Volume 14: Labyrinth.OS
I’ve played a lot of DRPGs, and most of the obvious ones. But rather than filling in the ones I haven’t gotten to yet, I love seeing brand new ones pop up. I think it has a lot to do with seeing how people pull from the well of old knowledge and what they add on top now that the rules are long-written and the book is kind of collecting dust. Nowadays you have all kinds of different takes on friction, party-building, aesthetics, mapping, and more, rather than simply iterating on Wizardry over and over. The best part of hyperfixating on such a niche genre space is, simply, how everyone involved are sickos. Case in point: today’s game is so deep in the sauce you can only buy it on itch, it was developed in RPG Maker XP, and you have to install multiple font packages before it can run. Labyrinth.OS is awesome.
Developed by Data Erase, who seems to have mostly been a “glitch artist” before making this game, Labyrinth.OS is kind of like a Shin Megami Tensei game, but it’s far more interested in the digital and strange and dungeon-crawling than anything else SMT is known for. It’s not even really accurate to call it “cyberpunk;” it’s more like a cybernetical horror adventure set in a dungeon, inspired by things like Greek mythology and Alice in Wonderland, 90s anime OVA tapes, and gothic psychosexuality by way of bondage, sharp objects, and doll joints. It’s a whole kaleidoscope of dark, 2000s Internet Being, and with only a few hours of play so far I’ve barely scratched the surface. I get stuck on puzzles in these games sometimes, and without any walkthroughs to fall back on, I had to cut bait and start writing before I could get further. Shit’s pretty sick, though, is the long and short of it. Strange, spooky, cryptic as hell, and kind of sexy depending on who’s playing.
After an introduction that’s got all the greatest hits of gothic literature, white rabbits, creepy demons, body horror, hints of strange motifs to come, you get to create an Automaton, a doll-like embodiment of your internal self who is tasked with becoming a new Hollow Minotaur for the Labyrinth, a mysterious space under watch of the Eye of Abraxas. You are compelled to seek the center of the Labyrinth, and boy howdy do you have some characters to meet along the way. There’s a lot of terminology to encounter, digest, and hopefully internalize. Or you can just kind of let it wash over you and see what happens. I’m somewhere in the middle, trying to keep track of all the metaphors and literary references, some more obvious than others. It’s a fun time, especially since everyone either has horns, abstract geometry, or other mystical objects on their heads. It’s a whole Stuff on Your Head party in this maze, as you’ll discover the deeper you go.
You make your Automaton by answering a series of questions, many of which make no sense in the external reality outside of the software. You get a specific kind of Automaton, and you’re locked in unless you want to restart and go through it all again. I’ve seen two variants so far, and they had wildly different skills available to them. You emerge in the labyrinth, and it won’t be long before you encounter strange enemies that quickly beat you to death. You end up back with the entities who you started with, and they tell you there’s no easy escape. You’re stuck here, no matter how many times your body is mangled. But you can trade some Memory for new Dolls, which let you build a Wizardry-like party to help you out. The classes are fun, with things like Lolita Knight, Bondage Paladin, Psychic Detective instead of the usual Warrior, Mage, and Thief. They more or less serve similar purposes, albeit with some more creative and obtuse skills than you may expect. For example, finding a normal healing skill was something I needed an item for outside the creation system. My favorite is the Bio Warrior, a sort of Genocyber-meets-Kamen Rider type of character that’s more or less a Monk, but one that beats monsters to death with the power of its own tortured existence. And its bare hands. Or a hammer, if you want.
Progression is fairly simple. You level up, spend some points on stats, and get some skill points to spend on abilities. There’s more advanced stuff I haven’t come across yet, but your bigger concern early on is surviving and navigating the mazes. For a game made in an ancient version of RPG Maker, the visuals and first-person dungeon-crawling look amazing and feel solid in motion. Controller support is kind of a funky dance, but luckily a DRPG doesn’t require much precision or dexterity anyway. The soundtrack is incredible, a kind of fusion of the laid-back, synthy grooves of Yuzo Koshiro’s Etrian Odyssey soundtracks with a more sinister, electronic mystery kind of vibe, like an early SMT game with a little less chaotic energy. There’s so much unreality to the whole package, it’s novel to just soak in your surroundings and revel in the creativity of it all. This world is clearly uncomfortable to exist in, but it’s a blast to explore.
Listen. Sometimes you have to venture outside of your Steam and console safe spaces if you want to try some Real Shit. Find the weirdos out there on social media making games that deliberately rely on old or obtuse technology. Download some fuckin’ emulators, or virtual game consoles, or prepare yourself to tinker with a severely outdated version of RPG Maker. At the bare minimum, get an itch account. If you’re willing to put that time in, the reward is a game like Labyrinth.OS, something that kind of invokes other things, but is so much of a distinct offering you’ll feel like you’ve never played anything like it, even if you think you’re the ultimate Ball-Knower because you know what Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei is. Do yourself the favor.
Until next time, dungeon delvers.
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