Game: Horned Knight
Genre: Action, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, PS4 and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: 2KSomnis | 2Awesome Studio
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: US $5.99 | UK £5.99 | EU €5,99
Release Date: February 26th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to 2Awesome Studio
Coffee Time
Horned Knight is a simple 2D action platformer with a basic pixel graphical style. A straightforward title designed to take us back to the simple days of gaming where you simply jump in and have a bit of fun. Like many games I have reviewed before, this is what I interpret as a coffee game. Something you can sit down with, with a good drink and enjoy for a few minutes before getting on with your day. But let’s learn a little more about Horned Knight.
The Tale of Hunter
Since Horned Knight is a little light on any story here I go again filling in the gaps for myself. My mind is just weird like that when I play games.
You play as the Knight Hunter sometimes nicknamed the ‘Horned Knight’ by his fellow kin. Fearing his responsibilities and terrified of combat Hunter ran away from his responsibility of protecting the Kingdom. After which he ends up being kidnapped by a Demon and imprisoned in what seems like an endless dungeon of horrors. Not only that, but Hunter has also been cursed with a vampire curse where he is forced to slay enemies to maintain his humanity. Hunter’s only hope is to conquer the dungeons, kill the beasts and realise his true responsibilities as a Knight. Hunter must end the curse and get back to the Kingdom he ran away from, becoming the brave Knight he was always destined to be.
Enter The Dungeon
The gameplay is straight forward. Try to reach the end of the level without dying, avoiding traps, slashing enemies and dodging various hazards like lava and spike pits. Combat is simple and responsive, all enemies take a single hit to defeat, except the bosses, and if you time your strike well you can hit projectiles out of the air. You can take a few hits before perishing and if you kill a few enemies you will recover a single health point. Though the Knight has a shield this is completely useless and acts only as a sprite cosmetic which makes me wonder why it’s even featured.
Platforming is responsive and quite enjoyable. As well as jumping you can leap off walls and make use of a handy dash ability. By using a combination of these moves you can really get some air and fly through the platforming sections in speedy fashion dodging swinging spikes and lava pits. This also seems a little odd since you’re a Knight, wearing what is probably a heavy set of armour. But who cares, this is a video game and it’s fun, right?
Dungeons and Pixels
The graphics are of a simple pixel aesthetic. Every level is a dungeon and things get pretty repetitive rather quickly. You’ll see the same dungeon backgrounds and five enemy variations over and over. The animation of your Knight is interesting. He sort of bounces around like he is made of rubber. Probably part of that curse he was put under.
Most levels follow the same design, sometimes though lava gradually rise from the bottom of the screen and you have to race to the top. There are also four boss fights to take on. These are massive beasts that take several hits to defeat and require some basic pattern recognition to conquer.
Over in a Knight
There are thirty-two levels total, which includes four boss fights. It’s certainly not a long game, on the standard difficulty I managed to get through it in under two hours. The only incentive to really replay levels seemed to be to gain a ‘perfect’ rating. This is achieved by finishing the level in a single life. The difficulty is overall moderately challenging but never to an overly frustrating level.
Checkpoints are reasonable in levels giving plenty of incentive to push through to the end. There are no additional bonuses or cosmetics to unlock. Horned Knight entertains you for a bit and lets you get on with your day. The game has two difficulty settings; normal and hard. The only difference I seemed to notice between the two is that you have unlimited lives in normal to finish a level whereas in hard you have a set number.
Familiar but Solid
Horned Knight won’t set the world on fire, with its simple graphics and gameplay that doesn’t offer anything particularly new. But just like a regular coffee, I drink on a daily basis sometimes having more of the same is just fine.
Horned Knight plays well, performs great and I personally had fun creating my own story about Hunter the Knight which I would have never been inspired by had this game not existed.
In all seriousness, I do hope Horned Knight does lead the developer onto future projects. It follows the simple rule of game development, being fun.
Final Verdict: I Like it