When I first started Dark Scrolls, I played alone as the rogue Pigeon and had a terrible time. I thought maybe it was me. Then I played alone as the mage Emerys and flew through the first area with little to no problem alone, but still didn’t have a great time once I got further in. After that, I played as Biscuit the dog with another person as Grizz the warrior and, while it felt so much easier playing with someone else and more fun, it still felt like something was missing. It’s then that I realized that, while an interesting idea, the Dark Scrolls character and single-player experience balance fails the player even though the idea is sound. In Dark Scrolls, your goal is to go alone or in co-op through various biomes to reach the final boss. Each stage tends to proceed the same. It almost feels like a Contra or Ghosts ’n Goblins style run-and-gun with the stage automatically, gradually pushing forward. You hit a room with enemies constantly spawning that stands still briefly. After this, there’ll be more running and gunning. A shop follows, allowing you to invest in perks that kick in once you hit certain star levels after defeating X amount of enemies, and after that a boss. After a rest point, where you can donate hold if you want, you go through it all again. Go Ad-Free With Siliconera+View the site with no ads, be able to provide direct feedback about what we cover, and be automatically entered into our monthly PC game giveaway.Join Siliconera+ What sets things apart in Dark Scrolls is that each character has a different moveset that affects how you approach a level. Like Biscuit the dog has a straightforward bark that can pierce through enemies, is good for bouncing off of foes to deal damage, and is also pretty good in co-op due to allies being to bounce off of the pup. He also has a small hitbox. But he’s not great when alone. Emerys is probably the best solo character, since their projectiles bounce, their dash lets them go forward or up, and their special causes a spinning number of projectiles to appear around them. I found Pigeon less useful than Biscuit both in single-player and multiplayer, since their primary attack is sort of similar and their “special” feature involves being transparent for a bit. Quinn is handy when alone or with others, if you unlock the angel, since the bullet pattern can automatically fire in multiple directions, her special spawns a safe space with shield made up of hearts around it, and she flies. Basically, not all characters are considered equal. Which really hurts the experience. I felt like, while some characters seemed interesting, it wasn’t worth exploring what they could possibly do because I knew their bullet patterns or special wouldn’t be capable of getting me to the end. The perk system is neat and absolutely great! When you get to the shop in each stage, you can invest acquired gold into different perks that offer new offensive and defensive options that automatically trigger once you defeat enough enemies to hit that star level. It’s a fantastic idea! However, that doesn’t carry over between runs. The part that does is the diamonds you unlock via effort and, while some elements only cost one at the hub shop to open up, it’s a little disheartening to go in and see the character Nezumi requires 100 and is constantly out of reach each time. Images via Doinksoft But I suppose what bothers me most is, while Dark Souls does feel like Doinksoft experimented with what a Ghosts ’n Goblins sort of game would look like in 2026 and included some quality of life features, it didn’t offer others. The stages are neat and can hold secrets or extra paths, but they are mostly repetitive and by the second or third area start to feature an overwhelming sort of number of enemies and boss mechanics that, while interesting, feel like co-op is mandatory. There is basically no explanation as to what we’re doing, with not even an option to rebind controls or know what the controls are. It feels like it mimics the obtuse nature of older NES and arcade style games, but in a way that makes it feel unwelcoming. Doinksoft embraced the Ghosts ’n Ghosts style for Dark Scrolls, but in so doing left certain characters and modes feeling unbalanced. Once you get past a certain point in a run, you realize it feels designed for co-op, rather than single-player. And if you’re picking characters like Biscuit or Pigeon and trying to go it alone, you’ll have a much more difficult time than you would as Emerys, Grizz, or Quinn. It really feels like you need to play it with someone and use certain characters to succeed. Dark Scrolls is available for the Switch and PC.