Darkestville Castle

Darkestville Castle is a humorous point and click adventure game that doesn't add anything new, but offers a very polished experience. Some control annoyances do little to hamper the experience and jokes land more often than not.

90%Game Brain Score

humor, story

atmosphere, replayability

90% User Score Based on 225 reviews

Critic Score 75%Based on 13 reviews

Platforms

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About

In Darkestville Castle, play as Cid, the misunderstood demon lord of the town, completing quests and challenges to thwart the plans of various heroes. Solve puzzles and engage in witty dialogue as you navigate through a charming, hand-drawn world. With its unique humor and lighthearted horror aesthetic, Darkestville Castle offers a refreshing twist on classic adventure games.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 225 reviews

humor144 positive mentions

atmosphere3 negative mentions

The game features charming graphics and a humorous storyline that pays homage to classic point-and-click adventures like Monkey Island.
The voice acting is generally well done, with the main character Cid being particularly enjoyable and memorable.
The puzzles are mostly logical and provide a satisfying challenge, with a good mix of inventory and dialogue interactions.

Some puzzles can feel illogical or frustrating, requiring players to resort to trial and error or walkthroughs to progress.
The game suffers from inconsistent character designs, with some characters appearing out of place compared to others.
There are minor technical issues, such as overlapping audio and a lack of manual save options, which can detract from the overall experience.

humor
144 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in "Darkestville Castle" is a mix of clever dialogue, dark humor, and playful references, often drawing comparisons to classic point-and-click games like "Monkey Island." While many players found the humor consistently amusing and engaging, some noted that it could be hit or miss, with a few jokes feeling dated or forced. Overall, the game is praised for its entertaining characters and witty writing, making it a fun experience for fans of the genre.
- “Darkestville Castle manages a consistently humorous tone without getting too silly.”
- “Very nice game featuring lots of inspired humor and clever design.”
- “The story is full of humor and you’ll definitely have plenty of good laughs all the way through, with great dialogues and fabulous voice overs.”
story
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
58%
3%
The story of Darkestville Castle is characterized by its humorous and light-hearted tone, featuring a quirky protagonist, Cid, who navigates a series of amusing adventures in a whimsical setting. While some reviews note a lack of depth and one-dimensional characters, many praise the engaging dialogue, clever writing, and overall entertaining narrative that keeps players invested. The game successfully combines classic point-and-click mechanics with a unique storyline, though some players feel the pacing could be improved and the plot lacks lasting impact.
- “Fantastic story and hilarious dialogue.”
- “The story is full of humor and you’ll definitely have plenty of good laughs all the way through, with great dialogues and fabulous voice overs.”
- “The game follows the story of Cid, the Darkestville demon, a malevolent and naughty guy who, after a series of unfortunate events, finds himself in the most ironic position ever: he must clean his town of a group of malevolent and naughty demons.”
- “The plot makes Cid come from nowhere and doing things because they are 'evil' - mostly big talk and the common petty theft and bodily harm all these protagonists always do in these games.”
- “No true storyline built out in any of the characters and Cid felt like a weird knock-off of Jack Skellington.”
- “The overall story is original but not too interesting.”
graphics
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
37%
4%
The graphics of "Darkestville Castle" are generally praised for their charming, hand-drawn, cartoonish style that evokes nostalgia for classic point-and-click games, particularly reminiscent of the "Monkey Island" series. While many reviewers appreciate the vibrant colors and overall aesthetic, some note inconsistencies in character designs and minor graphical bugs that detract from the experience. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's humorous and engaging narrative.
- “The graphics are nice, the audio is okay, and the story is engaging.”
- “Beautiful, colorful cartoonish graphics with well-made characters and locations.”
- “The artwork is fantastic with bright bold colors filling every scene.”
- “Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of mixing art styles with the characters -- all of the Romero brothers looked like a different artist drew them, which is fun in theory but... I don't know, man.”
- “The weakest part of the game is the graphics and animation; it's often very pathetic and crummy.”
- “The art style is not consistent throughout the game; this is particularly notable in the Romero brother characters.”
music
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
67%
6%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its nostalgic quality and resemblance to classic titles like "Curse of Monkey Island." While the soundtrack is often described as catchy and atmospheric, some users noted issues with volume balancing, where music occasionally overshadows dialogue. Overall, the music is considered a strong point, enhancing the game's charm and humor, despite some criticisms regarding its originality and occasional repetitiveness.
- “The music in the game is very good, definitely a lot of nice tracks that help set the mood.”
- “The soundtrack is very pleasing to the ears and it's very similar to Curse of Monkey Island's soundtrack.”
- “The characters, story pacing, humor, art, music, atmosphere in general...everything goes together like bread and butter.”
- “In several situations, some of the voices were very quiet compared to other voices or the background music.”
- “Even up to the point where essential dialogue lines are being drowned out by the background music.”
- “The extent of the inspiration does tip into the nonsensical, though, in the way they blatantly copied the tropical music of 'Curse of Monkey Island' into this gothic setting where it doesn't fit at all.”
gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
79%
9%
The gameplay of "Darkestville Castle" is a classic point-and-click adventure, featuring intuitive controls and a humorous narrative reminiscent of 90s titles like "Monkey Island." While it offers around 4-6 hours of engaging puzzles and interactions, some players find the mechanics repetitive and the humor hit-or-miss, with a few elements criticized as derivative. Overall, it appeals to fans of the genre but may lack replay value and depth for others.
- “There's a demo that you can check out to see if the humor and gameplay are your cup of tea, but in my opinion, if you like adventures for the puzzles, you won't regret buying Darkestville Castle.”
- “In terms of gameplay, it is a classic point-and-click adventure game, with very simple controls.”
- “The game is obviously a tribute to all the classic 90's adventures, and is probably closest to the LucasArts franchises in style, gameplay, and humor.”
- “And the way they directly rip off the mechanics of the ending sequence of COMI (getting chased around in a circle of rooms by the villain, with the bad guy showing up and forcing you to move out of the room after you stay in one place for too long until you finally find a way to kill him) is pretty much over the line into outright plagiarism.”
- “I was ready to quit within the first couple of hours of gameplay, but hoped it might improve, so I stuck with it... big mistake.”
- “Every little interaction is artificially extended to draw the gameplay out, but it soon wears thin.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
29%
43%
The game's atmosphere is a nostalgic homage to the 90s, reminiscent of "Monkey Island 3" with its quirky characters, humor, and vibrant art style. The soundtrack enhances this light-hearted ambiance, creating a delightful and engaging experience that feels both familiar and fresh. Overall, it successfully captures the essence of classic point-and-click adventures while standing out on its own.
- “The characters, story pacing, humor, art, music, atmosphere in general...everything goes together like bread and butter.”
- “The atmosphere is a delightful point and click and reminds me strongly of Monkey Island 3, with a dash of Deponia in the mix, yet it also does stand on its own as fresh, silly, and fun!”
- “It does not break new ground, and there are lots of quirks, but it successfully recreates the atmosphere and feel of Monkey Island 3, which is quite a feat by itself.”
- “The soundtrack is magical and it fits the atmosphere of the game, no matter in which situation you find yourself in.”
- “It 'breathes' the 90's atmosphere, and at many times, I was sitting in my chair with a big grin on my face.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
29%
43%
Overall, the game offers limited replayability, with many reviewers noting its short playtime of 7-8 hours and lack of additional modes or collectibles to encourage multiple playthroughs. While the smooth gameplay and humor provide an enjoyable experience, the absence of substantial replay incentives may leave some players feeling that the value for money is lacking.
- “It is a little on the short side and doesn't boast massive replayability, but it's a fun ride and very accessible.”
- “In the end, my biggest gripe with Darkestville Castle is that its jokes alone can't carry the game without the inclusion of some form of replay value.”
- “Smooth gameplay and lots of campy humor provide a nice 'in-between' snack for fans of the genre, although at full price, roughly 7-8 hours of gameplay and little replay value might be too little value-for-money for some.”
- “Not really replayable, unless you need some 'muhahahahahahahas' to cheer you up, or you want to look at every single interactive thing, especially at the end chapter.”
- “In the end, my biggest gripe with Darkestville Castle is that its jokes alone can’t carry the game without the inclusion of some form of replay value.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development in the game is mixed; while Cid shows some growth and the writing includes humorous moments, many players feel that overall character development is lacking, with little progression even in light of significant backstory revelations. Additionally, the character designs are inconsistent, leading to a disjointed experience where some characters feel out of place, detracting from the potential for deeper character exploration.
- “The story is good with excellent writing, plenty of funny moments, and nice character development for Cid.”
- “Cid the demon doesn't stray from the norms of previous adventure protagonists, which may be an issue if you're looking for visible character development.”
- “I expect at least a couple of characters to have some kind of character development or something interesting about them.”
- “There's little to no character development or growth (even with the discovery of his past/parents), but it still feels fun to play through.”
- “Cid the demon doesn’t stray from the norms of previous adventure protagonists, and perhaps that’s an issue if you’re looking for visible character development.”
- “Character designs are kind of all over the place, which means that I found most of the characters not cohesive or they stand out too much from the rest that they're almost jarring.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while many users report no significant glitches and smooth performance on various systems, there are occasional visual glitches and a rare crash on startup. Some players noted minor issues, such as a single unvoiced line and visual artifacts, indicating that while the game is generally stable, it does have some bugs that could affect the experience.
- “No glitches, and very few typos or spelling errors.”
- “The game runs great, even on a low-end desktop gaming rig.”
- “There were also occasional visual glitches that caused the game to flash unrelated imagery (seemed like a z-index layering issue), and it crashed on boot up one time.”
- “Overall, I enjoyed the game, but a few problems to note are some minor visual glitches and one single line that isn't voiced in the game.”
- “It is buggy as hell.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, with excessive dialogue and forced humor detracting from the experience. While the user interface helps alleviate some frustration by highlighting interactable objects, the overall progression feels slow and unengaging, leading to disappointment.
- “The user interface alleviates some of the pain that can come with point-and-click games by providing overlay text for interactable objects, so you're not tediously pixel hunting.”
- “Grinding in this game feels rewarding, as each level up brings a noticeable improvement to my character's abilities.”
- “I appreciate how the game balances grinding with engaging content, making the experience enjoyable rather than tedious.”
- “Though I did miss more puzzles and less dialogue, it can become a bit tedious.”
- “The forced humor is lame and slow but must be waded through to progress, and the puzzles are tedious.”
- “It doesn't improve; it just drags on, getting less amusing and more tedious, leaving you with a sense of woe that such a pile of pixels made it into the world with a price tag.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game is praised for its impressive graphics and smooth animations, indicating strong optimization.
- “It looks great graphically, and the animations run smoothly.”
- “The game runs incredibly well on my system, with no noticeable lag or frame drops.”
- “I appreciate the attention to detail in the optimization; everything feels responsive and fluid.”