Developer: Sometimes You, pixel.lu
Publisher: Sometimes You, pixel.lu
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One
Platform: PS5
Sir Lovelot – Review
We have encountered many games where a valiant knight has to save a helpless princess from her assailant or kidnapper. This was a fairly typical standard formula for retro games, and is still one being used in the Mario series from time to time. Nonetheless, not all knights are valiant or have the best intentions. This time we get to encounter a knight, who doesn’t mind staying up all night, chasing voluptuous ladies. Prepare yourself to avoid deadly traps and monsters, only to score some new booty every night.
Story
Sir Lovelot doesn’t really have any story value to explore. You are a knight who just happens to use his meat-sword to slay other things than the monsters he comes across. It’s your goal to spend each night with a different princess, no matter what you have to do to reach the next tower with a fair maiden. Even though the story could have perhaps been explored a bit more, its absence is actually not missed.
Graphics
Sir Lovelot is a clear homage to those old-school games where a knight was the main character. Even though the pixilated graphical style is quite nice, there are a lot of assets that are reused, even in the different zones the game throws you in. Nonetheless, everything looks adorable, and the monsters have that squishy and dirty appearance that reminded us of Nidhogg 2. We enjoyed exploring the small world of Sir Lovelot, but would have loved to see a bit more diversity at times.
Sound
The sound design is absolutely wonderful. The soundtrack itself is very upbeat and has that old-school platformer vibe. Sometimes the tunes also reminded us of a fun detective-like track. The sound effects are simply adorable. Everything that dies, including your knights, makes squishy and squeaky noises, adding a certain charm of seeing your guts explode all over the place.
Gameplay
Sir Lovelot is a puzzle platformer that is divided into small levels, often spanning not longer than a few minutes per level. The goal is simple; you have to avoid traps and monsters, to eventually score with the princess or maiden waiting for you at the end of the level. It seems the knight is a bit of a player, and thus you’ll have to work for it.
The controls of the game are straightforward and fairly responsive. You can just jump and shoot at your enemies. Shooting can be done forwards and upwards when walking, downwards when jumping and only forwards when swimming. Other than that, the game gradually increases things to do in the levels, such as swimming, pulling levers, and so on. You’ll notice that the game responds properly to your commands, but that certain precision parts feel a bit finicky at times. As each level is divided into several screens, dying is often not really a disaster. When you die, you restart the screen you’re at, and you seemingly have infinite lives. Dying too much will detract points from your score for the level, however.
With around 40 levels to beat, Sir Lovelot is not a very long game if you’re somewhat skilled a platforming. The game is divided into four different regions, each introducing new mechanics, new monsters and a new backdrop. At the end of each set of levels, there will be a ‘boss fight’, even if some of them are just you running away from a massive boulder-like skull. The different themes add a bit of extra incentive to keep pressing on. Each level also has its own collectibles, which add a bit of replay value for those wanting to score a 100% on each level.
Conclusion
Sir Lovelot is an excellent puzzle platformer with an original topic and goal. The overall gameplay loop is very enjoyable and gets harder as you go, but never impossible. We enjoyed the theme, the overall smoothness of the gameplay and it’s been a while since an original entry in the genre has been made. Those looking for a bite-sized puzzle platformer cannot go wrong with this one.
Sir Lovelot - Review,
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