Horse on the white knight
In the game, we play the role of a young warrior without blemish and blemish, who wants to become a real hero, not some counterfeit. Our adventure begins at the beginning of the trail to free a beautiful princess at its destination. The entire exterior, including the interface or the main menu, is stylized as a book with fairy tales. Thus, subsequent sets of icons are presented on its cards. The same goes for the map. It is presented on the pages of the book in the form of houses, mountains and trees appearing, just like in the items with children’s songs. Thus, we have an overview of the path we have already managed to overcome. We have no problem returning to previous locations, discovering so far undiscovered secrets or enriching ourselves with the money that we collect along the way.
“At home, do not try to double jump …
Traveling the world in the footsteps of the princess, we visit various biomes in the form of stations, where we start the actual gameplay. This is done in a manner typical for platformers, i.e. we have a view in two dimensions and we jump on successive platforms. We overcome obstacles, look for hidden treasures, sometimes solve puzzles and, above all, fight enemies. During his journey, the hero completes the equipment and acquires the most important skills. One of the hubsthere is a village on the map, where we can replenish our supplies in the form of potions for various purposes and small spells, buying them with money that we collect along the way. Coins also allow you to learn new blows and abilities. Despite a few gadgets that are added to our inventory as we progress, the main weapons from the beginning of the game are the sword and shield, which, unfortunately, cannot be upgraded (the exception is the potion that allows for a stronger attack).
… unless you are a hero “
And the latter can often come in handy, because fate puts us on the path of various adversaries. At each stage, the enemies are somehow related to the biome we are currently visiting. For example, on the glacier we fight penguins and yeti, and in the jungle with giant bees and aggressive monkeys. In each of the visited biomes, we have two or three rounds to cover. The last one, usually the fourth one, ends with a boss fight. During the journey, in each biome, the hero learns a new skill or acquires a new gadget. This is important because it turns out to be the key to defeating the boss of a given area. The bosses themselves are constructed in such a way that in order to win, you have to find their weak point. Which is not that easy, especially at a later stage of the game.
“In space, no one will hear you sing”
I myself had some problems with some of them. It is possible that I did not develop my character sufficiently before the fight, but it took hours before I learned the patterns and combinations of these bosses’ attacks and how to move around. A successful approach was paid for by a dozen or even several dozen ineffective attempts. The game is difficult. Don’t be fooled by the nice and cute graphics. Songs for a Hero does not forgive mistakes. Production ruthlessly punishes you for the slightest stumbles. Makes it necessary to calculate movements almost to the pixel. This requires a great deal of skill. We are able to perform effective blows only after learning appropriate reactions to boss attacks. All this makes the victory achieved after a few hours of effort tastes delicious and gives a lot of satisfaction.
“Carrots for a Hero!”
Our brave knight continues to sing throughout the journey. His singing does not upset him, he does not get bored, and with an accurate, rhymed joke he makes a smile on his face. This perfectly complements the climate of the entire production. Humorous songs accompany us during jumping, fighting and sightseeing. Coarse humor and often breaking the fourth wall, which can also be seen by reading the hints at the loading screens. In addition, in his verses, the protagonist smuggles in small instructions on how to act at a given moment. I pay tribute to someone who wrote and composed it all. I will lean even lower when there is someone who will translate the texts well into Polish. So far, we can only play in English or Portuguese.
And then there was chaos
From the very beginning, the game relies on a fairy-tale, quasi-medieval approach. By the time.
In the second half of the production, the whole thing is turned upside down. The assumption becomes completely different, I will not reveal what. Such a procedure may have both opponents and supporters. Let me just say that all the debts you may have already collected during the trip are completely changed. In a fairly drastic way. It’s hard to say if it’s bad. I believe that a more clichéd and fairy-tale ending would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, it is worth getting to this point, because the game later serves us helpers who have their own singing lines. Thanks to that it begs
about the possibility of cooperation on one screen, which, unfortunately, we are not able to experience. In my opinion, this is a minus, I hope the developers will take it into account in the sequel.
A tablespoon of tar
The product is not outstanding, but it is still very nice to play. Pixelart graphics are pleasing to the eye, the vocals of the protagonists in the ear, and successive victories tickle the ego. However, it seems that the creators did not fully rethink their project. The save game system does not work well in some places, especially in boss fights. It happens that after death we respawn before cutscenes that cannot be skipped. The fact that we have to watch the same thing dozens of times and waste time before we start fighting is frustrating.
The ending is a bit disappointing
In my opinion, the finale is not as sublime as it should be in a fairy tale. In my opinion, this works against the reception of the product. The whole story is somewhat shallower. The game ends like a knife cut short. Short cutscene and poof! End. We return to the map, where we can continue collecting money or discovering other secrets. Shops where we develop the character by buying its items were also poorly located. We only gain access to a much larger selection of more powerful elements at the end of the game,
in the epilogue. Moreover, the prices for these items are relatively high. I myself did not have enough time to get drunk in the final stage to use them. I was convinced that, then, I still had a long way to go and a lot of time to use them. The more abrupt ending surprised me.
Is it worth it?
Yes! Despite the above-mentioned shortcomings, the rest is made decently and at a high level. Fans of platformers will find what they love their favorite genre for. The plot works well and offers some interesting plot twists . If we take the worse-made elements with a grain of salt, we get a solid game for several dozen hours of satisfying fun. Thus, it is worth waiting for the sequel, in the hope that the creators will solve some aspects better, while maintaining the formula of the original.
