Elminage Gothic

About

"Elminage Gothic" is a dungeon crawler RPG that offers a classic challenge with a dark, gothic atmosphere. The game is set in a world where humans have formed a contract with the Great Gods to seal away the Dark Gods and maintain peace. However, the player must form their own party of adventurers to explore dangerous areas and keep the balance of power in check. With permadeath and challenging gameplay, players must strategize and make tough decisions to survive.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

65%

Audience ScoreBased on 248 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

grinding46 negative mentions

The game offers a nostalgic experience for fans of old-school dungeon crawlers, particularly those who enjoyed the Wizardry series.
The artwork and monster designs are praised as top-notch, adding to the overall aesthetic appeal of the game.
The game features a variety of classes and races, allowing for deep character customization and strategic party building.

The user interface is widely criticized as clunky and unintuitive, making navigation and gameplay cumbersome.
The map system is frustrating, as maps are consumable items that can only be used once, leading to confusion and disorientation in dungeons.
Many players find the difficulty to be artificially inflated due to poor design choices, such as random stat gains and a lack of clear instructions on game mechanics.

gameplay
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
75%
7%
The gameplay of Elminage Gothic is deeply mechanics-driven, offering extensive character customization and challenging dungeon crawling, but it suffers from poor explanations of its complex systems, making it difficult for new players to grasp. While some players appreciate the nostalgic homage to classic RPGs like Wizardry, many criticize the lack of tutorials and a frustrating user interface. Overall, the game provides a rewarding experience for those willing to invest time and effort, but it may not appeal to everyone due to its steep learning curve and design flaws.
- “Overall, this game is one of the few on Steam that lasted me hours of gameplay and I'll recommend it to everyone.”
- “Gameplay: 4/5 - plenty of classes which you can customize your party with, many hours of dungeon crawling goodness.”
- “Gripes aside, the real meat and bones is the wizardry gameplay and from the get-go the game does not pull its punches.”
- “The first big problem is that this is an intensely, intensely mechanics-driven game that is awful at explaining those mechanics.”
- “The in-game explanations for mechanics are usually vague or misleading, in a tiny scrolling 1-line box.”
- “Character building is filled with lots of obscure mechanics that are impossible to know ahead of time without a guide and that can have a big impact.”
grinding
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and repetitive, often leading to player frustration rather than enjoyment. Many reviewers note that the game requires significant time investment in grinding to progress, with some suggesting that the user interface exacerbates the experience. While a few players find enjoyment in the grind, the overall sentiment leans towards it being a major drawback that could deter newcomers to the genre.
- “The game relies immensely on grinding and repetition, but then has an absolutely awful UI to make that experience as lame as possible.”
- “Maybe this was wrong of me, but I went into this game with the thought of an Eye of the Beholder / Lands of Lore style of dungeon crawling. I ended up feeling quite disappointed with this; it's surprisingly tedious and way too boring for a dungeon crawler. Sorry, but I can't recommend this.”
- “After 60 tedious minutes of play... still at level one.”
graphics
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
32%
21%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the **top-notch artwork and spritework**, particularly the monster designs, which evoke a nostalgic blend of old-school Western RPG and JRPG aesthetics. However, criticisms arise regarding the overall graphical quality, with some describing it as **mediocre** and lacking in animation, leading to a basic visual experience reminiscent of older titles. While the art style may appeal to fans of classic dungeon crawlers, it does not compensate for the game's other shortcomings in graphics and gameplay mechanics.
- “The artwork / spritework is absolutely top-notch.”
- “Beautiful, wonderful monster artwork for the enemies.”
- “The art style alone is worth the price of admission.”
- “Lastly, the graphics are horrible as well.”
- “The artwork sucks, and the gameplay is just a basic slideshow with number generators that don't work right.”
- “Even the artwork looks like it was taken from the Wizardry: Proving Grounds booklet from the late 80s.”
music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
56%
9%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the themed dungeons and battle themes for enhancing the atmosphere, while others criticize the limited track variety and repetitive nature. The main menu music is noted as particularly enjoyable, but some players find the sound effects grating and the overall soundtrack lacking depth. Despite these criticisms, the music is generally considered well-implemented and fitting for the game's environment.
- “The music works well with the atmosphere the game is trying to convey and is properly implemented.”
- “Great music, especially the 8 battle themes.”
- “I really like all the themed dungeons in this game, as well as the progressing soundtrack between floors.”
- “The music is non-existent with the same few tracks playing over and over; the sound effects are so grating to the ears.”
- “Quite a few low points: horrible interface management, non-existent plot, pretty terrible sound effects/music, dull dungeons, and the game is overall too easy, especially after a certain point early on (acquisition of warp spell).”
- “Can't turn the music down.”
story
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
55%
30%
The game's story is largely criticized for being minimal and poorly executed, with many reviewers noting it as "non-existent" or "barebones," often reduced to simple directives like "go here." While some mention a potentially intriguing plot with dark undertones, the vague character interactions and badly translated dialogue hinder engagement, leaving players feeling detached and uninterested. Overall, the narrative fails to captivate, earning low ratings for its lack of depth and coherence.
- “The story is short but is pretty intriguing, if you can progress through the game at a steady rate and remember what's going on, but is otherwise barebones and non-existent if you go after everything else.”
- “There's a deeper plot than meets the eye and dark undertones, which I wouldn't spoil for you.”
- “Good atmosphere, puzzles, and even a cool little story underneath it all.”
- “The story is non-existent, seldom anything more significant than: 'ok, now go here.'”
- “The interactions with the story and NPCs are incredibly vague: characters stand alone in dungeons and bark a short paragraph of vague, badly translated info at you, and then you're supposed to put 2 and 2 together and figure out what they need.”
- “No real story and what there is is badly translated, a lot of items you can equip that make very little difference to how you play, you level up your characters in random dungeons that you will never even care about getting to the end of.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
30%
30%
The game effectively creates a strong gothic horror atmosphere, enhanced by well-implemented music and engaging puzzles. While some dungeons may appear generic and lack atmosphere, the overall experience is immersive and complemented by a compelling underlying story.
- “The game is very atmospheric and pulls off the gothic horror vibe really well.”
- “Good atmosphere, puzzles, and even a cool little story underneath it all.”
- “Finally, the music works well with the atmosphere the game is trying to convey and is properly implemented.”
- “- Generic looking dungeons, no atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere feels bland and uninspired, lacking any unique elements.”
- “The game fails to create an immersive atmosphere, making it hard to stay engaged.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is not explicitly mentioned in the provided text, focusing instead on the publishing and porting details by Ghostlight and Laughing Jackal. Therefore, no specific insights into the game's humor can be derived from this information.