Review | Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth

A short review

Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is a 2021 action role-playing game similar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It is based on Ryo Mizuno's Record of Lodoss War series, taking place before the events of The Crown of the Covenant. The game is developed by Team Ladybug and co-published by Playism and Why So Serious for Microsoft Windows. Versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S were also released.

It's a rather short but sweet game – it lasts around 10 hours if you aim for 100%, but the lack of constant backtracking keeps it fun.

So, you wanted to play as an elf? Think no more and play.

Story and the characters

The player controls the high elf Deedlit through a strange labyrinth filled with her past and weird flashbacks. You are the one to unravel the mystery and survive the journey. The whole game feels like a dream, with shallow narrative and short story bits. They serve their purpose, but don't expect something mind-blowing.

It's more about reaching the end and overcoming challenges on your way. I just love this formula, and having no or shallow stories is no problem, but I will take it into consideration. The rest of the crew are basically characters from Deedlit's past, and I can't think of anything important or fun to say about them.

The controls are a bit weird at first, especially the bow and arrow shooting direction.

Game design, exploration

You've guessed it – you explore, kill, collect. You need to collect different powers to reach all parts of the map. The game doesn't have a lot of hidden walls and secrets, but some were really cool (like jumping 50 times on the floor to lower it).

I love how the game is short, so collecting double jump and certain powers comes fast. There are no padding issues because of it, so I had my share of fun getting a grasp of all mechanics. The worst is the bow; the aim is a bit stiff, and tilting analog felt hard, plus the direction resets after you wait a bit after shooting an arrow. I love the wind/fire power change though, as it makes you change your main attributes in real time.

As said, having to think when to shift your powers was a lot of fun. You need to observe enemy and boss attacks and change to fire to soak up fire damage. The wind spirit also hovers, so thinking outside the box is welcome.

Another cool perk here is having levels as you defeat enemies and weapons to collect either by buying them, collecting on the map, or as enemy drops. There is just something cool about it. Also, they all behave a bit differently in terms of speed and reach. I love that.

The boss fights are cool, nothing special. Most of the game is easy, while some fights tend to be a bit frustrating. Nothing really bad in this segment.

The elemental boss fight is the first real test of your spirit-change mechanics and how to use them properly.

Combat

As mentioned above, combat feels good. Overall, it's a bit stiff as you only attack diagonally and up, down, left, right. It can feel a bit archaic, but after some time you get used to it.

The biggest problem is the constant fallback when you take damage, which made the experience a bit frustrating. I also had issues with button mapping. If you need to float and attack at the same time, or even use your bow when you're in the middle of the action, that just doesn't work well.

I also had some issues with trying to figure out where the margins are when I take damage in some bigger boss fights, but other than that, I had my share of fun by simply using magic and collecting plus using different weapons.

If you want, there is a boss rush after beating the game, but it's quite easy at that point as you get to transfer your whole game progress.

Of course there are dragons. Why shouldn't there be?

Side Content

Side content narrows down to revealing secret rooms, passing through colored key rooms, or collecting swords and bows. There is not much else, maybe a gambling den where you can easily earn a lot of money.

Everything else is just trying to figure out where to go and maybe how to get that 100% of the map. I don't really mind the simplicity; it made everything quick and enjoyable (for the most part).

Some enemy drops can be a bit tedious. And of course, the worst trophy for collecting all weapons is bugged – just sell some early weapon like Imp Spear and recollect it.

Conclusion

If you want a short game that reminisces a lot of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, this is really similar. I can't say there is much to say apart from that, but to me, games as such tend to give just enough to enjoy the weekend. If you're looking for something complicated, longer, and maybe more modern – this game is completely opposite of that.