'Labyrinth of the Demon King' Looks Like the 'King's Field' Successor ...

Have you ever seen a video game that makes you utter the words “Holy shit, I need that in my life right now”? While doing my daily doomscroll through the lands of X, I encountered a game I had yet to hear of — but now am infinitely passionate about. Labyrinth of the Demon King looks like a challenging, beautiful, and fitting way to carry on the torch that King’s Field left behind, and I need this in my life right now.

I’ve learned that I apparently have a masochistic side when it comes to gritty dungeon crawlers. That infatuation started with Dungeons of Blood and Dream. While the surreal and lucid visual stylings of that particular game may not be for everyone, the incredible difficulty and rewarding gameplay were more than enough to draw me in. Now, it looks like Labyrinth of the Demon King will target that other itch I have to scratch: nostalgia.

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They say not to judge a book by its cover, but I couldn’t help but immediately be drawn in by Labyrinth of the Demon King‘s lo-fi visuals and the PS1 dithering filter. It oozes an ethereal charm, and I can’t help but want to know more about this one. To be fair, there have been plenty of other first-person dungeon crawlers. But, something about the gritty and nasty nature of this one has my interest through the roof.

This appears to be the debut title for J. R. Hudepohl, and honestly? I can’t help but wish him nothing more than continued success. It’s been an immensely good year for debut games. And I know that Labyrinth of the Demon King has already shot up my most anticipated list for 2025. The style, the premise, literally the general vibe of this one is something I didn’t know I was craving. And I’m ready for it to dominate my life during the upcoming year. If FromSoftware won’t make a new King’s Field? We may just need to wait for this to turn into a franchise. I wholeheartedly anticipate the challenge it will hopefully bring forward.