Wallachia: Reign of Dracula Game Sample - PC/Indie
61"Wallachia: Reign of Dracula" is brought to us by the fine folks over at "Migami Games" primarily ran by Mig Perez, the creator of "Castlevania: The Lecarde Chronicles 1 & 2" and is the studio's first commercial title. With unapologetically 90s graphics and gameplay, this is a game that is steadfastly developed by a major fan of 90s style action/adventure games for 90s-style action/adventure gaming enthusiasts. This isn't to imply that the game is bad by any means, but it does ignore most advances made within the genre, which I'll elaborate on later. With that being said however, it is a surprisingly polished blend of Castlevania and Contra, though it's a bit easier than either franchise for veterans of classic games.
In the year 1448, Prince Vlad Dracula temporarily lost power to the throne of Wallachia and was exiled from the land in disgrace. After manipulating those around him and using his power and influence to claw his way back into the country with the help of Hungarian support and his twisted wife, Yvonne Devores, he eventually regained control of Wallachia by 1456. The only clan that could stand in his way were a group of nobles known as the Boyars, and Vlad vowed to regain power through any means necessary and exterminate anyone who dared oppose him, leading to the extermination of most of the Boyars and the subjugation of nearly all of Wallachia over the next six years. However, one Boyar escaped his clutches and trained in secret over those six years in a desperate bid to take revenge and find answers: Elcin Floarea. She escaped Wallachia and trained with a German wiseman and alchemist, Christian Rosenkreuz, and with the help of her trusty wolf companion and allies sent her way by Mehmed the Second, she goes on a quest to rid Wallachia of evil. In the game, you play the role of Elcin Floarea, a skilled warrior and apprentice alchemist who has trained for years to find her brother and hunt down Vlad Dracula.
W:RoD is a pretty orthodox side-scrolling action game where players defeat enemies using Elcin's bow and arrows, her sword when enemies close in on her (which is stronger than her bow and can deflect projectiles with good timing) and with powerful support abilities from her allies (ranging from attacking enemies, increasing her power or gaining brief invincibility). Her support abilities come in two levels which consume orbs, and since orbs cap at 99, it's not necessary to hoard them for prolonged periods of time as the game is fairly generous with them. You'll also come across a variety of items that grant additional points, temporary upgrades to her abilities (that last a few seconds, until she's hit, etc.), keys to unlock chests or rescue prisoners, different types of arrow upgrades, HP upgrades and more. Elcin can also aim her bow in place, charge her bow to unleash a stronger attack, slide a short distance, and double jump. Her movements are a little stiff, but this doesn't impact the game much due to the way it's designed, though it's slightly jarring.
While the game features mini-games and extra content, it still maintains several old-school elements that the uninitiated may take offense to: there is no in-game saving (not that you'd need it really since it's fairly short at seven levels long), checkpoints aren't where you'd always expect them, there are obstacles and one-hit kill objects a-plenty, you have a finite amount of continues (and if you lose a continue, you have to start the whole stage over), you lose your HP upgrades and other goods when you die, there's no configurable graphics settings (you can change the size of the screen, but it stretches the display, and the default resolution is fairly low), and one could argue that it doesn't compare to the value you'd get from some of the more ambitious side-scrollers on Steam, but it's a perfectly fine first effort. It's got a great soundtrack with some decent voice acting (and Robert Belgrade returns again for some voice work), the game is still pretty fair in terms of the overall challenge and the game is fun while it lasts. If you liked side-scrolling titles for the SNES/MD/PS1/SAT/etc., then you'll probably like this one too.
This is a video of the game in action. You can get it at:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1189780/Wallachia_Reign_of_Dracula/
Enjoy.