Under the Castle

You may or may not remember the Playdate, game publisher Panic’s 2022 foray into the boutique handheld space identifiable by its crank-based control scheme. The console didn’t hold the spotlight for long thanks to its niche nature, but its humble origins have since flourished into a space for independent developers to flock to and test their creative wingspans, or just hark back to some old school magic. Under the Castle’s team (Dani Diez, ZCorbs, and VolcanoBytes) hit upon both of these touchstones in their take on Rogue’s dungeon crawling formula. Despite some bugs, Under the Castle is both faithful to its source material and modernized in most of the right ways.

Even for those who haven’t played Rogue, the influence it’s had on other genres is felt in many widely played “roguelike” hits. The gist of Under the Castle is what you’d expect based on its modern influences: set out on increasingly treacherous dungeon crawls to complete goals, then succeed or die, repeat. Each run resets your character to zero, though you’re allowed to take copies of items and weapons obtained from previous runs with you on each expedition to increase your odds of victory. This element of persistence lends Under the Castle a sense of progress more akin to modern roguelikes than the original Rogue and is where much of the strategic depth lies as you mix and match loadouts.

Under the Castle’s persistent elements are also one of the key points of tension during gameplay. You must complete a run’s objective after picking up any equipment not in your existing stash, else you lose access to that equipment until you come across it again. While equipment discovery is randomized, you’ll likely come across items again within a few runs so it’s rarely a huge loss, especially given there are no other penalties. Plus, crawls are bite-sized, so loss never feels like much of a setback, and in fact becomes a learning experience as you figure out how to approach each enemy type and ways to use their strengths against one another (such as lining up one enemy’s projectile to damage another).

The game splits its content across three types of dungeons. The objective of the easiest dungeon type is to simply kill a set number of enemies, while the second type tasks you with collecting orbs, and the third revolves around collecting keys to save imprisoned townsfolk. The latter two dungeon types require constant inventory management, meaning you’ll need to make tough decisions regarding what spells or potions you leave behind in order to complete your objective. Each dungeon also includes increasingly difficult enemy varieties and level layouts that require smart item usage and a keen eye for hidden walls and gaps you can hover across.

Hovering is the one area where Under the Castle utilizes the Playdate’s flashy crank. It’s a fairly simple implementation: crank clockwise to disappear into your wizardly hat and flip the crank back to its starting position to return to your corporeal form. When in hover mode, you can glide past enemies and cross pits, though the limited mana pool you have to work with means you’ll need to activate it selectively. The game doesn’t always do the best job of reading the crank’s position, which can result in moments where the control scheme becomes flipped, though it’s only a minor annoyance.

The more pertinent control woe reveals itself through the “pressed & held” control option that allows you to keep your protagonist moving by holding down a direction rather than pressing out each step. This can sometimes result in overstepping, leading you into an enemy or over a ledge. Perhaps there is some level of user error here, but a bit of tweaking could’ve helped stymy these deadly missteps. However, the game is otherwise joyful to control, much thanks to its bouncy character animations paired with responsive inputs. The user interface is also legible and easy to navigate, something that developers often struggle with on small screens.

Visually, Under the Castle is one of the most intricately detailed games on the Playdate. The castle and dungeons are littered with little eye-catching details, including a handful of inspired later-game enemy designs. At times the environments are so intricate that they become a bit difficult to parse when the Playdate’s display isn’t well lit, though the developers did a good job making sure the play space is clutter-free. This problem can also be easily remedied through Playdate’s screen mirroring app available free on computers (the details really shine on a bigger screen, too).

What doesn’t hold up quite so well is the storytelling. This is not the type of game that needs a complex narrative but given the level of visual detail afforded its world and the quirky dialogue from the tip-providing old man and final boss, I was left wanting to know more and to feel my progress reflected narratively. For example, in rescuing villagers and collecting orbs from dungeons, you’re helping mount a defense to gain access to the villain’s seized castle. Yet we never see the impact of these feats displayed in the overworld, nor is it often commented upon. In fact, there’s no indicator of your progress toward reaching the boss, and when you do reach that moment, it’s unceremoniously thrust upon you. The game would be a much more engaging experience if flourishes were added to emphasize your progress. But again, this is the least important element in a roguelike game and the occasional flavor dialogue does spice up the proceedings.

Sound design is also a high point for Under the Castle. Sound effects are crunchy, making every hop between tiles and enemy slaying satisfying. Each dungeon has its own theme as well, all of which feel properly heroic in contrast to the downtrodden hub theme. But the real blood-pumping bangers emerge during the boss fight, creating a sense of finality where the storytelling fails to. The icing on the cake is all the earworm jingles that play upon entering dungeons and completing a run. This is one of the best-sounding games on the Playdate and holds up against its best retro-inspired contemporaries.

Under the Castle’s final boss is the game’s high point, requiring the utilization of the full array of weapons, consumables, and mechanics to overcome treacherous puzzles and best him. Sadly, the post-game falters after this victory. Given how quickly you can make it to the big bad, I’d have expected further goals, especially as the game continues to offer harder dungeon difficulties after. Yet the only thrust to keep playing beyond finding any remaining weapons is simply for the fun of it. Doing exactly this backfired on me though as upon reaching high difficulty levels the game started to bug out. This included level elements not loading, enemies spawning on top of the player character upon entering a room (often resulting in death), and outright crashes. These became too frustrating for me to keep playing. It’s possible only the most dedicated players will make it to the point where this becomes an issue, but that makes it all the more disappointing.

The post-game also highlights other issues with Under the Castle, such as how bespoke level layouts cause runs to feel identical, and the weapons received from clearing the boss outperform everything else to near-irrelevance. The game could use challenging shake-ups for players looking to keep their adventure going. However, even if you just play through beating the final boss, I feel Under the Castle is well worth its $10 asking price.

Lastly, it’s worth praising the suite of options, including accessibility features like a screen shake toggle and choices for how the d-pad and crank function. Notably, there’s a permadeath toggle wherein the whole game resets upon a single death but given both the bugs and the importance of learning from defeat, this is only for the most hardcore players. There aren’t multiple save files either so permadeath runs force you to override your progress. I would’ve loved to have seen more support for this feature as it harks back to the game’s inspirations.

If you have a Playdate, Under the Castle is a game you must own. It preserves what made Rogue’s formula tick while including elements of persistence characteristic of today’s roguelikes. The game makes great use of its entire mechanical suite, and it’s stuffed full of audio-visual splendor. It’s unfortunate that the post-game offers little incentive to continue and is stifled by bugs, but most players won’t grind enough to encounter these so it shouldn’t be considered a deal-breaker. I look forward to what the developers have in store next as with some tweaks, this very good game could become timeless.