A colorful, challenging blend of shoot-em-up and Metroidvania - The Knight Witch Quick Review

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I love the Metroidvania genre, and I really appreciate how The Knight Witch brings something truly unique to it. This sub-genre has become oversaturated in the indie game space. There are dozens of choices for great Metroidvania games to play, so when one tries something new, it really helps it stand out—and The Knight Witch definitely stands out.
TIME PLAYED
I’ve played about five hours of The Knight Witch, which has taken me through two and a half major areas and three or four boss battles.
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Style. The Knight Witch has one of the most delightfully colorful art styles I’ve ever seen. It’s put to good use making story characters, enemies, and environments all look gorgeous and lively.
• Shoot-em-up gameplay. Where most Metroidvania’s focus on platforming or action-RPG gameplay, The Knight Witch has a totally unique approach: The core gameplay is that of a shoot-em-up (or shmup). Main character Rayne can fly through the air in any direction and must careful dodge flurries of bullets while shooting back. It feels totally different from any other Metroidvania I’ve played before!
• Coziness. Though Rayne is taking on a dire threat, The Knight Witch provides plenty of opportunities for her to just chill with her friends and family, which helps build up the personalities on display here. In particular, I love how the game presents the relationship between Rayne and her husband. It’s extremely wholesome.
WHAT SUCKS
• Card mechanics. If the regular shooting is the “Knight” part of the game, the cards make up the “Witch” portion. You can put together a deck of up to six spells, but only three are available to use at any one time, and they’re chosen at random. Like in a card game! It’s an interesting idea, but it frustrated me placed alongside the fast-paced shmup gameplay and made me just not want to use magic.
• Checkpoints. Challenge is an important part of The Knight Witch, and I don’t have a problem with that. However, sometimes that difficulty felt artificially inflated due to how spread out checkpoints are on the map. This was especially annoying during some of the super-tough optional challenges, which were made more annoying by having to do a long flight back every time I died.
SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?
Yes! Especially if you like Metroidvanias or shmups or both. A few of The Knight Witch’s ideas struck me as half-baked or misguided, but the colorful art, charming characters, and great exploration and action more than make up for those shortcomings.
💬 What’s a genre you’d like to see explored within the Metroidvania style? Share your ideas in the comments!
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NemderZnS
NemderZnS
5
the card system reminds me castelvania circle of the moon. nice game
12/05/2022
Author liked
Kef
Kef
TapTap Editor
Kef
Author
2
circle of the moon was great, agreed!
12/05/2022
Blak_Rice
Blak_Rice
3
No mobile 🙃
12/05/2022
Hayami
Hayami
2
I want mobile version 😃 pls
12/05/2022
awizza YT Trailers
awizza YT Trailers
1
I want mobile version 😃 pls
12/05/2022
Dana P
Dana P
1
Can I have it
12/04/2022
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