surpasses that of the SNES Castlevanias, but I will talk about these two sections in more depth later. The system of lives was eliminated, so now we can retry the levels as many times as we want, and this change has been made with good reason, because another difference is that the difficulty has increased, but for the better, because the enemies now have more elaborate designs and patterns.
In this game we have Firebrand as the main character again, a demon that has the ability to fly indefinitely, although only being able to move back and forth, you can also stick to the walls similar to Mega Man X, and of course, you can shoot fire projectiles. As we advance in the game and defeat bosses, we will get other types of projectiles, one that can break blocks, one that creates platforms temporarily, and another that when colliding with spikes creates a small barrier to climb it, and finally, a projectile like the first, only much stronger. All these types of shots are the same that we already found in the previous Gargoyle's Quest I and II, being one of my favorite things in this game to have retaken all the basic skills of these games.
And well, let's talk about the new things that this game presents, starting with its map, in which we will move with a pseudo-3D view very characteristic of some SNES games, where we can access different levels in the order that we choose.
There are 6 Crests, whose function is to transform Firebrand into another type of Gargoyle, and these transformations will have unique abilities and qualities. The levels know how to take advantage of each of these forms very well, as each one is useful in its own way, they will help us to advance and explore different paths that were previously inaccessible, which will lead us to have to pass the levels more than once to discover all the secrets. Also now there are bottles that are hidden in the levels, which will help us to buy potions, and there are also some scrolls that help us to buy spells. These two additions make the game never feel too unfair, and can save you on more than one occasion.
With regards to the levels found here, each and every one is great, with good level design. Each one has its own theme and mechanics that made it stand out from the others, not to mention that each of these stages are full of details in the backgrounds. The art and music in this game are truly sublime. In addition, all levels have objects and secret routes that encourage the exploration of these, with secrets like the bottles and scrolls that I mentioned earlier.
Something that also encourages us to explore, is the fact that this game has 3 endings, although I will not talk much in detail about this, but it is worth seeing all three, although the last ending is unlocked through a battle with a secret boss that is very difficult.
Despite everything, the game also has its negative aspects, such as suffering from some slowdowns, the fact that the way to save the game is through passwords, or that to switch between powers and crests we have to access the pause menu constantly. However I think these aspects do not ruin the experience at all.
Conclusion
A very memorable game, albeit short, but one that makes up for it by having great quality. I dare say it's unfairly underrated, and that's the reason I've gone to such length in this review, to try and encourage more people to play it. Maybe right now I'm being too over the top, but I dare say that this has become one of my favorite games.
I recommend it if you like retro Super Nintendo games, like Mega Man and Castlevania.
Demon's Crest begins with an epic introduction; flames that cover the entire screen revealing little by little a demon in the title, after that if we stay without pressing any button for a while the introduction of the story of this game will begin.
I'll talk about the improvements and changes of how this game improves over the previous two, and wow, its transition from GB/NES to SNES has been more than perfect. The gameplay feels more agile and responsive, although the mobility is still not very fast, as it is reminiscent of classic Castlevania. The graphics and music now create an atmosphere that in my opinion surpasses that of the SNES Castlevanias, but I will talk about these two sections in more depth later. The system of lives was eliminated, so now we can retry the levels as many times as we want, and this change has been made with good reason, because another difference is that the difficulty has increased, but for the better, because the enemies now have more elaborate designs and patterns.
In this game we have Firebrand as the main character again, a demon that has the ability to fly indefinitely, although only being able to move back and forth, you can also stick to the walls similar to Mega Man X, and of course, you can shoot fire projectiles. As we advance in the game and defeat bosses, we will get other types of projectiles, one that can break blocks, one that creates platforms temporarily, and another that when colliding with spikes creates a small barrier to climb it, and finally, a projectile like the first, only much stronger. All these types of shots are the same that we already found in the previous Gargoyle's Quest I and II, being one of my favorite things in this game to have retaken all the basic skills of these games.
And well, let's talk about the new things that this game presents, starting with its map, in which we will move with a pseudo-3D view very characteristic of some SNES games, where we can access different levels in the order that we choose.
There are 6 Crests, whose function is to transform Firebrand into another type of Gargoyle, and these transformations will have unique abilities and qualities. The levels know how to take advantage of each of these forms very well, as each one is useful in its own way, they will help us to advance and explore different paths that were previously inaccessible, which will lead us to have to pass the levels more than once to discover all the secrets. Also now there are bottles that are hidden in the levels, which will help us to buy potions, and there are also some scrolls that help us to buy spells. These two additions make the game never feel too unfair, and can save you on more than one occasion.
With regards to the levels found here, each and every one is great, with good level design. Each one has its own theme and mechanics that made it stand out from the others, not to mention that each of these stages are full of details in the backgrounds. The art and music in this game are truly sublime. In addition, all levels have objects and secret routes that encourage the exploration of these, with secrets like the bottles and scrolls that I mentioned earlier.
Something that also encourages us to explore, is the fact that this game has 3 endings, although I will not talk much in detail about this, but it is worth seeing all three, although the last ending is unlocked through a battle with a secret boss that is very difficult.
Despite everything, the game also has its negative aspects, such as suffering from some slowdowns, the fact that the way to save the game is through passwords, or that to switch between powers and crests we have to access the pause menu constantly. However I think these aspects do not ruin the experience at all.
Conclusion
A very memorable game, albeit short, but one that makes up for it by having great quality. I dare say it's unfairly underrated, and that's the reason I've gone to such length in this review, to try and encourage more people to play it. Maybe right now I'm being too over the top, but I dare say that this has become one of my favorite games.
I recommend it if you like retro Super Nintendo games, like Mega Man and Castlevania.