This week's game is The Demon Crystal, a Druaga-like alternative for Japanese computers that introduces new ideas like limited resources to make for a different experience. It even got a remake for Switch/Steam just a few years ago!
The Demon Crystal really feels like it comes from an alternate reality where The Tower of Druaga was a side scrolling game instead of an overhead maze. It originally came out in 1984 like Druaga did, it has you playing as a knight and going through two and a half dozen "houses" to rescue a princess, you have to locate items that give you upgrades through obscure means (depending on the version you're playing), and it even has the bad items designed to screw you over. The store page for the Switch/Steam remake claims that it was a pioneering action RPG and a nationwide hit in Japan, but I have no way of actually verifying that claim. Based on how rarely I hear anyone mention it anywhere, it sure doesn't seem like it to me! But I wasn't in Japan in the 80s or even alive at all, so who am I to say, eh? It did show up in old computer magazines and get a couple of sequels, though, and the accounts of people having played it that I could find all seemed quite fond of it, too. Regardless of whether or not it's a historically important game, it is a good game, so that's a win in my book.
As for how it differentiates itself, aside from the very different perspective, The Demon Crystal puts a focus on resource management. Instead of a sword, your character is equipped with bombs that roll along the ground. These are great (as long as you don't walk into the fire they create!), but they're also limited, so you need to find a balance between collecting bombs and fighting/avoiding enemies. The houses are also chock full of locked doors and keys to use them on. These need to be opened to find the bigger key that reveals the exit, but not every door has anything more than a bomb. Considering that enemies and even items can be hidden behind doors, this is definitely a game where you're meant to use knowledge from previous runs to optimize future ones. The upgrades make your life a whole lot easier by providing protection or making previously invulnerable enemies vulnerable, so they're basically as essential as they were in Druaga. In general, though, this is a much easier game, and the remake only exacerbates that by making resource management a non-issue, letting you freely continue, and telling you how to find each item. There's definitely an argument to be made that the remake ruins some of the original game's careful balancing and tension, but both versions are absolutely worth a shot if you want a twist on the ideas that Druaga made so popular in the 80s.