Shining in the Darkness is a first person dungeon crawler RPG released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. At the time of its release, dungeon crawling was still a fairly common mechanism in RPG gaming, particularly in the then heavily declining Western RPG subgenre. Shining in the Darkness stands out though, for its crisp clean graphics and its devotion to making you hopelessly lost within the labyrinth.
You play as a self named hero who is out to save a princess from the dark sorcerer, Dark Soul (not to be confused with the different character, Dark Sol, from Shining Force…) and even though you could start off the summary of every Japanese RPG of this era with the same summary, Shining in the Darkness doesn't really feel all that contrived and clichéd.
Without proper preparation (i.e. level and equipment grinding), this game tends to get a little difficult and sometimes it feels like it's outright cheating, so get ready to face lots of slimes and snails!

Graphics – 8.5

Shining in the Darkness sports some beautiful creature art as well as a lively town full of nicely depicted characters. Spell effects vary from quite nice, to extremely boring. On the negative side, you're in a pallet swap dungeon for the entire game, so there isn't any real variety in scenery.

Sound/Music – 7.5

While the sound is just average, even for the day, the music is quite nice, featuring stirring battle music and sweeping exploratory music.

Gameplay – 7.75

I wanted to score this higher but there are several points that hold the overall score down.
First, in the pro column, combat is easily accessible with a simple turn based system featuring the major combat tenets of the day; attack, defend/run, magic, item. The town is easy to navigate and there are never times within the game where you are wondering what to do. The game can also be difficult, which is something we don't see a lot of in new games, so I tend to treasure it where I can find it. Most of that difficulty can be avoided through proper preparation though, which puts the difficulty even further into the pro column, for me.
As for cons, there are two big ones. First, the game takes place entirely within a labyrinth where, usually, you're only method of leaving is a spell or an item. Very difficult to find your way around. Second, the map for the labyrinth requires you to buy an expendable item which you may use to look at your map for as long as you like, but you cannot scroll (that I can recall) and you must use another item to see it again as it appears on a separate screen. It's aggravating, but not game breaking.

Story – 6.25

Where any true RPG should shine, but this one is just standard for its era. An era where exposition meant talking to a villager who gave you a one sentence explanation of your next objective. Not the major attraction of the game, though there are actually some side quests that are okay for expanding the story a little.

Overall – 7.5

Worth playing for RPG enthusiasts and old school gamers, but unlikely to impress anyone looking for more action oriented gaming.

Total time spent on one playthrough: No timer, but estimated at 50 hours.