Cladun returns is a retro dungeon crawler RPG game. It is also Japanese themed with rituals and much symbolism of the afterlife.

This is a game for the RPG purists. It is a true RPG game.

The story

In this game, you are a soul trapped in a place called Arcanus Cella. Together with other souls from Japanese feudal lords you try to get out and re-enter the reincarnation cycle. To do this you need to complete several dungeons.

The game

This game is the third installment of the Cladun series.

First off this game is highly customizable. You start off with creating your own character. But afterwards, you can draw certain things yourself. Do you want a cape that resembles the triforce? You can! Do you want a mustache that looks like a train? Draw it yourself! This is something I find amazing in this game. You can even customize your sword.

So Cladun returns is a very retro game. In the beginning, you can choose between retro music and more modern. If you choose the retro one you get an 8bit experience. Much like the arcades or the old gray Game Boy all of us used to play.

The game goes very deep into the RPG elements. It reminds me of Dark Souls and Dragon Quest, which of course means it is a proper RPG game. At the character creation, you can choose your class like Samurai or Merchant. Don’t think it is a turn based game though. It is an action based RPG.

Apparently, the game is historically correct at times. Certain characters have importance in real life Japanese history. These are spirits that give you a quest and after two lines they are gone as well. So maybe the devs have not explored this aspect enough.

You also have a “magic circle”. This is somewhat like the character development system in the Witcher 3. You have 1 lord and around this lord are several vessels. This is like an invisible party. Together with your vessels you are protected and have several other traits you could add.

Now the things I find bad about the game.

First off it is very unclear. At some moments I had no idea what to do or what the objective is. Outside the dungeons, there is no HUD and no map.

The story is simple and to be honest I think a strong story element in missing. Also when I saved my game it would not save. Maybe it is something I haven’t seen though.

Opinion

I would recommend it though. It is not really my kind of game but I surely understand you can have a blast with this game!

7/10