Published by EastAsiaSoft, Tiny Pixels Vol. 2 Stormy Knights has nothing in common with the shooter gameplay of Tiny Pixels Vol.1 other than it is another low-cost digital download.
Playing as knight rescuing princesses, it is your job to walk to the right and defeat every enemy you encounter in a one-on-one battle, like two fencers facing off in the Olympics. After defeating a few common baddies, the knight must then fight through a boss. Win and move onto the next set. Lose and it is back to the very beginning to try again.
The progression of gameplay reminds me of Jordan Mechner’s Karateka. It is a gauntlet of bouts that can only be won through dedication and memorization. Combat also has just enough depth to offer different strategies while being simple enough for all skill levels to play and enjoy. One button swipes the sword. Another blocks. One dashes. Another launches a ranged magic attack once unlocked. And it is possible to duck under certain attacks. It is worth mentioning there is no jump ability, keeping all combat on the ground and without the option of leaping over your opponent without murdering them.
By design, the first time you play, maybe you will defeat the first enemy, but you will die quickly. You probably will not do much better with the second attempt. But by the third try, you will start to understand the flow of combat and how the game plays. After restarting that dozenth time, you’ll recognize patterns and be able to clear the first batch of stages without taking much damage. This is the gameplay loop. Play. Die. Get a little better. Die again. Repeat.
Not only will the player’s skill get better with practice, the knight has the ability to grow stronger too. Defeating enemies provides an opportunity to collect gold by flying through targets in a super quick up/down mini game. At first, I was confused by this gold collecting flying segment. Why couldn’t you just automatically collect a couple coins after each successful battle? But then I realized that having the player collect gold through a very brief mini game is more rewarding, especially since gold collection is one attribute that can be upgraded over time.
Speaking of upgrades, there are many but doesn’t take long to unlock them all. Unfortunately, once all the abilities are earned, money no longer serves any purpose, making that money collecting flying mini game an obsolete time waster. So there might be some late game balancing issues, but not having an excuse to bother with the gold collection at the end is a misstep. It would have been nice, for example, to burn all collected gold for a health refill or unlock extra skins or something.
Combat, as simple as it is, is well done and deserves praise. It does a lot with a little, forcing the player to master the few abilities in conjunction with proper timing. Like a Souls game, patience is often rewarded, and button mashing is punished. Once mastered, common enemies can be defeated with a rightly time combo which is satisfying and bosses bested after their patterns are acknowledged. However, this is still a hard game to complete and only the best players will have the skill to unlock Achievements.
Tiny Pixels Vol.2 Stormy Knights is an engaging 1-2 hour romp that starts a little confusing, gets addicting in the middle, then grows slightly stale at the end game once everything has been unlocked. Even with max stats, completing the 1-v-1 gauntlet takes skill and tenacity. But for a five-dollar small indie game, there is a lot of quality here and fits snuggly next to the majority of other EastAsiaSoft published releases.
Also Play: Also play the Gold Master Karateka series by Digital Eclipse
Don’t Forget About: One Strike and Nidhogg 2
Wait For It: Tiny Pixels Vol.3 (and 4 and 5 and 6…)
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
OUR SCORE - 8
8
SCORE
Tiny Pixels Vol. 2 Stormy Knights is a creative take on the 1-v-1 gauntlet format that is addicting, offers a fair yet genuine challenge, and a good place to put your focus for a couple hours.
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