Developer: Lockpickle
Publisher: Lockpickle
Platform: Mac, PC
Tested on: PC
Puddle Knights – Review
A gentleman placing his coat or cape on the ground for a lady or a royal to pass over a puddle; you might have seen this scene before in a movie or a play. Well, who would be more suited for this gentleman role than a knight? This might be what the developers behind Puddle Knights were thinking, as that is the exact concept behind the game. Knights offer up their capes to cover mud puddles, not only for ladies but also for bishops. They have to make sure that the VIPs arrive spotless to their destination!
Story
All the ladies and bishops of the kingdom got invited by the queen to attend the bi-annual hygiene conference. The dress code for this conference is spotless, which means that they have to avoid stepping in mud by all means possible. As you might have guessed, what other way can you avoid mud puddles than by having a gentleman knight put down his cape in the mud for you?
Puddle Knights doesn’t have an extensive story, just the invitation of the queen as an explanation. This explanation is however enough to know why the knights are helping the ladies and bishops cross puddles. Since the game is mostly focused on making your way through a path without having any VIPs step in mud, you don’t miss having a story at all.
Graphics
Puddle Knights looks pretty clean. Even though it doesn’t look super special, its simple style and finely worked out textures make it nice to look at. There are eight worlds you can unlock but they all look very similar. Only the props placed in the levels differ, but the floor and mud don’t change at all. So you’ll be playing in the same kind of environment in all eight worlds.
Another thing that does differ from level to level is the color of the knights and the VIP you’re escorting. Usually, the knights are blue and red, but sometimes they can be pink and green or even metallic colors. The VIP you escort is either a lady or a bishop, both of which are nicely designed and look pretty fancy.
Sound
The music in Puddle knights is upbeat and cheerful. Every world has its own track that stays in theme with the general cheerful music. There is no real voice acting present in Puddle Knights besides the little grunts when you select a character to move. Sound effects in the game are mostly based around movement, since that is what you’re mostly doing to figure out the puzzles. You hear the footsteps from the knights on the different kinds of surfaces, which also includes the satisfying splash when you step in mud.
Gameplay
Puddle Knights is a strategy puzzle game where you will have to guide VIPs to their destination, without having them set a foot in mud. To achieve this goal you’ll also be able to take control of knights with various cape sizes. When a cape is covering the mud, it is safe for the VIP to step over. Of course, since this is a puzzle game, it isn’t just about putting a knight’s cape on mud. There are a few restrictions that make it quite a lot harder. One of the trickiest aspects of the game is that knights cannot walk backwards, since their cape is in the way. So if you walk your knight into a spot where you can only leave backwards, you’ll have to reset or undo your steps one by one.
You’ll start out with only one knight with a small cape. The VIP cannot keep standing on the cape, and as mentioned before, the knight cannot walk backwards. So you’ll have to figure out a way to let the Lady or Bishop cross the multiple puddles without getting yourself stuck. Each time you figure out a level and finish it, you’ll unlock the next level. Sometimes finishing a level will unlock a split path between two new ones so you can pick which one you want to play. However, unlike other games where you can then follow that path until the last level of the world, Puddle Knights requires you to finish all levels of both paths, which defeats the point of having a split path. It might have been better had they just nicely lined them up and unlocked multiple ones, so you could still choose which to play first. This way you wouldn’t think you could progress while skipping the other path.
When you finish all levels of a world, you’ll unlock the next world, with Puddle Knights having a total of eight worlds as mentioned above. As you continue playing, new features get added to increase the difficulty of the puzzles. The first feature that gets added is the ability to tear your cape to leave a piece of the cape behind. This way you can use that piece also as a pathway but aren’t stuck to it. The VIPs are even able to keep standing on it so you can reposition yourself. After a while, even a new layer will be added to the levels. This layer takes shape in the form of wooden platforms on top of pillars. The trick to conquering these heightened platforms is to use your head, or more specifically your knight’s head. Since you can make the VIP walk across your knight’s head to another platform. Each world has its own feature but also keeps the features of the previous world, which makes for some interesting puzzles.
Conclusion
Puddle Knights is a fun puzzle game that can keep you busy for a nice amount of time. It requires you to use strategy to position your knights in the right place and to not get yourself stuck. Even though it isn’t graphically diverse, it is quite pleasing to look at, especially the bright colored knights. If you enjoy strategic puzzle games then you certainly might enjoy Puddle Knights. Even if you aren’t the best at strategic games, you might still enjoy being a gentleman knight. Since this game is suited for all ages, it would also be a good game to challenge your family with.
Puddle Knights - Review,
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This one looks like fun!