Project Druid - 2D Labyrinth Explorer-

I wanted to find something to defend here. I really did. Project Druid is a solo-developed top-down maze shooter clearly built as a loving nod to the 1986 Commodore 64 game Druid, and on paper that kind of retrograde ambition deserves at least a moment of generosity. The concept is stripped bare in the best old-school tradition: move through six large labyrinthine levels, hunt down keys hidden in crates, find the exit, and survive long enough to reach it. WASD moves your druid, the mouse aims and fires. Bosses and ghost-type enemies populate the corridors. That's the whole thing. The problem is that almost none of it functions reliably. Your character collides with wall geometry in ways that feel random, occasionally locking you inside a surface with no recourse but a full restart. Enemy ghosts respawn almost instantly after being shot, which makes clearing a corridor feel futile rather than rewarding. Movement is so sluggish that navigating the large maps becomes a test of patience rather than spatial skill, and enemies can spawn directly on top of your character, creating instant deaths that have nothing to do with player error. There is no onboarding, no control reminder on screen, and no checkpoint system to soften the blow of getting geometry-trapped twenty minutes into a level. The audiovisual side doesn't rescue things. The music loops are generic and repetitive in a way that stops feeling retro-charming within minutes, and the sprite work, while serviceable in isolation, lacks the kind of hand-crafted personality that makes low-resolution art sing. The C64 game this is modelled on had tighter collision, more weapon variety, and a functional game loop. Comparing the two is not flattering to the 2015 version. The developer built this in Game Maker Studio over two years, and that sincerity is worth acknowledging, but sincerity of effort does not automatically translate into a playable experience. Who is this for? Honestly, it is hard to say with confidence. Retro maze enthusiasts who can tolerate jank as a feature rather than a bug might squeeze brief novelty out of the six levels. Steam achievement hunters will find nothing here either, as there are no achievements. At its price point the risk is low, but even a short session is likely to end in frustration rather than the quiet, old-school satisfaction the game is reaching for. The original Druid on C64 is freely available on emulators and is simply a better expression of this exact idea.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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