A small passion project with plenty of heart, and while it serves as a great foundation, the moment to moment gameplay, level design, combat and other little things wear it down. This is all going to sound really negative, but in all honesty, it's because I think it can be more and better. It's only $3, so you're really going to spending your time over your money here.
All enemies have the exact same attack AI, and once you figure out the combat during the first level, you'll approach every enemy encounter the exact same way. Every encounter, boss or otherwise, plays out the same. Except for the final one, where you're locked in a room with them. Each weapon is roughly the same, and only provides a damage boost, so in equal parts, you never really feel like you're getting stronger, just staying current. On top of that, since each weapon functions the same, you're only reason for going out of your way to collect them is to deal the most damage possible. It would've been interesting if they all did something different to justify their existence or create different combat approaches and styles. The good news is that they don't collide with the environment, which would make combat even more tedious and they all look nice though.
Some levels have great design, like a part where you see a weapon across a pit of lava, or you'll be at a part of the level and view a previous location from a new vantage point, these moments are nice. However, it would have been equally nice if there were portions where you could fall back down to other areas in order to access locked doors, in a way it feels like the level is supposed to be designed. Levels loop in on themselves in weird ways that doesn't fit right. There aren't any traps, so navigation is more of a trial of remembering where you've gone, and hope that there was a room that looked distinct enough to give you a sense of position in the level. Like I mentioned before, you can't hit the geometry, which is great, but also means there aren't any secrets, everything is out in the open. And there isn't a real reason to explore except to get buffs, and the level's weapon/shield, but you could ignore that.
The movement feels slow, and when you figure out that you can strafe run, it feels like the default speed. A lot of animations and moments feel like they were placeholder for later, but then never got around to it. For example, the game has nice transition art, but it would've helped the flow better if it "closed" on top of the old scene and then re-opened on the next scene, so it always feels continuous. The fading in and out and short stops on the music help in disconnecting it all, when it feels like a game that should move quickly.
The biggest flaw however is the lack of substance. The game has a nice art style, a nice array of enemies and the music isn't bad, but it has no charm to it, no cohesion. It lacks that element that creates a sense of unity. I don't want to sound all Game Journalist when I say this, but why is the castle here, what happened to it, why is it built like this, why is the vestibule so cold, why do some enemies have enchantments on them that do nothing, who are all of these people, where am I, why am I here and what should I be feeling/experiencing while playing? Is it supposed to be comical or serious? A lot of this could just be ignored, but when you have no attachment to the surroundings, or to the place itself or whoever was here, it's just hollow.
None of this is in-game, which is a problem. Just because it's on the steam page means little when you're playing it, that's the time the game needs to reveal itself for what it is. The game doesn't need a big epic story, but maybe notes around, give me a reason to look around and be invested. Even old school retro games had environmental storytelling, or just some basic stuff. Outside of being congratulated for clearing the castle, that's about it. Unless it was in an intro I missed, but I digress.
The problem is, that Arthurian Legends exists, and released before this game by about a month. And when you look at the two, it's really, really hard to suggest this game over that. And yet, I think this has the potential to be just as good as Arthurian Legends, it just needs to push itself more, become the game it's description says it is. Except the souls-like description, there is nothing about this game that states it's souls-like.
