Puzzle rooms, combat, and all the elements you might expect from a top-down action adventure.
The hero of the game is Vernon, a guy who wants to be accepted among the guards. But he keeps failing since there is nothing intriguing going on and all he can do is practice monotonous routines. However, everything changes when the princess is kidnapped and he resolves to take care of it.
The gameplay takes place in a top-down perspective. The controls are simple because you can only move and attack with your sword in a few different ways. There are three types of attacks: basic, dash attacks that go through many targets, and attacks that send an enemy into the air. Air launch is best used with standard attacks because you can punch the button for a few quick hits before the enemy falls back down.
There is no stamina so you are not limited in any way. The good thing is that fighting is not frenetic and you have enough control over defending and attacking. But the bad news is that gamepad is not supported so you will have to rely on keyboard buttons. This forced me to use only the basic attack because you have to jump over several keys to get to the other two attacks.
Of course, throughout the game, you will acquire a few useful mana-based abilities. There is a fireball, a push to activate distant switches, and a few other more or less useful abilities. Because simply swinging your sword will not get you very far, there is also a powerful block that can resist even explosions.
The world is made up of rooms that include a variety of obstacles, enemies, switches, moving platforms, and other surprises. You can not just walk about because rooms are limited by environmental elements like tall grass, walls, and holes, but there is a handy map that reveals all exit points and lets you know where you haven’t explored yet.
The game is separated into sections, which begin with the field, progress to the castle, and so on. Sadly, they become increasingly frustrating. The factory, for instance, has conveyer belts and rotating saws you need to avoid. Frustration reaches its peak in later world that’s made out of games. Here, you have to bring a coin to a destination by using your sword. You have no control over it because it sometimes goes diagonally and sometimes straight. Plus, you have to maneuver around obstacles that make the whole experience one of the worst.
The objective of each section is to find something that will allow you to reach the section's boss. Bosses are deceptively easy. They have a few attack patterns, and as previously indicated, you can block them. But they change forms when you deal enough damage and change the approach. Some can make the whole thing obnoxious, like the centipede boss.
Josie, a character who will perform plays, adds some excitement to the otherwise dead world. You do not engage with the character; it just appears when you switch rooms. Another map element is a checkmark that indicates completed rooms, but it is not very consistent. It normally appears when you complete a puzzle room or find something, however smaller or plain rooms do not receive a checkmark. This might suggest there’s a secret, but it turns out there is not.
It is easy to keep track of your progress because sections are not very big. Also, sections are interconnected, allowing you to traverse between them as needed. This is also part of the exploration, as new skills may be allow you to reach new places in previous sections.
While the hero does not gain any experience, you are encouraged to kill everything for money and loot. Loot can also be discovered by breaking barrels, however it might be difficult to spot because it is quite small and blends with the floor color.
Every enemy drops unique loot, most of which is needed to make potions. When you receive a bottle, you can combine two objects to make a healing potion, bomb, or something else. Some recipes are given to you, such as the bomb required for progression, while others can only be discovered through experimentation.
If you select one item and browse through the others, you will see either an "incompatible" notice, a question mark for an unknown combination, or the final product for known combinations. Because a recipe calls for multiple things of the same type, selecting the incorrect combination might easily result in a waste of valuable resources.
Fortunately, the game does not overwhelm you with this mechanic. Bombs are used very rarely, and all you need to do regularly are health potions before boss battles. There’s also little backtracking because some items are found in barrels or you can buy stuff from a merchant, but this is much too expensive.
Another feature is that everything respawns when you switch screens, allowing you to go between two screens to heal or grind for stuff and money. It can be frustrating because exits cover a bit wider area and can make you switch rooms by mistake, which forces you to clear the room of enemies again. The bigger issue are switches and movable platforms because they reset as well. This makes backtracking a pain and shortcuts pointless.
By the way, the game is incredibly generous with healing items. You can also restore everything by saving at crystals. However, this does not imply that the game is easy. The challenge stems primarily from ranged enemies that can knock you back into a pit while riding a platform.
The final reason for eliminating enemies is to obtain cards. Some are acquired in chests, while others are obtained randomly by killing a type of enemy. You might get it on your first kill or spend hours grinding the same enemy. Sadly, you have no clue where the cards are or if an enemy even drops it. Of course, if you do not care about achievements, you do not have to do it.
