Knightin’+ (PC)

Thank you Muzt Die Studios for sending us this game to review!

Knightin’+ is a single-player dungeon crawler game developed and published by Muzt Die Studios. Players play as the brave Sir Lootalot and fight their way through various deadly dungeons, each jam-packed with all sorts of traps, enemies, puzzles, and magical artifacts, as well as challenging evil bosses who need to know who the real boss is.

Once the player presses "New game" or "Continue game," they will be taken to a map of the kingdom, with all of the dungeons and locations that Sir Lootalaot can visit. When they focus on a certain location, a diagram of what has been collected so far shows up. This includes how many chests have been collected, how many keys have been found, whether or not the boss has been defeated, etc. This feature makes Knightin'+ a bit different from early Zelda games.

At the top left corner of the screen are three red circles that symbolize Sir Lootalot’s health. They may split in half from weaker attacks, as not all enemies would diminish a full health point from him on contact. Some attacks are stronger than others, like hits from a boss. Each dungeon carries one boss on the third and final floor. However, if he were to only be fighting regular enemies, it would take six hits from one to defeat him.

Occasionally, when killed, enemies will drop health points that, when collected, will help regenerate lost health points. This occurrence is rather rare, though.

When enemies are killed, they sometimes drop coins, also found in chests. These coins can be spent at shops, which are scattered around the dungeon, with one on each of the three floors.

On other occasions, chests may contain a key. Keys are a necessary part of getting through the dungeon, which is why chests containing keys are usually hidden behind a puzzle of some sort. But if the player cannot figure out the puzzle that guards the chest containing the key, they can always buy one at the shop for a brutal fifty coins.

On each floor of the dungeon are twelve rooms. At the top of the screen is a map of the rooms the player has explored already, which can be very useful to navigate through whichever one is being traveled.

When the player enters a room they never have before, all entrances will be blocked off until all enemies inside are defeated. The enemies will regenerate after the player goes up/down a staircase, but the entrances to each room with enemies will not be blocked off when the rooms are visited the second time.

There is an “Auto-save” feature that automatically saves the game when the player travels up or down a staircase, and this feature can be turned on or off in the main menu. Each time the game is saved, the game will let the player know.

Upon entering the first dungeon in Knightin’+, the player will see, carved into the ground, a visual tutorial to the controls for both keyboard and gamepad users. Throughout the game, players will find helpful items in chests that will allow them to do more, such as the ring of speed, which enables dashing. They can use WASD or arrow keys to move around, space to open doors or chests, Z to use Sir Lootalot’s sword, X for shield, and use C or L to perform a brief dash on the keyboard.

On gamepad/controller, the player can use the D-pad to move around, A to open chests, X or RT to use Sir Lootalot’s sword, LT or LB to use the shield, and Y or RB to dash. Each time the player finds an item that enables a new skill, they will be taught the controls behind using it on both keyboard and gamepad no matter which one they are using to play. But one function is the same whether the player uses gamepad or keyboard: To move a heavy object, they must simply run into it.

Though they are not the most detailed, the pixel art graphics are very colorful and bright. They really fit the style of game that Knightin’+ is, which is why I like it so much.

The retro-style music is well done, too. It changes in certain rooms of the dungeon; for example, the room with the shop has its own theme that becomes slightly different in each dungeon.

As far as moral warnings go, I have noticed a minor swear word here and there (cr@p), along with a few other things that fall into the category of cartoon violence. Other than that, I did not notice anything out of place.

I found Knightin’+ to be an extremely enjoyable title. The music only adds to the reasons I would recommend this title to anyone looking for a game like this. I look forward to future games by this developer.