As a guy who doesn't usually like platformers, this game was surprisingly highly enjoyable. It reminds me of Shovel Knight, which is another exception to me, and it's why I was somewhat more interested in this to start with. TLDR: Buy it if you like platformers and are willing to kill some time. Start with the Libra level if you're not a coward.
Now, this game's very short, and someone more accustomed to platformers will most likely complete this far faster than me, but there are some neat collectible pets to find, so it does encourage looking around and making the most of this short adventure. However, I believe the quality of time spent matters quite a bit, and I feel like all the time spent on this was meaningful. I had fun all the way through, even when I got stuck on a particular platforming section, because I knew it was all my own fault, and not some cheap gimmick the game's throwing at me. So, with that considered, it may be short, but the price is fair for the experience given.
Next, the gameplay! This is honestly what I dreaded the most going into this. I am not a fan of platformers, and especially not platformers where I feel like my movement isn't quite right. The last thing I want to play is a game where I have to face off against the game's enemies and obstacles, but also my own character's clunkiness. And I feel as though platformers that try to be "retro" suffer the most from this. BUT! This game surprised me in a very pleasant way! The knight has jumping that feels pretty easy to control, ledge-grabbing mechanics that are somewhat fickle but work just fine when you get the hang of them, pretty good air maneuvrability and the ability to actually swing a sword in more than just the direction you're facing. This combines into a game that plays much more fluidly than it looks! With the movement being so natural, it becomes so much more fun to practically speedrun through the levels, if you're good enough.
Finally, I'll talk about level design. This once again reminded me of Shovel Knights at certain points, like the bull-riding levels being comparable to the beetle-riding in SK, but this might just be an inevitable coincidence from different level theme tropes. Honestly, overall, level design isn't frustrating or anything, so I'll say that overall, nothing too outstanding, but still fun to play through nonetheless. WITH ONE EXCEPTION. A level that stands out so much, I have to talk about it. What I consider to be the hardest level in this game: LIBRA. I believe the developer had a traumatic encounter with someone of the Libra horoscope, because this level hurts. It hurts in a good way. It's utterly genius, as it takes the typical stupid platformer shtick of "haha, there's this column/wall that comes down and crush you if you don't move at the right time" and makes it actually fun and not this complete garbage concept that only serves to waste the player's time that I've seen in other platfo- okay, getting off track. It's similar to the concept I described, but instead of it based on a time interval, forcing you to wait, the objects move up and down every time you jump! This grants the player complete control over the entire pace of the level, and I LOVE that! Because when you inevitably fail due to how tricky it is, it's not the game's fault. It can't be the game's fault. It is your fault. No one else's.
I started with this level, and it took me a while to beat due to its difficulty, and I was thus led to believe that the rest of the game would be that difficult. I was ready to spend about a couple days on completing everything with that assumption! However, turns out, that's just an unnatural difficulty spike. One could take this as a negative: if the rest of the game is fairly simple but one section in particular jumps up a few layers of Hell, isn't that kind of inconsistent? Sure, but...in my opinion, this just makes the game far more memorable and made me appreciate the ability to absolutely glide through the other levels. In Libra, I was born and turned into a warrior. Every other level was absolutely a blast to destroy afterwards with my Spartan training. This game was cute and fun in its own right: Libra made it special. It made me realize that while I had gotten the hang of the movement, I did not master it. And it forced me to.
...Anyway, yeah, that's it, really. Oh yeah, a final critique, since I've been a little too nice so far: Libra, once again, beautiful level that makes you dictate the pace of it. I expected the rest of the game to follow suit, and...sure, everything else was fine, for the most part...except Sagittarius, kind of. I feel like the non-aiming bows should fire based on motion detection, not on an interval. If they already are and I just didn't notice it, ignore this entire paragraph, I guess, but I'll keep going with my point anyway: it would follow the same cool "set your own pace" philosophy if you could juke out the bow into firing, giving you the window of time to slip right in. Rushing in would be punished just like it currently is, but without the added annoyance of having to wait for the thing to actually let you pass.
OK, now I'm done. Overall, 10/10 because there was a Terraria bunny easter egg and I am biased.
