In Dracula: Dark Reign, developed and published by Incube8 Games, players are dropped into a world built around the lore of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel. The game is an officially licensed Stokerverse title, and Dracula: Dark Reign does a great job of capturing the look and feel of what the novel describes. We spent roughly five hours with the demo, and here’s what we think.
In Dracula: Dark Reign, players take on the role of Johnathan Harker, our protagonist who is trapped in the clutches of Dracula’s castle. Johnathan must make his way through the pixelated world of Dracula battling a multitude of enemies which include skeletons, bats, and other enemies. The controls work like any other side-scroller built for Game Boy Color, which made us feel right at home.
The music brings back memories of classic Castlevania titles. We found ourselves getting lost in the experience as the music, coupled with the gameplay and presentation had us immersed the entire time. While the demo is approx. 10 minutes long, we played it over and over and never lost interest.
Dracula: Dark Reign is a more than faithful throwback to the days of classic 8-bit gaming. In our opinion, Game Boy Color is the perfect platform for a title like this, since the game looks and feels like it would have been released during Game Boy Color’s lifetime.
If you’ve got that appetite for retro games, Dracula: Dark Reign, which feels like a labor of love from Incube8 Games, will definitely leave you full.
Dracula: Dark Reign will be released in 2024. Players who would like to try out the demo for themselves can get it here.
Trailer below:
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