A Look at the Simple, Zelda-Like Indie Title – Scarlett’s Dungeon

The world of 8-bit adventure titles revolves around one elf-like hero, casually saving the beloved princess and freeing the kingdom. Of course, I’m talking about none other than – The Legend of Zelda. But in the mighty Z’s wake – over almost three heroic decades now – many titles follow in tribute of the legendary Hylian champion; one most recent is Scarlett’s Dungeon.

Starting off in familiar fashion to the previously mentioned franchise, Scarlett awake’s in her home to find her parents are missing. Stirred into a panic, she sets off into the nearby Palette Town in hopes to pursue the whereabouts of her family. In her dream, a godly being reminds her of his success in ripping Scarlett’s parents away, taunting her to meet him on the 15th floor of the dreaded dungeon.

Before Scarlett begins her journey, she must prepare with a weapon and a few other useful items including a sword and dash ability, allowing quick escapes from enemies. The game plays exactly like older 8-bit styled adventure games, most notably, Zelda. With a simple swipe of the sword, Scarlett will fiercely cut through her opponents in hopes of victory.

The dungeon crawling begins once you’ve retrieved all of the necessary items needed to continue forward. The floors located in the dungeons are all procedurally generated, leaving the player guessing which way to go every step of the way. A variety of monsters pollute the dungeon, dropping valuable coin and health items along the way.

As you progress through the dungeon floors, you soon discover on every fifth floor awaits a boss. Keeping in mind the godly monstrosity who claimed your parents lie on the 15th floor, you can bet this title sits with a very low completion time. Unless for those who explore games to their fullest, I don’t see anyone spending more than 2 hours on this title’s storyline. That’s not to disregard the satisfying gameplay and trivial challenges that await on every floor.

With various enemies and robot-like enemies, collecting coin loot to purchase enhanced weapons, a random level design approach to dungeon crawling and a simple control scheme to help casual players pick up and play, Scarlett’s Dungeon is a quick fix for retro adventure fans everywhere. Find Scarlett’s Dungeon on September 22nd 2017 on Steam.