IronKnight Demo

There are many reasons to bring back that which is old and forgotten, especially in the case of video games. Some people like to be reminded of the past, while others just do not enjoy change all that much and would rather prefer sticking to the last thing that made them happy. Hence, retro video games have quite the market for themselves, and will probably continue to enjoy the same popularity from now on as well.

IronKnight is a fantasy beat ‘em up that sports a 2D graphics engine and a few goodies that have all but been abolished over the years. On the other hand, it is not enough to unearth classic gameplay mechanics and hope for the best, because it is also a requirement that they work properly. In this case, the game’s innards are stitched together with duct tape and they often fall apart, meaning that everything from the controls to the fighting system is badly implemented.

A thin plot can be sometimes observed, but only through text intermissions and with the help of the official website. As it happens, your task is to find the Iron Knight and discover a way to understand him and his power, which knows no bounds. Many foes try to put an end to your journey, and you must prevail in spite of the overwhelming odds. Careful, though, because some of the biggest obstacles in understanding the story are the grammar mistakes that make the texts quite confusing at times.

There are many RPG elements sprinkled on top of the beat ‘em up mechanics, which are there to enrich the experience and provide you with one more thing to keep an eye on. You can switch weapons, learn new abilities and spells, as well as increase your stats and become stronger. The interface is abysmal, on the other hand, so you might have a difficult time understanding how to use all of these.

Speaking of which, the term “retro” seems to be used with an ulterior motive in this case, whether knowingly or not. It’s not in good taste to apply the said label to a video game just because it looks old, because that is not true in all instances. The animations are hilarious and mostly realized from no more than two or three different frames. However, the biggest disappointment has to be the AI itself, and you only need a few minutes of gameplay to come to the same conclusion.

While it is true that IronKnight has a very small development team working on it, maybe the already limited effort is not being directed to the areas that need improvement the most. Hence, there is potential in the concept and the game as a whole, but more work and dedication is needed to bring it out.