For the longest time growing up I had an unconscious bias against European games. Long before I would learn where certain developers were based I learned to associate janky games with certain companies. These were the titles that may have had a few great ideas but their execution left something to be desired. Rare, the Bitmap Brothers, and especially Ocean software were guilty of this. The term Euro jank was coined for a reason. If you were an early Genesis owner you learned to stay the hell away from the obvious Amiga ports. Back in the day for every Cobra Triangle you wound up with countless flawed titles like Darkman, Sword of Sodan, and Turrican. Castelian falls in that second category. This borderline brilliant is almost completely ruined by its control scheme. If you can look past that an incredibly creative and technically brilliant game awaits.
Castelian big claim to fame is its shifting tower. As you move the tower rotates around you allowing you to explore every side. It is an extremely cool effect, one that is still rarely seen even today. It’s pretty taxing on the hardware too as any time there are more than two enemies on screen the game chugs. The only downside other downside is the extremely limited color palette; at max there are six colors at once and it can look gaudy at times. It’s a worthy sacrifice for all the effect brings to the game.
At its core Castelian is simple. As the frog like Pogo you must reach the exit at the top of each tower. It sounds simple but is made complicated by a number of factors. There are elevators, floating enemies, disappearing blocks and the odd layout of each tower themselves. While each tower may look unassuming at first rarely is the path upward ever so simple. The way the game uses its few mechanics in different, creative ways is pretty clever at times. The game does a lot with very little.
Sadly though you’ll have a hard time enjoying it. The controls are the game’s biggest problem. The control setup is, to put it lightly, dumb. Castelian only uses the one button; the B button does nothing. Pogo has a pellet for protection, used by pressing A. To jump you must press in a direction plus the A button. At first I thought you couldn’t even jump. Jumping itself has a number of problems. You have to be very precise when jumping; catch the edge of a platform and you’ll fall instead. Prepare to have this happen often. In fact you need to be particular about all of your actions. Pogo is slow to react and can’t turn on a dime. The game requires the precision of Prince of Persia but lacks that game’s polish unfortunately.
As such the controls turn an already challenging game into a nightmare. Most of your deaths will come from frustrations in dealing with the controls. Whether its Pogo’s slow movement or repeatedly slipping off platforms, it’s terrible. At least the game seems to realize how hard it is on players. In between levels you enter a bonus stage to collect gems to earn extra lives. And boy do you need them. Castelian really seems as though it could have used a second pass to smooth out its rough edges. I get that your every movement is supposed to be deliberate however the sloppiness of the controls is really unforgivable.
Yet somehow in spite of all of its faults I still found Castelian compelling. The level design truly is amazing at times. The cylindrical nature of the tower allows the designers to arrange platforms in ways that are easy to see but hard to reach. Puzzling out the exact order to crush blocks and warp to the other side is fascinating and overall fun. Once you’ve finally managed to reach the top of a once seemingly impossible tower it is incredibly satisfying. The best way I can describe it is this; when everything is actually working the game is a blast. When it is not it is dreadful.
Castelian is brilliant yet incredibly frustrating. Despite its myriad flaws I still like it. However that doesn’t mean I could recommend it to anyone in good faith. You would have to accept a lot of jank to appreciate its good points. Spend that time with a better game.
