Dark Scrolls is an auto scrolling, horizontal shoot ’em up roguelike that feels like it’s trying to be several different things at once. On paper, that’s an odd combination of genres, but developer Doinksoft has taken on the challenge of throwing them all into one melting pot. The result is certainly unique, but is it actually worth your time? Let’s find out, shall we?

Dark Scrolls is pretty light on story. It’s a traditional fantasy tale where your band of playable heroes is tasked with stopping the evil plaguing the land. Dialogue is few and far between, and despite the similar name, you won’t be digging through pages of lore hidden in weapons and item descriptions. For better or worse, this game is unapologetically 8-bit in its design philosophy: less talking, more action.

After choosing one of three playable heroes, you’re thrown headfirst into your first stage with very little explanation of what you’re actually supposed to do. Dark Scrolls is the kind of game that expects you to learn by doing rather than by reading tutorial popups. Once again, that’s very much in keeping with its old school roots. There are no lengthy tutorials or hand holding here. Before long, you’ll be dodging fireballs, mowing down wave after wave of demons, and slowly figuring everything out as you go.

The three playable heroes all bring something different to the table. There’s a warrior who hurls axes, a mage capable of filling the screen with magical bubbles, and a thief who pelts enemies with a barrage of knives while also being able to turn invisible for a few precious seconds, making it much easier to escape particularly hairy situations.

One mechanic that perfectly demonstrates Dark Scrolls’ “learn by doing” approach is its Star system. During a run, you’ll occasionally encounter a merchant who can upgrade your main attack, along with a handful of other abilities. Those upgrades can then be assigned to one of five Stars. At first, it isn’t immediately obvious why this matters, but you’ll soon discover that Stars charge up surprisingly quickly and also serve as your screen clearing bomb. Since you begin each run with all five Stars available, it’s tempting to assign your strongest upgrades to the fifth one. However, Dark Scrolls loves throwing curveballs your way, so that’s not always the smartest long term strategy.

Despite being primarily a shoot ’em up, Dark Scrolls actually controls more like a platformer when it comes to movement. You’re constantly dealing with gravity, inertia, and environmental hazards while leaping around enemy projectiles and trying to reach the treasure chests scattered throughout each stage. It gives the game a distinct feel that helps it stand out from more traditional shooters.

As you’d expect from a roguelike, the levels feature a degree of random generation, although I did notice the same sections cropping up fairly often. There are also multiple currencies to keep track of. Coins are used to buy temporary perks and upgrades during a run, while Diamonds unlock permanent additions such as new heroes, emotes, and extra options in the mid stage shop. Unfortunately, Diamonds accumulate at a painfully slow pace. Even after a successful run, you’ll usually walk away with only a handful, which is great for encouraging replayability but far less enjoyable if you’re eager to unlock the rest of the game’s roster.

The stages are connected by a charming world map that gives you a glimpse of the area you’ll be venturing into next. While each biome remains the same from run to run, their layouts are constantly shuffled around. You can also trigger certain events that send you down entirely different routes, leading to stages you may not have seen before. In fact, reaching the true ending and final boss requires you to find the titular Dark Scrolls before you can descend into that particular ring of Hell. It’s another clever way of encouraging replayability, as the branching paths keep you on your toes and force you to think carefully about how you build your hero for the challenges ahead.

Visually, I adore Dark Scrolls. Its art direction makes fantastic use of the limitations of the NES and Game Boy Color era, and I’m an absolute sucker for detailed sprite work. The stages themselves are a little less memorable, largely because of the procedural generation. As a result, they lack some of the handcrafted consistency found in Doinksoft’s previous title, Demon Throttle, a game I personally hold in very high regard.

The action is wonderfully hectic, but thankfully Doinksoft has done an excellent job of making sure you can always tell what needs to be dodged and what needs to be destroyed. Rarely, if ever, do enemy projectiles blend into the background or disappear amongst the chaos, something that’s absolutely essential for a shoot ’em up. When you’re weaving through a screen full of bullets, readability is everything, and Dark Scrolls gets it right.

The soundtrack is exactly what you’d hope for, packed with catchy chiptunes and an endless barrage of satisfying sound effects that perfectly capture the spirit of the 8 bit era. Ironically, that era was itself trying to recreate the atmosphere of arcade cabinets, where developers wanted their games to be louder, flashier, and better sounding than everything around them in the hope of luring over another handful of coins.

I really enjoyed my time with Dark Scrolls. If I’m being honest, dear reader, it took a few runs before everything finally clicked, but once it did, I could really see what Doinksoft was going for. In fact, I ended up finding it noticeably easier than Demon Throttle. It’s still a fairly niche game, though, one aimed squarely at players who love the NES era of gaming, and don’t mind a healthy dose of roguelike progression. If that sounds like your kind of thing, the variety between runs does a great job of keeping you coming back for more.