Shining in the Darkness
System: Genesis
Release Date: October 1991
Developer: Climax/Sonic
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG
Save the Kingdom of Thornwood from the evil Dark Sol in Shining in the Darkness! You are the son of the greatest knight of the kingdom, Mortred. He accompanied the Princess Jessa on a trip to town to visit the Shrine. Unfortunately, they never came back. Now the king has summoned you and sent you on a mission to save the Princess. Journey into the Labyrinth and defeat the thousands of monsters in front of you. Can you save the realm from darkness?
The hero begins alone with 200 gold pieces and some modest equipment. A quick trip to town lets you buy another piece of equipment from the Weapons shop or Armorer. I went with a gauntlet, and some herbs from the Alkemist. Also in town, you have a tavern where you can talk to locals or stay the night for 10 gold pieces. There are also story advancements attached to the Tavern, so visit when you reach new areas. There’s also a Shrine where you can revive fallen party members, cure status ailments, and save your adventure. Later on in your quest, a Trader opens and is where you can get more advanced equipment.
The Labyrinth is where the meat of your spelunking takes place. The maze is a first person dungeon crawl. There are many floors of 30 by 30 tiles. The first order of business is to find proof of the Princess being in the Labyrinth, but you need to explore the corridors and kill enemies to advance. You’re going to need to kill lots of enemies because they give you the experience you need to level up and get stronger, as well as the gold you need to upgrade your equipment. Enemies appear in groups and you can target groups, but can’t target specific enemies in them. You’ll rue the attacking decisions on occasion. After about an hour and several levels of advancement, you run into the Kaiserkrab and pray that you’re strong enough. The hero can only attack or use items, which is what you need to do to beat the Kaiserkrab and retrieve the Royal Tiara.
Showing the tiara to the king gets you access to the Trials of the Labyrinth, which you must complete to enter the Labyrinth Proper. Congratulations, you’ve completed the first sixteenth of your quest. Luckily, this also gives you access to your two other party members, Pyra and Milo. These two change up the battles a bit, as they have access to magic. After getting them some levels and equipping them with some equipment, you’re ready to take on the Trials of Courage, Strength, Truth, and Wisdom. Each trial is more difficult than the last, but they all require you to get from the entrance of the floor to a specific spot. Mini-boss enemies will appear with an animated entrance, instead of fading into existence. All enemies have a range of current hit points when the battle starts and I came to the conclusion that they all have the same maximum hit points and some just don’t start with full HP.
The Labyrinth Proper is where the difficulty ramps up. And every time you enter the next level up, it gets harder and harder. Of course, the experience and gold rewards ramp up, too, so by the time you explore the level, you’re more likely to be breezing through. I also made my life a little easier by acquiring the cursed Hex Whip for Pyra, which is very powerful and strikes an entire enemy group, but often robs her of subsequent turns. As long as you manage their magic, the only real challenge is not getting wiped by a particularly strong enemy combination, or getting hit with Desoul. There are really only two bosses and they both come in the last two floors of the Labyrinth. Their main challenge is hitting hard and having a lot of hit points, but liberal use of the Quick and Boost spells will have them bowing before you.
Graphics: 4.0
I think these are some great looking graphics. Enemies are neat looking, characters are animated, overall I think it’s awesome.
Sound: 3.5
The music and sound effects are very good, as well. There’s a lack of music variety in the Labyrinth, but that’s my only knock.
Gameplay: 3.0
Be prepared to draw maps. Controls are simple, there are multiple strategies to battle. Inventory management is a pain with limited space.
Difficulty: 3.5
There are difficulty spikes that will be a shock, but they just force you to grind a couple levels here and there.
Fun Factor: 4.0
There hasn’t been a better first person dungeon crawler yet and it’ll be hard to top this one.
Overall Rating: 3.6
Shining in the Darkness earns an A-. This is a very solid title that I would recommend to any dungeon crawler fan.