#403: odallus: the dark call
castlevania meets demon’s crest meets berserk, with a faint taste of haggis
odallus: the dark call (2015, PC/PS4/XBO/NS, joymasher): dark fantasy and fantasy horror have a long history in video games. games like bloodborne and shadow of mordor are the obvious modern examples, whereas ghosts n’ goblins and castlevania are the forerunners of the genre. of these latter, there’s been any number of imitators, though not all of them made it to the west. castlevania, in particular, is so ludicrously popular that games inspired by the series have been popping up for years. even shovel knight takes clear influence in its graveyard level.
castlevania is also partly responsible for the “metroidvania” genre, a series of free-roaming platformer focusing on exploration and ability-gating over raw skill. the genre has exploded in recent years, with titles like hollow knight and sundered, and even castlevania got an “official” spiritual sequel in bloodstained: ritual of the night.
but what about the old castlevania games? weren’t those more straightforward action games? they sure were, and some people still remember that era fondly. with games like bloodstained: curse of the moon and slain! the old-school horror fantasy platformer doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.
which brings us to odallus: the dark call. brought to you by brazilian team joymasher, odallus is a dark fantasy action platformer that pays loving tribute to the NES era, when games were tough and gamers were tougher. we open with an introduction to a former mercenary named haggis (sure, okay) who regularly hunts in the woods near his village. one day, while he’s out hunting, he gets a bad feeling and returns to the village, only to find it in flames, and his young son missing. over the course of the game he’ll hack and slash his way across a variety of environments, finally ascending to the twisted castle that his child is being held captive in.
the gameplay is very much in the vein of castlevania — you can move about, jump, duck, and hit things. subweapons make an appearance in the form of three weapons that you can carry limited stacks of, and you can carry all three and switch them as needed. the axe flies in a straight line, bouncing back a bit when it hits something (so you can hit an enemy near a wall twice.) the torch behaves similar to the holy water from castlevania, and can melt blocks of ice. the spear behaves somewhat like castlevania’s version of the axe, flying in an arc, but it’s precise, wide travel path requires some finesse to use properly.
what really sets this game apart from the likes of, say, castlevania III is the exploration element. each level is huge and allows for a lot of poking around in nooks and crannies, and there’s a lot of places you won’t be able to reach until you find the appropriate relic, such as a pair of winged boots that let you double-jump. the disconnected nature of the levels, with multiple extra levels you have to find, calls to mind nothing so much as demon’s crest, that venerable ghosts ‘n goblins spinoff starring everyone’s favorite red devil in what’s one of the darkest games on the SNES.
and don’t be fooled, this is not an easy game. while it’s easier than, say, ghosts ‘n goblins by most measures, you’ll still find yourself dying on the regular. but no object is insurmountable; even the final boss can be cheesed with the right equipment. but if you really want a challenge, start the game in veteran mode and prepare to cry blood.
aesthetically — well, what can i say? it’s very much a castlevania clone with a slight scottish flavor (highlander jokes abound in the achievements!) it’s a shockingly grim-looking game, making good use of muddy colors and highly detailed backgrounds to create a gloomy, depressing atmosphere, populated with monsters that look like they stepped right out of the pages of berserk. the sound effects are crunchy and satisfying, and all of it is accompanied to a score that trades the bombast of your average classic castlevania for something moodier, like a NES-ified take on the demon’s crest soundtrack.
the game is not without its flaws, however. while joymasher has squashed most of the balance issues plaguing the game, the game still managed to crash a couple of times for me, and the very first time i loaded the game, the video froze, with audio playing over a black screen. the writing, too, suffers from an awkward, error-prone english translation (though that’s at least in line with the game’s forefathers.)
still, though, this is an unsung great, an almost-completely-forgotten retro classic that somehow got lost in the shuffle of the likes of shovel knight.
