Catacombs 1: Demon War

About Catacombs 1: Demon War

Catacombs 1: Demon War is a single player tactical role playing game. It was developed by SimProse Studios and was released on July 12, 2017. It received negative reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Catacombs 1: Demon War is the first of a 3-chapter RPG/Adventure that puts you into the shoes of a brave young hero, building your strength to face long-buried secrets, deception and betrayal.

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Reviews

68%Audience ScoreBased on 28 reviews

story4 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

Turn-based combat system is tactical, rewarding planning, resource management, and offers a variety of strategies.
Randomly generated loot, enemies, and dungeon layouts provide high replay value and a sense of continuous discovery.
The game captures the atmosphere and style of classic old-school RPGs with slow story unfolding, character progression, and exploration.

High level of randomness and luck impact combat, loot drops, and difficulty, leading to uneven and sometimes frustrating gameplay balance.
The game is relatively short and has limited content, with some players finding it repetitive and grindy.
Technical issues such as clunky interface navigation, awkward enemy engagement mechanics, lack of autosave, poor visuals, and occasional bugs negatively affect the experience.

story
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15% positive mentions, 73% neutral mentions, 12% negative mentions
The story is a straightforward, classic RPG narrative centered on a young protagonist facing demonic forces, with a gradual world discovery that captures a nostalgic atmosphere. While some find it simplistic or familiar, others appreciate its engaging details, voice acting, side quests, and a surprising plot twist, viewing it as a solid start to a larger, ongoing storyline. However, a few critiques note repetitiveness and a lack of originality in certain quests.
- “The slow discovery of the world and the gradual building of the story perfectly capture the atmosphere of classic RPGs.”
- “The story follows a young protagonist from the quiet village of Glendoe whose life is upended by tragedy and the resurfacing of ancient demonic forces beneath the land.”
- “While the overall story of saving a hometown isn't the most original, it's the details that make it stand out and add a bit more of a unique twist to it.”
- “The story is pretty basic and runs along quite nicely.”
- “It's as if a ten-year-old had written a story named 'war of the stars' or 'master of the ring' and were incredibly proud of it.”
- “The setup with the locked dungeon, the side quests (collecting vegetables for a random guy in a locked dungeon... yeah, sure), nothing makes any sense whatsoever.”
gameplay
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions
The gameplay centers on traditional dungeon-crawling with turn-based combat focused on preparation and resource management, offering a rewarding experience for fans of retro RPGs despite its repetitive and somewhat outdated mechanics. However, clunky interface navigation, occasional pathfinding issues, and reliance on randomness can disrupt the flow, and technical roughness alongside low-quality visuals limit its broader appeal. Overall, while it may satisfy niche players familiar with RPG Maker games, improvements in design and polish are needed for a stronger gameplay foundation.
- “Gameplay is built around traditional dungeon-crawling mechanics, combining exploration with turn-based combat that emphasizes preparation and resource management.”
- “Mechanics were different from what I was used to, but once I got used to them, everything flowed fairly smoothly.”
- “Interface navigation and movement can feel clunky, and pathfinding or collision issues occasionally interrupt the flow of gameplay.”
- “While its dated mechanics, technical roughness, and reliance on randomness limit its broader appeal, it provides a rewarding experience for players who appreciate retro sensibilities and are willing to invest time and patience.”
- “On the gameplay side, most of it consists of the usual RPG Maker grind against invisible random encounters, plus a bunch of fixed visible boss encounters.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22% positive mentions, 45% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions
The graphics are generally viewed as simplistic and retro, with some users finding them dated and unimpressive even by indie standards. However, they effectively convey dungeon layouts and gameplay without distraction, offering a nostalgic, Ultima-like aesthetic. The RPG Maker engine's limitations, such as poor fullscreen support and lack of modern graphical options, detract from the experience for some dedicated PC gamers.
- “The first of three chapters of a larger story, Catacombs 1 has different graphics than most RPG Maker games.”
- “Graphically the game looks nice enough and gives me a sort of Ultima vibe.”
- “Poor visuals, functional but unimpressive even by indie game standards.”
- “As with all RPG Maker games, the poor quality engine displays badly in fullscreen and doesn't have full HD support or any graphics tweaking options, making this unacceptable for any dedicated modern PC gamer.”
- “While the visuals may feel dated even by indie standards, they effectively communicate dungeon layouts and combat states without unnecessary distraction.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 40% negative mentions
The music in the game effectively supports the atmosphere with subdued fantasy themes that enhance exploration and combat, though it tends to be basic and repetitive. Some players appreciate the custom soundtrack for contributing to the grim mood, while others find it uninspired and not particularly memorable.
- “The only thing I loved about this game is the setting, the grim mood it creates, and its music.”
- “On the positive side, the creator has invested heavily in assets, including Pioneer Valley tilesets and custom music which is actually pretty nice.”
- “Low caliber music (pretty basic and repetitive)”
- “The soundtrack and sound effects help establish atmosphere, using subdued fantasy themes to support exploration and combat, though they rarely take center stage or leave a lasting impression.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, -25% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability through randomized loot, enemy encounters, and dungeon layouts, ensuring varied playthroughs. However, this complexity can be overwhelming for players unfamiliar with stat-driven RPGs, and some feel the replay value is limited.
- “The fact that loot and encounters are randomized every game gives it tremendous replay value—no two playthroughs feel the same.”
- “The game’s use of randomization extends beyond loot into enemy encounters and dungeon layouts, contributing to its replayability.”
- “While this depth adds replay value, it also places a heavier cognitive load on players, particularly those less familiar with stat-driven RPG systems.”
- “The game’s use of randomization extends beyond loot into enemy encounters and dungeon layouts, contributing to its replayability but also to its rougher edges.”
- “Not a lot of replay value.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The grinding aspect receives mixed feedback: some users appreciate the straightforward, fun gameplay that avoids excessive grinding, while others find the random encounters repetitive and tiresome, leading to a somewhat dull experience.
- “Dull, boring, grindy and repetitive random encounters in zone every few steps.”
- “I am okay with the game concept and storyline but the little I played seemed rather repetitive and grinding in this turn-based RPG.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
Character development is extensive and allows for diverse builds through free stat allocation and equipment choices, enhancing the sense of continuous progress as players acquire better gear.
- “Extensive character development with the freedom to assign stats and choose equipment allows for the creation of diverse builds.”
- “Character development combined with acquiring increasingly better equipment provides a sense of continuous progress.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The atmosphere effectively evokes classic RPGs through a slow, immersive world discovery and gradual storytelling, supported by a subdued fantasy soundtrack and sound effects that enhance exploration and combat without being overpowering.
- “The slow discovery of the world and the gradual building of the story perfectly capture the atmosphere of classic RPGs.”
- “The soundtrack and sound effects help establish atmosphere, using subdued fantasy themes to support exploration and combat, though they rarely take center stage or leave a lasting impression.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The monetization is heavily criticized as a blatant cash grab, relying on low-effort, recycled assets with poor quality, reflecting poorly on both the developer and amateur game creators in general.
- “It's horribly basic, riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, full of stock copy-pasted RPG Maker assets... no real game development has taken place here, this is just a cash grab, it's shovelware polluting Steam for profit.”
- “This kind of cash grab construction kit shovelware from bad actors like Andorlea gives amateur developers a bad name.”

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Critic Reviews

40%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews

Catacombs 1: Demon War Review - PC
Cubed3.com
40%

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Play Times

2h Median play time

2h Average play time

2-2h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Catacombs 1: Demon War is a tactical role playing game. Common tags for Catacombs 1: Demon War include turn-based, indie, exploration, soundtrack, isometric and others.

Catacombs 1: Demon War is available on PC, Mac OS and Windows.

On average players spend around 2 hours playing Catacombs 1: Demon War.

Catacombs 1: Demon War was released on July 12, 2017.

Catacombs 1: Demon War was developed by SimProse Studios.

Catacombs 1: Demon War has received negative reviews from players and negative reviews from critics. Most players liked Catacombs 1: Demon War for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Catacombs 1: Demon War is a single player game.

Similar games include Dead Age, Vampire's Fall: Origins, Blackguards, Zoria: Age of Shattering, Battle Chasers: Nightwar and others.

Catacombs 1: Demon War

Platforms

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Reviews

story

gameplay

graphics

music

replayability

grinding

character development

atmosphere

monetization

Critic Reviews