The Dark Citadel
★★★★☆
“Alexa, open the Dark Citadel”
The kingdom of Alderton is under attack, and you are the only one who can save it! Dark Citadel is a story told in constantly released chapters as you build up your hero, form alliances, and prepare for war!
Let the adventure begin!
The Dark Citadel starts with you outlining the basics of your character. For those with experience with RPG’s and traditional Pen and Paper games they will be able to hit the ground running. But those who may be new to this type of game may be overwhelmed by the core stat system and what each stat will affect.
This introduction is very simple and straight forwards, and it’s not long before you are thrown into the world of The Dark Citadel and plunged into your first quest, where you are provided with the opportunity of guarding a caravan. It is through this first task that the elements of gameplay are introduced to you, the multiple choices that you are able to make that can affect the divergent storylines, as well as the turnbased combat.
The combat within The Dark Citadel doesn’t break the mould, admittedly – but it works with a sense of polish and preciseness. Attacks sound impactful, monsters sound frightening and the soundscapes draw the player into a sense of immersion.
One of the small issues that first time players may experience is that the voice and phrase recognition can be hit and miss at times, with having to repeat commands several times to find the exact right phrase that you need to be able to progress the interaction. But once you find the right wording to use, it becomes relatively easy and natural to continue through the story and traverse through conversations and dialogue with NPC’s.
Character Progression
Progressing through The Dark Citadel is multifaceted, not only as you level do you select your stats, skills and powers as you progress – but you will also discover new weapons, armor and trinkets – where you can obtain additional abilities and moves, resistances against special attacks or simply round out your attire and customize your characters aesthetic.
As you travel through the world of The Dark Citadel, you will encounter hundreds of monsters each with their own special abilities from fire breathing dragons to conjurers and wizards with dangerous spells.
Dangerous foes and enemies are not the only challenges that you’ll face as you progress through the world of The Dark Citadel, as you progress through the story you’ll find yourself putting your stats and powers to the test as you pic locks, disable traps and try and use your guile and wit to negotiate and outsmart NPC’s.
Icing on the cake (small benefits)
The Dark Citadel also provides some unique functionality with the player leaderboard (https://llitd.com/leaderboard) and the notifications that you receive on particular accomplishments i.e; hitting your highest amount of damage.
It is this additional functionality that adds that extra layer of polish to the experience.
Additional Reviews
From around the web
The best games to play with Alexa in 2021
Digital Trends
“For lovers of Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and Diablo, The Dark Citadel is an episodic, choice-based gaming experience where the player is the last hope for the besieged city of Alderton. Alexa is the humble narrator of your quest, reading off rich and descriptive passages that create a compelling narrative for you to interact with.”
Game Modes
The Dark Citadel includes multiple different game modes. These game modes have been designed by the developers to include branching paths and various difficulty levels, to not only keep you entertained but to help you level up! These game modes include;
Invasions
Break into another player’s castle to steal their loot, or find rare items in the world to boost your own castle to keep pesky adventurers out.
Battle Waves
How many waves of enemies can you defeat before you are overwhelmed
Raids
A multiplayer game mode where everyone works together to unlock a raid boss for specialize loot. Currently there is one raid, the Swamp – with the Castle Raid coming soon!
Dungeons
There are three dungeons currently, the Lich’s Lair – which comes in two parts, as well as Goblin Kingdom and Places of Power with one part each.
Currently there are a whopping 16 chapters available for The Dark Citadel;
- The Journey Begins
- Locate the Seeker
- Into the Desert
- Crisis of Faith
- City Under Siege
- The Wizard’s Quest
- Return to the Desert
- All Things Must Die
- Rescue Mission
- The Ancients
- A Way Home
- Overcoming the Odds
- A Dark Road
- World at War
- Devil in the Details
- Fate of the World
With more coming soon!
Voice first, Screen second
With all Alexa Skills, The Dark Citadel is voice driven – however, you can get a lot more information if you use an Alexa Device with a large display. With this addition, you can see your inventory, hit points, experience, level and have access to several tappable options.
User Reviews
Overall, The Dark Citadel offers a rich, immersive experience that gives the player a near ‘retail’ experience. We would recommend The Dark Citadel to both experienced RPG players and to those who are knew to the genre and would perhaps be looking to try something new with their Amazon Alexa.
With being able to jump straight into the gameplay, players can quickly find out if this release from LC Publishing would be the right fit for them.
You can learn more about The Dark Citadel on the following links;