- Incredibly satisfying when solving puzzles
- It requires the highest precision
- Definitely not for casuals
Back in the elderly days of 2022, I reviewed a little-known gem called Dungeons of Dreadrock, created by Christoph Minnameier. I’m not the best at puzzles, but I remember having a lot of fun. So when the sequel, Dungeons of Dreadrock 2: The Dead King’s Secret, was announced, I was excited to continue my hard journey.
Dead King’s Secret continues alongside the original’s story, complete with cameos from the original’s main character and his brother, as well as a great split-screen moment. This time our heroine is a priestess who delivered the bloodstone from the original and then set off from there on a journey to obtain the mysterious Crown of Wisdom.
Quite an engaging journey
Heading into the cave under the watchful and rather pragmatic eye of the Blessed Virgin, with whom you can converse while meditating by the fire, our Hero and this leader are arguably the two main characters, with a mysterious third who appears later and must be said to be even so minor the cast creates a gripping story. You want to keep playing to discover why the Blessed Mother desires this crown in the first place and whether your priestess can put aside her reservations and achieve her goal.
Along with these shiny recent characters come more charmingly designed areas. Dreadrock has quite elementary graphics, but is still extremely attractive. This is great because you’ll be staring at it a lot as you try to solve the tricky puzzles. At least to start with.
A vast variety of puzzles
We start with two skills: a magic staff that fires projectiles and the ability to defeat a target with the same staff. Throughout the adventure, your staff will change skills such as shooting lightning or starting fires. Beating people up is always fun, and I like that your secondary skills change – it adds recent mechanics to the levels every now and then.
There’s enough variety to keep you coming back for more, including puzzles that require you to think on different floors or ones with insanely hard solutions. Solutions that I’m almost sure no one will come up with on their own. There is a level that involves an ogre, a fire trap, and a potion of immortality – I’m sure no one will be able to guess how you’re supposed to proceed.
Fortunately, Dreadrock has a very solid hint system that borders on the comical. You feel as if you had a supportive friend with you who had already completed the game. You start with gentle nudges towards the right path, but before you get to the last clue, your friend says, “Just give me the damn controller,” and gives you the answer. I think it’s a lot funnier than it is.
You have to be there
One of the main things you will notice in Dungeons of Dreadrock is the precision and speed of play. Throughout the levels, you’ll have to contend with switches that need to be pressed at specific moments, enemies that need to be killed in exactly the right place, and moments where you need to move every step perfectly.
It sounds pretty crazy, and honestly, it can be, but when you do it, it’s incredibly rewarding. There are some incredibly brilliant puzzles that, once you solve them, will make you feel smarter than you’ve ever felt in your life. I really enjoyed coming up with a pattern to follow in these magical moments to continue.
This can be frustrating more often than it should be
Unfortunately, in one of these cases of complete and utter contradiction, pacing is probably my biggest problem. Imagine solving a hard puzzle with precise timing, and then one mistake throws you back to the beginning. This in itself wouldn’t be a problem, but Dungeons of Dreadrock has some frustratingly tardy enemies.
In particular, there is a long section of puzzle levels involving these Golem-like enemies. Once hit, they counterattack incredibly slowly and then take a step. Some puzzles take these companions incredibly far, and if you accidentally screw up, you’ll have to guide these lumbering beasts all over again. It works on you pretty quickly.
At some levels the balance is disturbed
Another point I briefly touched on earlier: some levels are just too hard. If you are not used to lateral thinking, you will not find a solution. For this purpose, the hint system is a godsend, but I relied on it too much. I’m not a cryptic genius by any means, but I’ve played enough to know how it works, but some of the answers were downright surprising.
The final problem I discovered is that for something that relies on so much precision, the controls are a bit lacking. It’s very inconsistent – the same number of times I either swiped to move and it didn’t happen, I went the other way, or I accidentally lightly touched the screen and my character jumped into the jaws of death. You also can’t look through your inventory no matter how tough you try, which made one particular skeleton level the most irritating experience in a long time.
