Review – Minos – Gamerview

Greek mythology is extremely vast and rich, featuring the most diverse creatures in its stories and legends; Among them, one of the most famous and iconic is the Minotaur. Asterios, son of Queen Pasiphae and a white bull, was a creature relegated to oblivion within a labyrinth created by the talented engineer Daedalus at the behest of King Minos. But in , you are the one who assembles the maze!

Unlike what is expected, where we should keep the creature trapped, this puzzle game challenges the player to create a structure full of traps and obstacles to defeat the various heroes and warriors who seek to kill Asterios by order of Theseus. It’s a rogue-lite challenge that requires more mental strength than games like , where combat is physical and direct.

Getting tangled up in endless curves and paths

The story of Minos is a little different from the known tale and apparently takes place after the events of the legends of Theseus and Icarus. Daedalus returns to the labyrinth after his son’s fall and decides to save Asterios (name given to the Minotaur), guiding the young man through the secrets of the place that was once his prison. This dedication seems to be born out of grief: by caring for the Minotaur, the engineer seeks the redemption that he could not achieve with Icarus himself.

Theseus, now a great and renowned hero, sends countless excursions to the place so that they can hunt and extinguish the beast again, which only wants freedom. What was once seen as his place of imprisonment is now his greatest weapon against the hero and his followers; Asterios will use the skills learned from Daedalus to create a place that will fill with the bodies of his enemies.

Initially, the maze can be easily molded to the player’s pleasure, however, with each death of Asterios, new abilities can be released and different trap variants can be purchased, which increases the chances of victory. To balance the game, Minos will begin to throw obstacles, such as walls that can be broken at the cost of energy, places where you cannot build, ditches and increasingly voracious enemies.

The very essence of the Labyrinth will emerge to guide Asterios towards his destiny. In addition to the labyrinths, there are several other challenges and mysteries awaiting Asterios and Daedalus as they search the chambers. One of them, for example, is the Altar of Ares, which, after bathing the young Minotaur in blood, will make him regain his monstrous form!

Discovering the secrets of the Chambers

The Greek gods will stop at nothing to intervene in Asterios’ journey through the chambers of Labyrinthus, a deity created especially for the game’s story. During exploration, the player will find, near Daedalus, places where they can create camps to spend experience points, recover life, buy or improve equipment. Further improvements will be unlocked the deeper you get.

Among the unlockable improvements are maps of the chosen routes, after all, each new maze follows a room definition. Skull Rooms generally bring bloodier challenges with more enemies; those of Gears present mechanical and tight challenges, requiring creativity to overcome them. Labyrinth rooms are usually normal, followed by special rooms, such as Arrow rooms, which skip a level in depth, and Sphinx rooms, which bring the most bizarre challenges, such as eliminating a group of enemies using just a trap.

Each selected trap acts once, but there is a way to set them again. This is where the player’s creativity comes in: by using tools in addition to traps, such as direction signs that make the heroes get lost, fake Minotaur statues, moving walls and fake doors, Asterios can move strategically while being chased. Whenever you kill all enemies without taking damage or just with traps, you gain a blood bonus.

Enemies appear at the labyrinth’s entrances — which vary from one to six, depending on the phase — and head towards Asterios’ chamber. If he is not there, they will know his location and go directly to meet him. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may fall into attraction traps, such as the statue of the Muses, which enchant invaders with their singing, leading them to their death. Other traps, such as automatic crossbows, poison pits, fire, or Medusa’s gaze, work normally.

Corridors of Illusions

Traps on Minos cannot be placed in any way; They must be placed in specific and limited locations, so the most important part of the game is predicting what types of troops will come. After certain upgrades, Asterios will gain the ability to build these new trap spaces.

Each trap space created costs five energy points. This energy is recovered after each invasion round, or the player can sacrifice five life points to generate one energy. In addition to creating spaces, energy is needed to excavate rubble from certain parts of the scene. If you have energy to spare, you can sacrifice it to generate 15% offering blood, which allows you to add a new trap to your inventory. Unfortunately, I admit that I found the number of traps very low and uncreative.

As time passes, new types of troops will be added. Initially, we face warriors, archers and common heroes. Theseus, however, is cunning and will send specific troops, such as net launchers that slow Asterios down, specialists in disarming mechanisms and rogues who avoid floor traps. Therefore, always be aware of necessary changes in the maze.

Each round has a different number of enemies and each one killed by trap generates sacrificial blood. This blood is represented by an amphora at the interface; when full, the maze spurts blood and rewards the player with an extra trap. You can also spend the gold you earn to buy tools during your preparation turn.

Jumping through the threads of destiny

As it is a rogue-lite, Minos becomes an always unique experience, because, depending on the route creation seed, you can have easy or extremely challenging encounters from the beginning. After each level, Asterios returns to the gem chambers to purchase traps and silver or gold coins. They can change the entire course of your game!

The silver and gold coins are used to call the boatman Charon whenever 100 units are collected. With them, it is possible to buy different modifiers: the silver ones last until Asterios dies, while the gold ones expire after a limited number of uses. Items range from phoenix feathers, which resurrect the character, to poisons that make the labyrinth rats angry to attack invaders.

I admit that I played Minos for more than 20 hours and had fun testing different tactics, especially after unlocking the Simulacrum, which allows you to create mazes without the Minotaur just to gather resources. Still, there are many secrets, like a mysterious maze where I can’t move the pieces and which can only be accessed via a trapdoor.

Of course, after a while, the game can become repetitive for those who don’t like strategy or classics like Dungeon Keeper. However, for those hoping for something similar, Minos is an excellent opportunity to create an impenetrable complex while trying to free the wronged Asterios.