Shining in the Darkness is one of those old-school dungeon crawlers where you’re basically blindfolded—no automap, no hand-holding, just you and a grid of identical-looking corridors. At first, it feels brutal, but there’s something weirdly satisfying about scribbling your own maps on graph paper like some kind of medieval cartographer.

You start with a basic party—warrior, mage, healer—and slowly grind your way through the labyrinth, bumping into random encounters that’ll wreck you if you’re not careful. The combat’s simple turn-based stuff, but the gear upgrades feel legit when you finally scrape together enough gold. And yeah, it’s the granddaddy of the Shining Force games, so if you’ve played those, you’ll spot some familiar magic spells and items.

Just don’t expect flashy cutscenes or deep storytelling—this is pure, grindy dungeon-delving with that classic Sega Genesis charm. The music slaps, though.