Anzu Castle Gracula

I respect the gumption of someone who releases a qbasic game in 2024

More of a very polished proof of concept than a complete game, but the presentation and challenge make this one really fun. The bite sized nature made remembering where to backtrack as abilities were unlocked pretty easy and there's always the options to make the boss battles extra tough by ignoring the strength power ups. I only wish there was an option to make the jumps stiff like in the OG Castlevania 2. A Metroidvania where there's discrete levels of a similar, smaller breadth and scope as this game would be kind of neat.

Here is the advice I wish I'd gotten before I started playing this game: At the first room, go back and forth until you have 100+ hearts and then save at the statue by pressing up. This will give you enough hearts to get to the first boss and kill them at range. After this you will get double jump and the game becomes a more manageable difficulty. The developer has a nasty habit of placing save points outside the boss room without the ability to refresh your weapon hearts easily. After each boss replenish your hearts in the first save room before heading out again.

Absolutely lovely little game. I enjoyed every moment of it. Doesn't take too long to beat but certainly offers some nice challenge still!

definitely a fun game literally just finished beating it. if you want something to scratch the itch for a Vania style game give it a shot. and if you have a low end system it works fine just remember to use the launcher to load the sound it if you like the music. I ran this off a raspberry pi zero 2w and og doom used more resources than this game so you shouldn't have any problems. the only negative I can draw is the game slows down once more than 3 or 4 assets are on the screen but since it was written in Basic its still an impressive project. it gets my thumbs up

Beautiful love letter to the old Castlevania games. It starts out almost brutally hard but with enough tenacity and drive, you can get through it and collect stuff that'll make your adventure easier. The enemy design was top notch, especially the bosses.