Prince of Thieves

Being a thief is not exactly something to be proud of, but there were instances when people actually cheered for a thief. Granted, it doesn’t happen very often, so it’s obviously not a career you want to pursue, but one can only imagine how exciting it must have been to be Robin Hood. It was also very dangerous, on the other hand, so it kind of balanced itself out.

Prince of Thieves is a tiny jam game in which you play the role of a thief trying to snatch all the money without running into the guards. The whole thing is designed to look and play like something from three decades ago, so it might not appeal to everyone. If you’ve been around to enjoy 8-bit gaming, on the other hand, this might cause a few pleasant flashbacks.

As you might have guessed, you play the role of Robin Hood, the legendary thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. There’s even a basic story to explain everything, and it all revolves around King Richard the Lionheart, who decides to transfer all the wealth from Nottingham to a more secure place.

Enemies come in multiple varieties, depending on their special abilities. The main threat is getting too close to them, because they become aware of you and attack without mercy. Since it only takes one hit to lose one life, it’s important that you stay out of their range, although that can be pretty difficult in certain situations. On the other hand, Robin Hood has one more trick up his sleeve.

You can use the bow to temporarily neutralize the guards and make your way past them, but you still need to move quickly. The main issue is navigation, because you cannot drop from platforms unless there’s a gap. Hence, the developers made good use of this limitation to really make it tough on the players, which is why you’ll find yourself replaying the same stages over and over again until you make it.

In the end, Prince of Thieves is obviously not an original idea, but the gameplay is exciting and quite challenging, which is great for a platformer. The retro theme might appeal to some folks as well, even if not everyone is a fan.