(This review has a soundtrack that has been unwillingly provided by that mad genius called Swedish Wargoat)
Greetings, dear follower!
Yes.
WE ARE BACK.
Please wipe those tears. Your long wait is over now.
We sincerely apologize for our silence during the last couple of months. And for breaking your heart.
As you DEFINITELY remember, in May brother Tagonius and yours truly attempted their traditional annual escape from the Skunk Tower. As in previous attempts, the attempting was going very well. Far from the toxic, micromanaging influence of the Indie Skunk, brother Tag and brother Gut (yes, we even gave each other really lazy nicknames) remembered that they were friends once.
We shared the happiness and awe of the outside world with a perpetual smile, got ice cream and even attempted to pick up some ladies that of course didn’t want to have anything to do with two obviously deranged, filthy members of a cult.
Ah. Good times.
But, even though we attempted like crazy, we were of course caught. For a misanthropic and grumpy demigod that never ever leaves the Skunk Tower, the reach of the influence of Its Stinkiness is amazing. It took those Boy Scouts less than 20 minutes to hunt us down.
Once they had brought us back to the Skunk Tower (they were really mean to us in the process), the Indie Skunk was obviously very displeased. On second thought, it was not that obvious, since Its Stinkiness is ALWAYS displeased with us minions (and always “a little more” with me than with brother Tagonius).
It was kind of unnerving that It spoke to us in a controlled, calm voice (in opposition to Its usual hysterical, this-is-my-birthday-party-and-you-should-do-what-I-say shrieks) while demanding an explanation.
As you probably saw coming, it took brother Tagonius way less than a minute to convince the Indie Skunk that the whole attempting to escape idea was MY idea. Or it took way less than a minute for Its Stinkiness to buy that whole bunch of poppycock. Tomato, potato.
So, as “not-really-a-punishment-but-something-that-REALLY-needs-to-be-done”, Its Stinkiness informed yours truly of Its intention to move the whole contents of Its inner sanctum to another part of the Skunk Tower. It also told me that, “being more like a visual kind of deitiy” as It is, I had to move ALL Its things to the next possible location before It could make up Its mind.
So, for the last two months, this minion has been moving all Its stuff to every single one of the other 579 rooms located in the 117 floors of the Skunk Tower, a place that does not have an elevator because Our Most Glorious and Magnanimous Master consider them “shenanigans” and “a safety hazard”.
As you probably saw coming too, the Indie Skunk “didn’t really see it” in any of those other rooms and decided to make me bring everything back to the original one.
With that out of the way, today we would like to tell you about Iratus: Lord of the Dead, a game by Unfrozen picked by Its Stinkiness mostly because it is about having minions and doing unspeakable things to them.
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to—The story
Once upon a time Iratus, an evil necromancer, decided he felt like subjugating mankind. He raised an undead army and everything was going great—Until Iratus got defeated by a bunch of annoying heroes.
Death meant little to the necromancer being, well, a necromancer, so he spent a thousand years imprisoned in his grave, reviewing his defeat and getting really, really pissed.
Time for revenge—The gameplay
The game starts when the seal of the grave of Iratus is broken by some unfortunate humans. Now we are back (we control Iratus and his minions) and it’s time for revenge. And to reattempt to subjugate those annoying mortals and bring an enternal reign of death.
First things first, we’ll need some minions, of course. We will create them by building their bodies with the pieces of our fallen enemies and bringing them to “life” with our dark arts.
Then we will lead our growing undead army through a series of dungeons, facing enemies (that will provide us with more body pieces when they fall) and doing the typical stuff that one does in roguelikes.
During our dark adventure we can improve not only the skills of Iratus, but also our minions and our headquarters.
All of this will “probably” remind you of Darkest Dungeon. The combat is also very similar—We’ll need to think strategically, taking into account the positioning, weaknesses and strenghts of both our minions and our opponents.
Depending on the level of difficulty chosen by the player, the game will become more and more difficult (duh). As with its “father game”, getting too attached to our minions is a mistake—They will drop like flies, leaving behind (with any luck) only a couple of the body parts/gear that made them look all-powerful and even made you name them (yes, we may name our minions if we wish so, and yes, it is as pointless as naming a goldfish).
Dark but not as dark as that other dungeon—Opinion rhymes with minion.
So, long story short, Iratus: Lord of the Dead is, undeniably, a clear heir of Darkest Dungeon. There is, in this minion’s opinion, only one noticeable difference—Yes, Iratus is a difficult game, but it never feels remotely as difficult as Darkest Dungeon, which can be, way too often, pretty overwhelming (it’s still a great game though, of course).
Therefore, dear follower, if you enjoy Darkest Dungeon but feel that it can be a little too much, you may find in Iratus: Lord of the Dead a very similar, yet less punishing option. One that we definitely recommend you from the Skunk Tower.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more interior design ideas and irrational hatred of elevators. Also for more reviews of the most amazing indie games.
Hail the Indie Skunk!