Roguelike Mysterious Castle - iOS/Android/Web

[eclectocrat]

I've developed a tactics-roguelike called Mysterious Castle (https://mysterious-castle.com) which has been on iOS for almost 13 years! I just ported it to Android but late last year Google introduced regulations to require 20 beta testers for at least 2 weeks in order to publish on Google Play store. If you have an Android phone, please sign up for the BETA by sending me an email at mysteriouscastlegame@gmail.com or DM'ing me your email address. Users who help me test will get a promo code for the full game which retails for $10 (the promo code is linked to your email address and will expire before the full version comes out so please don't try and sell it).

Mysterious Castle is a rare party-based roguelike with an emphasis on turn-based, but very fast paced tactical combat. It does this by using a simple touch interface of context menus which provide a lot of tactical options for melee, ranged, and magical maneuvers. Battles can range from 2-10 minutes long and all occur on the same continuous world map of forests, caves, and dungeons that you explore. Battles tend to be brutally difficult, requiring precise positioning on the 2.5D isometric grid and careful tactical planning to win.

You can play it in your browser at https://mysterious-castle.com, but the game has always been designed as a touch-based experience and so I recommend playing on your phone (hence the Android BETA), where good portrait-mode games are somewhat rare.

All bug-reports, comments, and suggestions are very much appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the game!

 

[AdolfSatan]

I’ve been testing this game and just wanted to urge all of you nerds to play it, the dev isn’t lying when he says the combat can be difficult. This is a solid dungeon crawler where one needs to take care in approaching any section of unexplored map, you’ll often find yourself taking notes of places to come back later to avoid dangerous mobs.
A great game for short sessions over the course of the week, it’s very satisfying, probably the best mobile RPG out there.

 

[Sweeper]

>iOS
>Android
Have fun with your mobileslop.

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm gonna do the dev a solid and provide some screens so people know what it looks like. Party-based rogue-like, seems to be very combat focused.

Apparently this game has been around forever but I've never heard of it. Strange.

Like the dev said, you can play (for free?) in a browser.

 

[Aemar]

Digging the game and especially its art style a lot.

 

[Kabas]

Just gave it a try, this game is pretty solid and indeed difficult.
Went with what i assume a super vanilla party setup of Human, Dwarf, Halfling and Elf. Proved to be a pretty solid choice.
Love me trip and spin attack, not gonna lie. Also love the way weapons are designed here with each of them giving bonuses towards certain action like spears being good at charging and tripping enemies.
Elf doubles as an archer of sorts with most of his spells being utility. Quickening is great at getting your party members out of harms way, flash is useful against crowds with an added bonus of dealing damage against undead, bolts are okay and vision let's you spy behind closed doors. Noticed that there are tabs for second and third tier of spells but i didn't find any way to learn new spells.
Doesn't appear that you can level-up here either. The only way to get stronger is by finding better gear and consumable items.

I only have two gripes with this game. It's pretty annoying having to wait half a minute after every ten seconds of walking if there is a monster infighting happening nearby.

Another annoying thing is that your characters are unable enter the tile if there is a corpse on it. Can make crossing one tile wide corridors pretty much impossible.

Found a way to force my way through by ordering my dwarf to charge. The same thing didn't work out for the rest of the party tho.
Good thing that the treasure room has a backdoor from the river side. Would have been unreachable for me otherwise.

 

[AdolfSatan]

You actually have to click on the corpse, and then on the name of the corpse for your character to step on top of it, same for some tiles that are traversable but occupied by trees. I did mention to the dev that this isn’t intuitive and should be hinted at somewhere.

Haven’t found a way to learn spells either. I don’t have Quickening, but Flash is awesome, the only thing preventing me from abusing it is a limited supply of white shrooms.

BTW, I think the magic system in which preparing a spell takes a certain type of shroom is great, prevents spamming the same thing and abusing an all-mage party to blast everything to hell.

 

[Kabas]

You actually have to click on the corpse, and then on the name of the corpse for your character to step on top of it, same for some tiles that are traversable but occupied by trees. I did mention to the dev that this isn’t intuitive and should be hinted at somewhere.

Tried it but i didn't work in this particular instance. Have suspicion it was not because of the corpse but because tiles were placed diagonally.
Guess i encountered a bug.

 

[Kabas]

Haven’t found a way to learn spells either.

Found the way to learn new spells. My elf is now dabbling in some necromancy.

A bit expensive to cast tho.
Also found some skill tomes that can permamently improve your stats or abilities. My dwarf is now an absolute master of charging if equipped with the right weapon.
Later on i found Drain and Push spells amongst other goodies after clearing out what i assume was a bandit lair.

My party is currently strong enough to eat any orc squad for breakfast but i still would rather not be caught in the open by ogres or cyclops while traversing underdark.
Food that is used to restore your HP in between battles is getting more and more scarce as the game progresses.

 

[eclectocrat]

Dev here. Thanks for playing everyone!

You actually have to click on the corpse, and then on the name of the corpse for your character to step on top of it, same for some tiles that are traversable but occupied by trees. I did mention to the dev that this isn’t intuitive and should be hinted at somewhere.

Tried it but i didn't work in this particular instance. Have suspicion it was not because of the corpse but because tiles were placed diagonally.
Guess i encountered a bug.

Yeah, you can see through diagonals but can't move through them, you shouldn't be able to charge through them either, so that's a bug.

I only have two gripes with this game. It's pretty annoying having to wait half a minute after every ten seconds of walking if there is a monster infighting happening nearby.

I hope it doesn't happen too often, I'm trying to figure out a way to manage that a bit more smoothly.

Haven’t found a way to learn spells either. I don’t have Quickening, but Flash is awesome, the only thing preventing me from abusing it is a limited supply of white shrooms.

BTW, I think the magic system in which preparing a spell takes a certain type of shroom is great, prevents spamming the same thing and abusing an all-mage party to blast everything to hell.

Spells are learned through tomes, and the more powerful ones generally appear on lower dungeon levels, although you might get lucky and find a few early game (RNG gods, etc.).
Also, the 'retain' mechanic gets more important as you encounter more powerful enemies. Whenever you or an enemy casts a spell you roll a d100, if it's lower than the retain percentage, then you don't spend the spell from your memorized list and the retain percentage is decreased by the amount of mushrooms in the spell recipe, otherwise the retain percentage increases by the amount of mushrooms that were used. This creates a sort of reservoir or magical energy that lets you cast more spells as you get deeper into the game, and if you play it right you can plausibly run a two caster party.

A bunch of mobile specific usability patches are in the works to address some tester feedback, then the next update will be focusing on more game content. All suggestions and comments are very much appreciated!

 

[Kabas]

Also, the 'retain' mechanic gets more important as you encounter more powerful enemies. Whenever you or an enemy casts a spell you roll a d100, if it's lower than the retain percentage, then you don't spend the spell from your memorized list and the retain percentage is decreased by the amount of mushrooms in the spell recipe, otherwise the retain percentage increases by the amount of mushrooms that were used. This creates a sort of reservoir or magical energy that lets you cast more spells as you get deeper into the game, and if you play it right you can plausibly run a two caster party.

That's a nice thing to know.

After multiple failed attempts to break though the demon blocade i started retreading all the areas i already have cleared. Found one missed staircase.

The game indeed starts giving you a lot of spell and skill books the moment you start going deeper.
Skeleton hordes and Dark Elves are a lot more manageable compared to demons. Encountered a dark angel once but on it's lonesome it was barely a threat.
Rooms with spellcasting gazers who like to teleport Ettins near my squishies are tricky but nothing that my newfound spells like charm or golem can't handle.

Due to the rate at which i started getting new gear and tomes i assumed that i am near the end but apparently there is still more.
Reached another open underground area with earth elementals and some nasty rooms containing entire squads of skeleton magicians and vampires. Also a lot more angels.

I definitely can't handle these challenges yet. After a bit of snooping around found another staircase that leads up towards a more managable amount of skeleton mages and vampires.

Each vampire i encountered has some pretty good loot on him.
Also found that the flash spell has an extra effect on them. Not sure what it does exactly but vampires start casting a lot less spells on me after getting hit by it.

Demons became a lot more manageable after the sheer amount of upgrades i have received.

Unfortunately, i lost my human. No sure how i exactly, probably a imp spellcaster or demon lord got him with a push spell while another big guy performed a flurry on him all while he was out of sight of my other characters. Didn't notice that he was dead, can't find his corpse anywhere and it appears that the game autosaved my progress after i won.
I made him into a master dual wielder by giving him all of my flurry tomes and he was my only character who could slay an ancient vampire in a single round . Apart from halfling who after finding two rings of +7,8 sneak and loki's cloak with +16 sneak can constantly re-enter stealth and oneshot pretty much anything with his sneak attacks... But still!

Found a nice spell that should prove useful against that angel room but i am not sure if i can continue on without my human.
Is where no way to resurrect fallen party members?

 

[eclectocrat]

Unfortunately, i lost my human. No sure how i exactly, probably a imp spellcaster or demon lord got him with a push spell while another big guy performed a flurry on him all while he was out of sight of my other characters. Didn't notice that he was dead, can't find his corpse anywhere and it appears that the game autosaved my progress after i won.

In the next version of the game, you'll get a message everytime a party member dies, sorry.

Found a nice spell that should prove useful against that angel room but i am not sure if i can continue on without my human.
Is where no way to resurrect fallen party members?

Right now there is no way to resurrect party members, but I'm working on some ideas to allow a very limited amount of resurrection, so that it becomes plausible to do a permadeath run, but I don't want to make it too easy to resurrect, so I will be balancing it carefully.

Given your position in the game, I suspect you can find a way to kill the necromancer. Collect some more books and mushrooms and you'll be okay.

 

[d1nolore]

I’ve given it a bit of a play, it’s certainly not easy.

I keep dying and as such have noticed that the quit and resurrect buttons don’t seem to work. After trying to click them I seem to just gain control of the monsters that killed me, I’m guessing that’s not meant to happen?

Also can’t find a quit or new game option? So I have to close the app to start a new game

 

[d1nolore]

It could use a guide or wiki, I couldn’t see anything online though I didn’t look overly hard.

What’s the difference between races? Are there any restrictions on item use for races? What spells do what? What’s the use for the starting house?

 

[eclectocrat]

I’ve given it a bit of a play, it’s certainly not easy.

I keep dying and as such have noticed that the quit and resurrect buttons don’t seem to work. After trying to click them I seem to just gain control of the monsters that killed me, I’m guessing that’s not meant to happen?

Also can’t find a quit or new game option? So I have to close the app to start a new game

It could use a guide or wiki, I couldn’t see anything online though I didn’t look overly hard.

What’s the difference between races? Are there any restrictions on item use for races? What spells do what? What’s the use for the starting house?

Hi, I've patches the next version so the death screen makes more sense, it's definitely a bit buggy right now. Yes, to start a new game you have to quit and re-open the app.

There is a very work in progress players guide at https://www.mysterious-castle.com/players-guide that will be updated with info when I can spare a few hours to work on it.

In the meanwhile your best bet is to enable the help mode by tapping the '?' in the lower left corner and then tapping on a race to see it's info. I'd love to spend more time on the players guide or a WIKI, but am unable to do so at the moment.

 

[Deimos]

This looks like fun. I've been looking for a good roguelike to play on my phone when I don't have the PC or Steam Deck available. It'll be a day one purchase for me as soon as it's available in the play store.

 

[Deimos]

Bought. I look forward to learning and playing the game

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I’ve given it a bit of a play, it’s certainly not easy.

Yeah, and I'll admit, I'm not where near as hardcore as I once was when it comes to difficulty. It somewhat stems from getting murdered results in lost time, and I don't have a long time to sit down and play something. That's one thing that attracted me to this since it was Android. I can put it on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro and carry it around with me. Pull it out when I'm waiting on something, or it's raining, and play.

 

[eclectocrat]

Bought. I look forward to learning and playing the game

I’ve given it a bit of a play, it’s certainly not easy.

Yeah, and I'll admit, I'm not where near as hardcore as I once was when it comes to difficulty. It somewhat stems from getting murdered results in lost time, and I don't have a long time to sit down and play something. That's one thing that attracted me to this since it was Android. I can put it on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro and carry it around with me. Pull it out when I'm waiting on something, or it's raining, and play.

Thanks for playing, I hope you both have a good time!

You don't have to suffer very much when you die, as the game is not balanced for permadeath (unless you are a masochist), and it's expected you'll use the "reload before combat" button. You can definitely _try_ a permadeath run, but it's just too hard in my opinion. If you'd like to increase the challenge, I've beaten the game with only 3, 2, or even one character, and it's pretty hard but fair.

The next update I will begin adding some features to make permadeath runs more feasible, including _very_ limited resurrections, some ways to escape impossible battles, and eventually recruitable replacements for dead party members.

 

[lukaszek]

Mysterious Castle (https://mysterious-castle.com)

FYI that are 2 links, and as such doesnt open. Was scratching my head a bit whats going on there

 

[n0wh3r3]

When is this coming to PC?

 

[eclectocrat]

Mysterious Castle (https://mysterious-castle.com)

FYI that are 2 links, and as such doesnt open. Was scratching my head a bit whats going on there

Whoops, fixed. Thanks

When is this coming to PC?

You can already play on your PC. Just make sure to install it using your browsers "install" button. In Chrome it's at the right side of the address bar.

There are instructions at https://mysterious-castle.com/game

 

[eclectocrat]

Mysterious Castle 1.62 is out today on iOS and Android, the web version will be updated in the coming week.

• Added epic characters vampyr, demon, and angel for solo or duo runs.
• Trees hiding entrances to caves and groves can now be spotted.
• Elves and half-elves now get a bonus to spot.
• Fruit trees and bushes now visibly show whether they have fruit.
• Added scrolls of escape, to warp you away from battles.
• Made action point meters disappear for party members who are not the current actor.
• Upgraded status animation to be smoother and less obstructing.
• You can now cancel a non-combat move by tapping anywhere.
• Optimized path dragging to prevent slowdown.
• Fixed super low resolution on newest iPhones.
• Fixed bug where party leader could sneak in heavy armor.
• Removed buggy dismiss action.

https://mysterious-castle.com/

 

[AdolfSatan]

How does this fare with previous saves, is it compatible?

To any new players: The importance of a good rogue can’t be overstated. Sneaking behind enemy lines to steal their loot and walk away unscathed helps a lot in managing resources by avoiding unnecessary battles.

 

[eclectocrat]

How does this fare with previous saves, is it compatible?

To any new players: The importance of a good rogue can’t be overstated. Sneaking behind enemy lines to steal their loot and walk away unscathed helps a lot in managing resources by avoiding unnecessary battles.

Hey, I answered this post a few days ago but it didn't post for some reason... sorry for the delay.

It should be compatible, but as a hobbyist dev with limited resources it's always my biggest nightmare that I accidentally destroy a players run. If you are in the middle of a run, almost all the new features of this version only apply to newly created worlds/games, so I'd recommend finishing your current run.

I wholeheartedly agree with your advise. Game players tend to see something and want to kill it, but because of item-based progression in Mysterious Castle, it's often to your advantage to _avoid_ combat altogether. I shared your advise on our discord's tips channel https://discord.gg/Td6ChnTzUH