Knight’s Night is the latest $5 platformer published by EastAsiaSoft. The gimmick this time comes from the 1-bit visual presentation, small sprites, and loads of spikes. It isn’t a reflex-based, tough-as-nails, platformer but that doesn’t mean it is without challenge.
Playing as a tiny knight sprite, it is your job to reach the end of each of the 25 stages without taking too much damage. Strangely, this knight has no offensive capabilities other than bouncing on the heads of enemies. Eventually, a double jump and dash ability will be gained so level complexity opens over time, but the player is still doing the same thing most of the game – jump.
For a five-dollar game, it is hard to nitpick its flaws but there are some obvious ones. I have nothing against the 1-bit visual style, I think it looks cool actually, but visually the game repeats too much. In fact, the spike traps are annoying not just because they are going to kill you more than anything, but because there are dozens of them on screen at any moment. What upsets me most is that this is one of those games that will cause damage when you walk into the side of a spike. I hate that. The pointy part is at the top. Why does it cause damage when you scoot next to it? The hit boxes are also slightly inaccurate.
I also experienced some inconsistencies with the controls. I say jumping registers about ninety percent of the time but found myself accidentally dying to frustrating lengths because the game didn’t jump when I wanted to jump. The final stages are also nearly unfair gauntlets, and many areas have their checkpoints spread too far apart.
In addition to the tiny 1-bit visual style, there is one other gameplay gimmick that is appreciated for a left to right platformer – multiple paths. Normally, platformers are very one directional. You move left to right as the game intends. Here, each stage still moves left to right but sometimes a path will go up with another going down. One path might not be necessarily easier or more difficult than the other, and they often lead to the same end point, but this approach is respected as it brings some slight replay value. Thing is, there are secret collectables to find but they don’t actually do anything nor does the game keep track of which one you found in which stage. These needless collectables try to provide an incentive for exploring but doesn’t provide the player with anything worthwhile.
Knight’s Night isn’t the best platformer published by EastAsiaSoft but the 1-bit visuals and branching stages makes it stand out even with the lack of offensive capabilities. All Achievements are also tied to simply completing this one-hour game.
Also Play: some PlayDate games
Don’t Forget About: HatUp
Wait For It: Sir Lovelot 2
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
OUR SCORE - 6
6
SCORE
A 1-bit platformer with some branching paths, Knight’s Night has some minor control issues and repetitive hazards that hold back the experience.
Editor in Chief - been writing for mygamer,com for 20+ years. Gaming enthusiast. Hater of pants. Publisher of obscure gaming content on my YT channel.
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