The Castle Doctrine

Platforms

• PC

  Jan 29, 2014

  ---

  6.1

  playscore

  6.1

  10 Critics

  4.6

  288 Players

10 critic reviews · 0 community reviews across all platforms

Critic Reviews

• 

  GameSpot

  4.0

  The flawed, nihilistic, trap-building simulator that resulted isn't worth a look. In the whole of the game, only one metaphor hit home for me. Sometimes when you manage to reach another person's vault, you find it empty, pillaged by a previous robber. There's nothing to take away, and all the time and effort you've put into the endeavor has been wasted.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Destructoid

  7.0

  The Castle Doctrine is certainly an experience unlike any other, but I also find it hard to recommend since it's so obtuse and seems to want to put new players at a huge disadvantage, increasing the skill gap between the best and the worst. Intense research and work must be put forth to succeed, but there's no real motivation except bigger and better death traps.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Edge

  6.0

  Yet The Castle Doctrine’s notoriety ends up feeling like another fakeout – a disconnected conceptual commit gate at the entrance of an often-frustrating sandbox puzzler.

  Reviewed on PC
• 

  IGN

  4.5

  The Castle Doctrine is a brutal, minimalist depiction of urban paranoia that brings out the worst in its players, and I struggled to find value in it. That doesn’t mean that nobody will, but as a gameplay experience it is bleak, brief, and terribly frustrating. It certainly makes you think, but not about anything very complex.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  PC Gamer

  8.5

  By accepting that there is so little permanence at play in The Castle Doctrine, the almost overwhelming sense of uncertainty that pervades it becomes easier—and more satisfying—to cope with. In this way, what The Castle Doctrine offers is a brilliant but horrifying depiction of a risk society at war with itself.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Polygon

  5.0

  My only recourse, should I choose to continue playing The Castle Doctrine, would be to start over. Suicide, in the game's terms. A robbery gone wrong, and the man of the house takes his own life. Ripped from the headlines for your amusement. There's a button to facilitate your suicide. It is clearly marked.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Game Informer

  7.0

  The Castle Doctrine is a player-driven PvP paradise of well-laid traps, vengeful voyeurs, and desperate thieves. The presentation and traditional aspects like graphics, sound, and interface are rough around the edges, and it isn’t deep enough to stay interesting for long. Even so, The Castle Doctrine is an intriguing diversion from uninspired copycats and clones that often plague the industry.

  Reviewed on PC
• 

  Hardcore Gamer

  6.0

  It’s not easy by any means, nor is it particularly intuitive, forgiving, or even enjoyable at times, but The Castle Doctrine makes the agony of defeat and the frustration of over-complexity meaningful, and in some ways, much more fun than what you’d expect it to be.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Euro Gamer

  7.0

  Por lo frustrante y extremadamente complicado que es, y también por el agotamiento mental en el que desembocamos, es difícil imaginar cómo alguien puede dedicarle horas y horas al juego; a pesar de todo merece la pena jugar a algo con una aproximación de diseño tan apartada de lo convencional, tan bien planteada, aunque sea a un nivel estrictamente teórico.

  Reviewed on PC

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• 

  Euro Gamer

  6.0

  Se un'arena di questo particolarissimo tipo fa risuonare le corde del vostro ego competitivo, preparatevi a una dura lotta contro il resto della community e a uno studio cervellotico di trappole ed espedienti prima di ottenere le prime, probabilmente magre, soddisfazioni.

  Reviewed on PC

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