When I first played this game I didn't realize you get to play as a random character with a random weapon after every death. I was worried I wouldn't like this aspect of the game, but soon I realized that it actually made the game a LOT better and way more fun. Starting a new run is always exciting because you never know what kind of weapon you are going to get and other random factors like what kind of rooms you go into and what enemies you fight keep the experience pretty fresh. The combat is fun, the weapons are interesting and have some really cool abilities to go along with them. This is my first time writing a review for a game on Steam, and I wanted to do it for this game because it surprised me by how fun it is and I would like to play more games like it in the future.

“Game over”, “You lose”, “You died”, “Continue?”, “Retry”. These are all famous words gamers hate to get in a game.

It basically means, do better and don’t make the same mistake again. In Lost Castle, you will see the word game over splattered across your screen more times than I care to count. It never bothered me, not once. Dying was the beginning of a new journey, another chance, and it really helps that Lost Castle is ridiculously fun and addictive.

Lost Castle is a beat’em up Roguelike RPG with just about everything being randomized. If you have ever played Rampage Knights, imagine that game with WAY more added and slightly less complicated combat. The story of Lost Castle is simple, dumb Wizard releases demons in an attempt to gain power and everything backfires. Suddenly demons are running amok and it’s up to Treasure Hunters to put a stop to this and to get some sweet, sweet loot while doing it.

After some opening scene shenanigans, you wake up in a dark damp cell. The doors have been opened by a mysterious hooded figure that remarkably looks like the Wizard. A coincidence, I’m sure. This is where the butt kicking begins. There are a total of five areas to the game with progressively more difficult baddies. You start off with some crazy goblins and their contraptions and you end up with demons, demons, and more demons.
The real highlight of Lost Castle is that its very easy to pick up and play.

You need very little brain power to enjoy this game. You can just veg out and even better you can do it with a friend. Lost Castle features coach co-op as well as online multiplayer. The player limit is two, which is low, but it’s enough for me. I can name very few games that I can play for a whopping thirty six hours with my significant other.

Gameplay consists of building yourself up while climbing the difficulty ladder against an onslaught of monsters. Trust me when I say the chips are stacked against you when you first start out. Not to worry though, because as soon as you die, you access a soul tree. This you can equate to Rogue Legacy where you spend points to upgrade yourself, and your starting upgrades. Upgrades come in many forms such as a blacksmith, potion master, or more hit points at start. This makes every game worthwhile as long you have enough souls to purchase an upgrade. This is why dying isn’t really that frustrating. Death makes you stronger.

There is a vast array of weapon types ranging from sword/shield, bows, muskets, staffs, daggers, lancers, two-handers, These weapons take many shapes in the form of enchantments, stats, and abilities, but all behave like their base weapon. As an example, you may end up holding double axes but they behave in the same way daggers attack, but these have a plus ten to health and give you the ability to berserk. This gives Lost Castle a ridiculous amount of variation and room to play. Swords that summon a holy light, a blunderbuss that creates black holes, you name it, its probably in the game. It’s quite extensive and its always fun to find that one weapon you’ve never played with before. I am still finding new weapons after almost forty hours of game time.

The exact same treatment is given to potions and armour. Potions are completely random and can be helpful or they can be a downright pain. Due to the roguelike nature of Lost Castle, its very difficult to plan out “a build”. You more or less decide what you are as you go through the game, or with the starting weapons at the cells. Areas are procedural but after playing as long as I have, you’ve seen all the room combinations. You do begin to get a sense of whats to come and recognize rooms for the monsters that inhabit them. To be frank the room variations mean very little other then where my enemies are going to lay for eternity.

Bosses, oh my there are plenty of bosses for you to fight.

Lost Castle is always keeping things fresh. Per area there are about four bosses or so and the game does an okay job of spoon feeding you these fights. I will say that it spoon feeds it a little to slowly sometimes. Each playthrough is anywhere from an hour to an hour and half. Which is about perfect for quick play sessions. However unless you win the game every time you play, it takes a while to unlock more content. You can thankfully walk away from the game and pick up where you left off in single player. I fought the Slime King a hundred times before I finally got to see the third boss of the first area.

This is not done for the sake of grinding. Lost Castle wants you to replay the game, over, and over. Four times to be exact, to actually beat the game and all of its bosses. After beating the final boss in the fifth area, this usually unlocks a cadre of new weapons, armors, and while not specifically said, bosses. The story also progresses and gives you another reason to go back through everything all over again, but that I won’t spoil here. Some will call this grindy and that is a perfectly fair assessment, but I didn’t mind because of all the aforementioned variations. Yes, you are fighting the same units, bosses, and know which items do what by your third playthrough, but there is more.

There is a Hardcore mode which ramps up the difficulty with new units, and the true final boss of the game. This mode is going to put everything you have learned to the test. I haven’t beaten it yet if that tells you anything.
From an art stand point I am more than happy with Lost Castles style.

It’s very cartoony but it stays faithful to the horrible visage of demons, monsters, etc. If you played Rogue Legacy, its basically the same thing. There were plenty of times I found myself chuckling at the Great Moleshark, which is exactly what you think it is. Then there are bosses like the Fallen Dragon, which look as intense as it is to fight it. Some of the abilities your weapons have I found particularly impressive to watch in action. I have very little complaints with the game visually. A part of the charm of Lost Castle is those cartoony, chibi monsters. One minor note is that there are SO many typos in this game. Even some in Chinese.

Sadly, the music of Lost Castle is very forgettable, it gets the job done but you won’t really remember it. The boss fights have some intense tracks but you are usually so focused on surviving that you don’t really listen to the music. When it comes to music though, I always defer to personal taste, and if you do enjoy the tunes, the soundtrack for Lost Castle is available for purchase. The sound effects on the other hand are handled quite nicely. The crackling of magic spells or when your battle axe cleaves an enemy are very satisfying to the ears.

To wrap up, there is plenty to unpack when it comes to Lost Castle. I didn’t even mention the holiday events, Steam achievements/cards. When it comes to innovation and the quirks that make this different from the rest of the pack, I can easily recommend Lost Castle. Simply based on fact it does everything right for this type of game. It doesn’t re-invent the wheel, but damn those are some nice rims if you catch my drift. You are going to get plenty of bang for your buck at the low price of $9.99, which is fantastic for the amount of content. If you enjoy pointless slaughter and randomized everything, this is a game you must play. Have a friend? Get. This. Game.

TLDR: It's a moderately difficult blend of Castle Crashers and Rogue Legacy that's a blast to play with a friend or alone. The randomized dungeons, items, armors, and weapons (which more or less serve as "classes") give plenty of reason to restart after dying to that damn dinosaur.

My rating: Since this game is EARLY ACCESS I'm going to hold off giving it a score until its finished. But I RECOMMEND picking up Lost Castle if you are a fan of beat 'em ups!

╦╩╦ Likes ╦╩╦

• It's difficult, but not unfair. You will die. Probably a lot. It's sometimes going to be because you stupidly went for that last hit on the boss when you have no health left, other times you'll drink a potion and poison yourself. While bad things will happen, I never felt like it wasn't something I could have prevented.
  
  
• Couch co-op works wonderfully. The reason I picked up this title in the first place was after playing it with a friend; I'm really hoping they add online multiplayer (and possibly more than just two person co-op), but even as is the system is great!
  
  
• The amount of different weapons/skills. Each weapon has a light attack , special attack, and heavy attack, though some weapons (like the musket) use the heavy attack as an evade instead. I really enjoy that you are able to run across different weapons of the same type that have differing stats/special attacks.
  
  
• Character/base development skill tree system. You basically earn "Souls" by killing things which you eventually sacrifice after your character dies. The souls are used to unlock the blacksmith, thief, and alchemist, as well as raise the base stats (attack, defense, move speed, etc.) of your character. It's not crazy complicated, but it serves the game perfectly.
  
  
• The armor(s) and the aesthetics. I keep running across different types of armor I hadn't seen before. While most of what you find during one playthrough is rubbish except for one or two pieces, it's still enjoyable to see all of the different types/looks. I also really like that certain armor types pair up with certain weapons for a bonus.

╦╩╦ Worth mentioning ╦╩╦

• Lack of graphic options. This is not a problem for myself, but is worth pointing out. Outside of picking resolution and language (which is either English or simplified Chinese) there are no other settings.
  
  
• Randomized character appearance. You have zero control over what your character looks like but let's be honest, it doesn't really matter since they won't stick around for very long! Some of the randomized characters you get are hilarious looking.

╦╩╦ Future hopes ╦╩╦

• More weapon types! The amount of weapons/skills in the game already are a decent amount, but it's always good to have more choices.
  
  
• Online multiplayer/expanded co-op. Either of these things would be nice (4 player co-op and/or online multiplayer) but are in no means needed for this to be an enjoyable game.
  
  
• A pet/companion system. This is just a random idea, but these kinds of games have always massively benefited from some sort of "collect more pets/companions with different benefits" depth. I personally think it'd be really cool to see.

For an EARLY ACCESS game, Lost Castle surpassed my expectations. The combination of depth and randomization still has me interested in doing another playthrough just to make sure I've seen everything. Whether or not you have someone to couch co-op this game with, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had. I definitely recommend picking up a copy.

I hope you found this review useful. If you have any questions or comments, give me a shout!

The PERFECT game to play with your partner! My wife and I have been hooked on this game for the last week. It's essentially Rogue Legacy meets Castle Crashers, but with much cooler weapon mechanics (IMO). We've noticed a few bugs/typos, but they were rare (maybe once every 50+ runs) and not game-breaking. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a polished co-op experience.

Pros: Very satisfying combat system, with highly varied weapons/armor. Clearly optimized for multiplayer experience (ex. camera and resurrection). "Level up" system feels progressive and actually affects gameplay.

Cons: Obviously designed for replayability, so the difficulty does jump after each world. For some, this can be frustrating, since your "upgrades" are somewhat dependent on how far you get. BUT, the game does offer a built-in remedy to carry over "XP."

All right, I’ve played this game long enough to review it, and I’ve to say it has gone above expectations for an old school hack’n’slash where rng changes the playstyle in every game. Drawings and artwork is relatively simple but detailed, offering a good presentation, particularly bosses in their intros (it’s boring in the long run but they aren’t long or tedious and they can be skipped).

Pros:
-Game is fairly optimized, loading quickly and fps doesn’t drop even with a big number of enemies on screen even in old laptops.
-Characters, attacks and bosses, plus response to controls are completely fluid and they don’t ever give a jarring feeling.
-Game’s OST is correct, doesn’t repeat too much and does its function.
-Game’s difficulty and item upgrades is relatively gradual, enough to avoid unexpected big gaps (except in the final level and optional rooms filled by enemies) even if rng is unfair sometimes with rooms and gear.
-Despite rng has an active role in the game, skill is needed too and I believe both are balanced out.
-The big amount of weapons and armors can create a wide variety of playstyles (I guess those can be used better in coop mode) in every game, since there isn’t any class and skills are based entirely on the weapon.
-Bosses attack pattern are well defined and they don’t act erratically.
Cons:
-General options have some sort of bug and they can be reset every time you close the game.
-Item location isn’t well defined and some of them can be hard to pick up, especially when there are several of them close to each other.
-Game compendium has some minor bugs.
-Despite the wide variety of weapon types, they aren’t correctly balanced and this makes some of them are ditched in favor of others (at least when playing solo). I’ve tried all of them in different games and areas.
-Nightmare mode is completely unbalanced respect normal and finishing a game to the end without a good rng is a titanic task, it’s a shame because is a must-to to see the game’s true ending. It would be perfect as an optional mode for those seeking a challenge.

Due to some net errors and to the fact I’ve been unable to find friends to play this game with; I can’t speak about coop experience.

8/10, it’s a great game for those who wish to have a good time and have an old computer.

Well,what can i said about Lost Castle? At first sight,it looks like castle crashers but its bit different.The Story is simple,youre a Treasure Hunter who fight untill the castle is cleaned,then the owner appears in different forms and....yeah the story is strange at the End...,you start in a Jail with a random class.Classes can be changed by picking up a different Weapon.You can play a Mage with an heavy Armor,you can play Robin Hood with an Samurai Sword,its up to you.The game is pretty simple and so is the lvl-system of your Character:The Enemies you kill drops Souls,the further you get,the higher is the amount of Souls you get and the more lvls can be reached.There are tons of enemies and tons of weapons such as Daggers,Bow,Scythes,Spears,Staffs,Swords,Axes,and so on.The Combat is pretty simple,you have two different attacks and one special attack.I played this game with a friend but its also fun playing solo.I like the randomization every time i start a run,you get random drops,the lvls are little bit different,the Endboss can be different.If you like to grind,if you are familiar with perma-death,RNG and rogue-like elements,you will like the game.

how is the castle lost if u explore it the entire game i dont get it but its fun

Lost Castle is a side scrolling beat-em-up and RPG hybrid with roguelike features. It’s inspired by Castle crashers. It has roguelike elements and every time you play a different dungeon is presented to you. The game is in Early access, so there’s a few glitches etc. but not a big deal. The game is fully playable. The developers are pretty active which means the glitches should be fixed very soon.

Graphics:

Lost Castle feature cartoon-like graphics and art-style. The graphics are very sharp and pleasing to the eyes. The characters are cute and kept reminding me of Scribblenauts characters for some reason. There are not many graphics settings in the game, the only one available is the resolution adjustment option and full screen option. The game ran smooth for me throughout my gameplay with it with over 60 FPS.

Sound:

The music in this game is very neat. I really liked the creepy type of music this game features. There could’ve been more tracks though. Sound options have separate music and sound adjustment options.

Controls:

The game has fully re-bindable keys for both keyboard and controller. The mouse works in-game menus and the upgrades page. The controls felt really responsive. A controller is highly recommended for this game though I had no problem with keyboard as well.

Gameplay:

The story is about demons and other evil creatures have come to the Castle Harwood and your character is a treasure hunter trying to get rid of the evil in the Castle and in the way loot some treasure. Your character gets kidnapped by these evil elves who throw you into the dungeon. That’s where you start every time you die. You’re given a random looking character with a random weapon. Depending on the weapon you’re given you get different normal, heavy and super attacks. The dungeon is also randomly created. There’s 5 levels from what I can tell (didn’t progress through the later levels) and every time you die you start at the first dungeon cell. Each time you clear a screen a door opens and you’re given a chest with some random items in it. The chests also upgrade from wood to silver to gold and so on as you progress through level. Along the way you can also find a dodgy salesman every once in a while who will sell you a random thing for some coins. This can be an apple or a very nice weapon.

There’s a lot of different types of weapons, bows, dual welded swords, long heavy swords, shotgun, fireballs, sword and shield combo etc. Every weapon has their own stats and abilities, for example the bow and arrow has a super attack which shoots an electrocuted arrow which passes through enemies. The fireball weapon lets you teleport if you use the heavy attack or a crystal spawns and shoots fireballs at all nearby enemies with the super attack button. Some weapons have dash or evade or teleportation abilities instead of heavy attacks. You can also find companions who follow you and shoot at enemies and other upgrades like a percentage chance to electrocute enemy etc. Armor pickups can not only alter the stats they can change the look of your treasure hunter entirely with different themes and cosmetics.

You gain souls by killing enemies, these souls can be used to get upgrades and unlocks after you die. You start off pretty weak but as you gain levels and get additional bonuses using these souls you get better and better. Though as you get upgrades the other upgrades become expensive and if you cannot afford to buy one your souls will be sacrificed. One of the upgrades does let you keep a certain percentage of your souls though.

There’s a lot of enemy variety. Skeletons, goblins, spiders, slime creatures. The game has some hilarious mechanics too like unknown potions which can either be good or bad. One of the potions has you pooping everywhere which reduces your move speed for a short time. Other funny things like you slipping off your recently eaten banana’s peel, making your vulnerable to enemies, or chest falling on your head and other such things. Plenty of bosses in the game as well. Consumable items include apples, bananas, finger lickin’ good chicken (yes, there’s a reference to KFC in the game as well) all of which restore some of your HP. Throwable weapons includes daggers, bombs etc. Potions are there as well and usually random which can either poison you, make you fart uncontrollably, restore health and many other things. So it’s always a gamble using these potions.

A short gameplay video can be found below:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=713112176

Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Conclusion:

This game is an extremely fun dungeon crawler/brawler/ /RPG/Roguelike combo. This game is very addictive and you’ll have that “just one more game and I’ll quit, yet you keep playing for hours on end” syndrome. It also has 2 player local co op, so you can play with friends as well. It’s not that expensive and for the amount of content it has I think it’s very much a must buy for brawler/RPG genre fans.

I bought this game on a whim during a holiday sale and i will tell you that i would have paid full price or double. The game has an awesome replay value that even the most experienced and inexperienced gamer can get into. After years of owning this game and over 50+ plays, i got my 65 year old mother to fall in love with this game. When she isn't running multiple profiles to keep spending them souls, she is playing a super fun and easy Co-op with my brother and I. It has seriously become a treat to have my family home to play together during Covid-lock downs.

I couldn't recommend this game enough. Hard mode creates its own challanges but really the randomness of the items bosses and dungeon lay outs really makes this game a gem for everyone. Can't wait to see what expansions they have and hope they keep updating.

10/10 would highly recommend, especially because of the similar FTL: Faster Than Light replay value.

The premise of Lost Castle is simple. You are a treasure hunter coming to check out a castle, which is quickly revealed to be inhabited by demons. Fortunately, it is revealed upon your first death that your soul is immortal. However, upon waking up you find out that your gear and appearance have changed. Combine that with every dungeon is randomly generated, and that is the basic premise.

What makes this formula work is that combat is pretty simple, and each weapon plays differently. Essentially, you can change class about as often as new weapons are found. This may frustrate some players, as each weapon has a distinct playstyle, and what works best for you may never be an option on any given playthrough.

Items are also unknown upon first encounter, so that potion may be a much needed buff, or a horribly unfortunate debuff. For example, getting a health regeneration (Yay!) during a big fight versus bad gas (Gross!). This added risk makes stocking up on items more interesting, but it could frustrate some.

Upon death, collected souls can be used to "buff" your character before each "resurrection". Such bonuses include extra items, a random weapon change, and potions of questionable effects. These unlocks are permanent, so once unlocked you will always have a chance for a different weapon than what you started with.

If you are a fan of games like FTL, and Castle Crashers, then I highly recommend Lost Castle. If you are not a fan of RNG, or a moderate grind, then you will likely not enjoy Lost Castle.