Thanks to Ratalaika Games for the code for this game.

Balancelot is a platformer set in a medieval fantasy setting. You pick one of several characters to ride on a unicycle through a medieval kingdom, taking on various mythical monsters in the process. That is, assuming you can get the clumsy unicycle to function without dying multiple times.

The title screen gives you two choices of an adventure: the regular one or Spooky Island. I chose to play Spooky Island, which gives the player the choice of playing as Lance, Laine or the Headless Horseman. Which character you select doesn’t really make a difference in terms of difficulty or gameplay; this is just a personal preference. Progressing to higher levels gives you the option to unlock more characters.

Before playing, the story opens and explains that all is not well in the area. Demons roam the land and to defend the demons, one needs to become a knight. To do this, one must participate in a tournament, but Lance doesn’t have a horse. Thus, the quest with the unicycle begins.

The unicycle truly is clumsy. The controls are similar to Qwop, a running game with equally wonky controls. Qwop is the name of the game, by the way- this is not an acronym. The way the player moves the unicycle is similar to the controls used to control the runner in Qwop and the way the player collapses in BalanceLot is very similar to the way the runner falls and disintegrates in Qwop. Thankfully, as the player progresses, the game gives a guide on how to maneuver it with the various buttons. As I played the Switch version, that will be my frame of reference. From the start of Level 1, L and R move the unicycle forward and balances it - you will need to constantly remain on your toes to balance the unicycle in this game. One second of distraction can cost you and kill you, thus ending your quest. B allows the player to jump. After a few tries, I was able to figure out that I needed to hold both the L and R buttons to progress.

Balancelot thankfully includes checkpoints, and they are needed as you truly could die at any instant. The minute you fall off the unicycle, it’s game over, and you start back from the last checkpoint. You will probably get a lot of gameovers. There is a death counter and timer on the screen and this keeps track of things for you. A lot of the time it's just trial and error. With so many frequent deaths, though, I doubt younger gamers will have the patience for it.

The music in the game is very fun and does make it playable. The first track is a high-energy track that does sound like it was composed for a Renaissaince fair or medieval festival and sets the mood for a fantasy kingdom based in the Middle Ages.

The charm in Balancelot is the layout of the levels and the appearance of the chracters. Being a 2D platformer, this game is remarkably well-done. It does look like a medieval tapestry brought to life as the player progresses through the various levels. The cutscenes are clumsy though and not that good.

Morally, the game holds up well. There is really no violence or gore to speak of. The kingdom is plagued by monsters, so I’ve docked some points for fantasy magic/occult settings. There is no swearing or sexuality. No references to the occult exist either.

While BalanceLot has a lot going for it, the clumsiness of the controls and unicycle will have a lot of gamers giving up in frustration. The game needed to provide more grace with falling and not just give you a game over every time. This game had a lot of potential. It’s just too bad.