The PlayStation 5 released just a handful of weeks ago, and we can look forward to a tremendous first year for the console. But let’s not worry about Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. A PS1 game entitled Magic Castle has just released after more than 20 years in the dark. Yes, that’s right: a game developed for the original PlayStation arrived at the end of 2020.
Back in the late 90s, a small group of Japanese designers prototyped Magic Castle, developed using a Net Yaroze. After spending months building the game, it was pitched to many major publishers, including Sony, but the project ultimately didn’t go anywhere. Two decades down the line, one of the designers, who goes by PIROWO, found the source code for the unfinished title. After some work to complete what had been made all those years ago, Magic Castle is now freely available for download.
The game is a roguelike dungeon crawler. After choosing one of four unique characters, you work your way through 20 randomly generated floors of the titular castle as you work to face the big boss at the end. You slay monsters, find items and gear, and explore ever-changing dungeons with each run. It’s a recipe that’s very familiar these days, but in 1998, it was a far more innovative concept. No matter what the game is like, it’s a neat story. We have to wonder how many other half-finished PS1 titles are waiting on someone’s computer.
At the top of this article, you can watch a video going through most of the game’s content. If you’d like to try and play it yourself, you can download the game through here.
