Hands-on with Deep Down on PS4: Capcom's Ambitious Dungeon Crawling Game

Hands-on with Deep Down on Playstation 4: Capcom's Ambitious Dungeon Crawling Game

By Maya Mayfield
25th September 2013

At this years Tokyo game show event, Fred Dutton from Playstation Blog, struggled to find a stand-out never before seen game to shout out about. All though games like Driveclub, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Resogun were on display, these were all titles we have seen at recent gameshow events at Gamescom 2013 and E3 2013.
Fred did mention a few exceptions, one being Yakuza Ishin from Sega, Soul Sacrifice on the PS Vita, and Capcom's PS4 exclusive dungeon crawler, Deep Down.

In Deep Down you suit up as an armour-clad knight armed with a lance.  You are sent off to explore a terrifying dimly-lit dungeon, filled with ghastly creatures lurking in the shadows, ready to make you tonights main course meal.
All though the game does have a Dark Souls-esq type of look and feel,  "Capcom's Deep Down game does have some very uniquely interesting features  that will set it apart, said Fred.

The first thing to know is that Deep Down is set only in dungeons, and procedurally generated,
this means you will never explore the same dungeon
 twice.

Secondly while the world of Deep Down may appear to have been created in medieval era. Gamers will be surprised to know that it is actually set in the not so distant future of New York in the year 2094.
And thirdly Deep Down will be a free-to-play title according to Capcom's Yoshinori Ono.

The Tokyo Game show demo was brief, but gave enough of a look and feel  of just how Capcom's Deep Down gaming system operates.  Your knight appears in a small claustrophobic corridor, lit only by flickering torches hanging on the wall. Your mission is to find your way to the exit, and of course avoid being devoured along the way. Gamers will have a few obstacles like turrets that shoot out streams of fire and Ogres hunting the dungeons in search of brunch.

When gamers click the Dualshock 4's touch pad, a map of the dungeon is brought up, but this unfortunately gives no clues as to where your enemies lay in wait, so gamers must use precaution peering round corners as they slowly forge their way ahead the creepy dim-lit dungeon.

When you are eventually confronted with a monster, the combat system feels,  "weighty and straight forward," says Fred. "One shoulder button helps to steady and aim your spear while the other button thrusts it forward. Gamers also have special attack moves as well as the ability to dodge enemy counter attacks.

Gamers at first may want to turn and run when confronted with a monstrous meat bag, but with the randomise gameplay, you really don't know what else could have spawned in another dungeon behind you, so its always better to stay and deal with the monsters immediately in your way than having to confront several more at the same time. (Sounds frightful) Once enemies are dealt with using your lance. A collection of loot and power ups appear for you to collect.

From the gameplay we witnessed, and from Fred Duttons hands-on feedback, we are very intrigued to know more

How is this medieval looking game based in New Yorks future? How will the free-to-play feature work?

For now all we are left with is questions, we are sure will be answered in due course.


What do you think of Deep Down's demo gameplay? Let us know with comments.

Source: Playstation blog