“... it's cold, it's dark, and it's deadly: the Deathtrap Dungeon. Built by a megalomaniac baron, the death labyrinth only lures the most daring into its depths. Because whoever survives this adventure will be rewarded with fabulous treasures ... "
What Is Deathtrap Dungeon?
First, it's deadly... hehe... ok. Sorry.
Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon is an action-adventure developed by Asylum Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in 1998 for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows.
In 38, sometimes huge, sections of the game, the player slaughters and assassins his way past 53 different monsters and opponents, either as the sexy heroine “Red Lotus” or as the warrior “Chain Dog”, on which 32 different weapons and spells can be tried out to your heart's content.
Ah, yes, the beautiful models of the late 90s
no questions asked...
The action takes place in Fang, the city of lost souls. The Baron Sukumvit ruled with brute force, and had a huge labyrith built, the passages and caves of which are populated with the meanest traps and the worst demons. As the final boss, the red dragon Melkor has to be defeated in order to receive 10,000 gold pieces and to free the city. After three days of celebrations, the adventure begins from the top of the tower.
Before that, you can still set sound settings and individual controller assignments in atmospheric menus. At given safety points (symbolized by floating skulls) you can save your progress, which you absolutely want to do!
The controls are quite complex, you have to practice somewhat. The spectrum ranges from activating objects, moving levers, switching to the first person perspective, jumping, climbing, walking / running, hitting, pushing, fending off, shooting and using magic.
Another innovative feature is the possibility of using a limited supply of chalk to mark places in the labyrith for better orientation.
All kinds of swords, war hammers, firearms and spells are used for fighting. Every opponent has their own special preferences. Of course there are lots of goodies scattered around that contribute to your own well-being.
The opponents are lovingly worked out. There is a multitude to be admired; Agrash, the necromancer demon; bomb-throwing chaos alchemists armed with rusty saws; various machines (kahlschläger, flame crawlers, iron pincers, dam rams, etc.); Blood monsters, hell clowns, death jugglers, necro-demons and warrior priestesses appear alongside demon witches, various dragons, hydras, various giant beings (hands, rats, scorpions, spiders, etc.), insects, goblins, medusa, minotaurs, orcs, rat people, serpent women, ghosts, zombies and skeletons a lively rendezvous. The whole thing is enriched with relatively nasty traps.
dead... as so often
Even the handbook was pretty nifty back then SOURCE
If you are interested in some retro souls like RPG you can get it for small money on gog.com
Jump into the macabre and diabolical labyrinth of the Deathtrap Dungeon. Fight for your life against a bewildering variety of villains and monsters, from fire-breathing dragons to insidious serpent women. Collect and master an arsenal of weapons, from swords and war hammers to blunderbusses and infernal gadgets.
And Today?
Back then, when I played this game as a kid, I was totally amazed by this game. The beautiful graphics (yeah, things were different back then), cool sound AND monsters.
And some half naked chick. Basically everything a boy at my age needed at that time.
Although... I died basically everywhere and very often. I did not have any internet at that time so I had to rely on some guides I found in gaming magazines.
Damn, that was a hard time as a gamer.
However, I always liked the approach of the game.
Slaying your way through a deadly labyrinth with weird monsters and traps was quite fun - besides the depressing moments that only a current Dark Souls can give you.
My team and I are currently finishing the work on our grand strategy game Feudal Kingdoms (which you can whishlist Here btw.)
But once this is done and we move into a more regular game related service (patches, fixes, updates...) I will going to start a proof of concept based on this old gem.
Basically a polished "Grind You Way Through A Deadly SciFi Dungeon"- version of Deathtrap Dungeon. And to make it look nice, we will use the Unreal Engine for that :)
Hope to get there soon, but first things first... Feudal Kingdom Release is approaching.