If you've been pining for an awesome old-school dungeon crawl, look no further!
When I found out that Dark Spire was coming out and saw how it was going to pay homage to the early 80s Wizardry games, I was more excited about an RPG release than I've literally been in years! And let me tell you, in my short time playing around with the game thus far, it has been worth every penny! Not only is Dark Spire a nearly perfect rendition of the old Wizardry formula, but a number of game play elements have been expanded upon. This gives the player even more choices when it comes to leveling up characters and developing their sub-classes. For example, in the old Wizardry games, when a character had enough experience to gain a level all additional spells, stat bonuses and hit points would be applied at one time after resting at the Inn. In Dark Spire, the player is instead given the option to concentrate on just buying skills, or just leveling for new spells and HP, or just boosting a character's primary stats - all by spending the earned experience points in differing amounts.
In addition, the various character classes are given several types of melee attacks to choose from when it is their turn. You may pick a more careful attack style which will have a better chance to hit but usually will do less damage, or if you've just ambushed a group of monsters you can hit them will all-out aggressive attack styles which yield tremendous damage at the cost of defense for that turn. Likewise, spell casters have the option to "rush" out an emergency heal if someone's hit points are very low, or they may cast a spell more slowly to guarantee a better success rate. When the battle is over, your thief's trap disarming skill will be crucial to helping your party gain more wealth and treasure. Should your thief fail to properly disarm a trapped chest, the consequences to the thief (or the party!) can be dire, indeed. On the bright side, there is a pretty good chance of stumbling across healing potions and antidotes as you explore the dungeon, which was something the old Wizardry games usually lacked. This is one small addition which can aid your party's survival, and believe me when I tell you that you will need all the help you can get.
All things considered, in my time so far with Dark Spire I am extremely happy and impressed! If you were a fan of early 80s RPGs and would like to relive the nostalgia, or you're a younger RPG fan who is looking for an extreme challenge and you are willing to live for a while without top-notch flashy graphics in exchange for old-school charm and simplicity, you simply must pick this title up and give it a whirl. If you're a more casual gamer who doesn't enjoy the thought of spending great amounts of time grinding out kills in the same area for a while before slowly progressing on with the journey, then this may not be for you... but I'd still recommend picking up a used copy or borrowing one from a friend just for the heck of it, because you never know.