Soon to be released in Early Access, Monomyth is an upcoming first-person dungeon-crawler from one-man developer Rat Tower Software, with a demo available now on Steam. Inspired by Arx Fatalis, Thief, and FromSoftware’s King’s Field series, Monomyth tasks players with delving deep into a sprawling underground dungeon to fight monsters, discover secrets, and unravel the mystery of a lost expedition. Though far from the first game to attempt to carry King’s Field’s torch, Monomyth might strike a particular chord with fans of classic FromSoft.
Successfully raising over $40,000 on Kickstarter in 2021, Monomyth promised many things: classic first-person dungeon-crawling inspired by the Ultima and King’s Field games, open-ended systems-based immersive-sim gameplay inspired by Deus Ex and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, stealth options reminiscent of the Thief games, and atmospheric, moody environments inspired by Dark Souls and old anime OVAs like Angel’s Egg. While living up to such a heady mix of influences seems like an impossible task, Monomyth appears to be following through on its promises.
Monomyth
isn’t the first indie game to take direct inspiration from FromSoft’s first-person dungeon-crawlers. 2023’s
Lunacid
is a notable recent attempt at faithfully recreating the atmosphere and gameplay of classic FromSoft games—even including framerate settings which allowed players to replicate specific framerates from the PS1 and PS2
King’s Field
and
Shadow Tower
games
.
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Monomyth Samples a Wide Variety of RPG Sources
With varied gameplay systems and a wildly uneven tone, Monomyth oscillates between its many inspirations on a moment to moment basis. Underground catacombs filled with glowing blue crystals and draugr-like enemies can often make Monomyth feel more Elder Scrolls than Elden Ring. At other times, ruined churches and desolated ancient battlefields make the game feel distinctly FromSoft—with areas inspired by Sen’s Fortress reinforcing this even further. Occasionally, the game shifts gears entirely, abandoning atmospheric dungeon-crawling in favor of wide-open combat arenas. At other times, in sequences reminiscent of Frictional’s Amnesia games, players are tasked with sneaking around high-level enemies while solving puzzles and finding secret passageways.
While there is something to be said for consistency, Monomyth’s tonal and gameplay variety makes for an almost hypnotic experience. No loop outstays its welcome before throwing the player into something completely new, and each sequence pushes the player deeper into the game’s tangled, disorienting web of tunnels. Within Monomyth’s bewildering monster- and puzzle-filled catacombs, players are gradually introduced to the game’s ever-stranger cast of NPCs, such as a talking rat who sells out his comrades and gives up his stash of treasure to avoid being killed by the player. If there’s anything Monomyth does that makes it a worthy heir to the King’s Field franchise, it’s making the player feel completely lost in a hostile, mysterious, and vaguely surreal fantasy world.
Monomyth Still Has Room to Grow
While Monomyth is a strong artistic achievement, the current build of the game is plagued by small technical errors that damage the overall experience. The lack of controller support is a particularly notable issue, as are frame-hitching and graphical glitches that tend to spoil the game’s otherwise impressive atmosphere.
Enemy and weapon variety are also lacking. The majority of the game revolves around battling draugr-like zombie soldiers, rats, and slimes. While these enemies are all staples of the dungeon-crawler genre, the lack of creative enemy designs makes the game’s world feel more generic than it should. Thankfully, both of these issues are relatively minor, and will likely be solved with future updates.
Monomyth Is More Than Just a King’s Field Clone
Monomyth is a truly weird experience. Rather than a direct spiritual successor to King’s Field, the game takes inspiration from FromSoft’s classic dungeon-crawlers to craft something entirely new. While it still needs some polish, Monomyth’s has made great strides in atmosphere, ambition, and gameplay variety even before early access. Featuring a vast world to explore, mysteries to unravel, and complex systems-based gameplay, the demo for Monomyth is well worth checking out for fans of dungeon-crawlers, classic PS1 FromSoft, and melee-focused immersive-sims.