Why are they still making FMV games in this year of our lord 2021? Because they’re awesome, that’s why. I still remember thinking how outrageous the price tag on a single play of Dragon’s Lair or Space Ace was but the allure was so strong I wasted at least a buck on each. And now, I get to play them in my own home and just waste my time every time I screw up! The future is here! FMV games right on your home console, ka-pow! Deathtrap Dungeon – The Golden Room is a special title too because it’s a Dungeons & Dragons-style FMV game full of choices, riddles, and player-directed poorly choreographed fighting!
The demo plays about how you’d expect. The person on the screen is doing stuff and you’re not directing them but they occasionally need to make a choice and that’s where you come in. The first choice made is when you walk into a room and see a woman chained up. Your choice is simple. Either you set this chained-up woman free or leave her to die in this, apparently, orc-infested maze. Deathtrap Dungeon shows it lives up to its name by having a fair amount of fail states. If you leave the poor woman, well you fail a test of altruism as you find out she’s not just some random chick chained up in an orc’s den but rather the ‘Trialmaster of the Dungeon.’
I love a good fail state, especially given that this demo is pretty quick. The real downside of FMV games is that they’re pretty short. You’ll rarely see an FMV game that takes more than a few hours to beat but what I liked about Deathtrap Dungeon was, after successfully getting through the section presented in the demo, I was able to skip scenes I had already completed. This allowed me to explore other options and find out that not all of the other options (as most questions posed to the player had only two options) were direct fail states. I was able to either team up with another adventurer or fight them, help them when we teamed up, or hurt them.
Likewise, I was able to choose how the character in the game fought. Choosing how the character fought with a simple decision made me a little more invested in what was going on on the screen. I was even given an option on choosing a weapon before moving on, take the weapon of the man I just defeated or keep the one I beat him with. As far as FMV games are concerned, this demo is easily the best and most engaging one I’ve played so far.
Artistically, Deathtrap Dungeon looks very good. I didn’t see the obvious signs of the green screen despite knowing it was there, heavily. And the characters had good-looking hair and make-up to make me believe they were in the world. The choreography of the fights was just okay. I think FMV games have a disadvantage in this area because by nature they’re set up as reactionary based on my choices and when I make a choice it has to load the next video rather than immediately perform the action. You know, like when you go to Medieval Times and your knight is getting beat up so you scream, “KICK HIM IN THE CROTCH! And he does it and it’s the best night of your life? It’s like that but slower.
Everything looked good up until the very end when a door opens up and there’s a beholder behind it screaming. That was a big disappointment, to be honest. The beholder just looks a little goofy. But beyond that, I was really glad to see an FMV game being shown at E3 and having a demo. I’m really looking forward to Deathtrap Dungeon – The Golden Room releasing next year.
