LogFAQs > #977776731

Currently Playing: Castle Tintagel

What Is It? Old school Castlevania type game with a Knights of the Round Table theme.

Gameplay Overview: "Old school Castlevania" really just about covers it. Sidescrolling action platformer where you slash bad things and try not to die. You get item pickups (just like Castlevania) and the game is actually pretty challenging, especially at first. Checkpoints are spread out at decent chunks so if you die you just don't go back to the start of the room, and you have a limited amount of lives. Run out and you go all the way back to the start of the level. You have boss fights with exploitable patterns at the end of each level and there's even a bit of an upgrade system in the one town I've found so far.

Here's The Game Page! https://play.date/games/castle-tintagel/

Here's Some Pictures!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/82bf2c40.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3c87bfb6.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/882de948.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f1c5cdae.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f7f12ccd.png

Thoughts:
-Castle Tintagel advertises itself as a classicvania for the Playdate, and I was sold on that quote by itself.
-Also this is the third game for the Playdate with Castle in its name. So many castle games on the Playdate
-Wow there are three different ways to make the game easier on the menu if youre A BABY. I am not a baby so I ignore this option. Im sure I wont regret it later.
-Theres a text scroll here that doesnt stop so I cant take full notes. Quick summary is Morgana is bad and has defeated King Arthur and his knights. Merlin manages to teleport you and Gwendalyn (Gweneveire? Some G name. Is it obvious yet I'm not really familiar with the Arthurian legend?) away from the castle. Youre going back in to crack some skulls and get revenge for Morgana being a jerk.
-This text crawl goes on roughly five times longer than it should. COME ON I GOT A KINGDOM TO SAVE.
-Oh ok so the one surviving night is Gawain. Merlin just wanted to save all the G names apparently.
-Merlin: Gawain! Can you hear me? PSCCHT IM CONTACTING YOU ON MY MERLIN PHONE PSCCHT OVER
-Merlin: Gweneveire is safe, as are you for now. You must regroup with her up ahead. What the hell Merlin? You couldnt teleport us to the same spot? What kind of second rate magician are you?
-Gawain: Morgana will pay for this, how could shemy breatheren, they are all gone. Jeez dude use a period once in a while.
-Merlin: I have transferred what was left to you of my power upon completing the spell. I also transferred to you my debt. Youre going to want to lay low for a while. Sorry about that.
-Merlin: These torches have provided me with a gateway to transfer my knowledge to you. You should go ahead and touch them all. I swear this isnt a prank to get you to burn your fingers.
-I need to go to the underground caves so I can get to Lake Town. Again, really wish you wouldve just transported me to Lake Town, you garbage sorcerer!
-Merlin: Do not fear, we will stop her. Remember, Gawain, true strength lies not in the magic we weild, but the courage we show. Yeah great advice from the magician. Im sure shell be impressed at how brave I am as shes summoning hell beasts to eat my intestines.
-This game is kind of kicking my ass a little. Pits are instant death and send you back like three screens. Knockback is a thing and these stupid bat bastards have killed me like five times already
-Ok, finally getting the hang of things. After like three continues. A continue puts you all the way back to the start, btw. This game isnt playing around.
-Beat a mini-boss. I was hoping it was a boss and I would get to the next area, but not so much.
-I run into Gwenaveire. Hi Gwenaverierier!
-Theyre like man it sucks Arthur is dead and Morgana is a jerk. Agreed. Good talk guys. You want to jump down here so we can team up or you just gonna chill out of reach for some reason?
-Gwenaviereiereeeee: You did all you could! You were brave and a true friend to him. We must stop Morgana! And by we I mean you. Im staying up here because bats are gross.
-Gawain: She will answer for this. With Merlins help we can Merlin didnt even teleport you to the right spot so I wouldnt count on that guy.
-BOSS FIGHT. I have two health so I can only assume this will go great.
-It does not go great.
-I HAVE TO START OVER FROM THE BEGINNING?!?! Alright Ogre, Im going to murder you next time I see you.
-I get back to the Ogre and I need to complain about something really quickly. After you beat on him enough and you think you kill him, the game goes lol no and what you need to do to actually hurt him when hes stunned is turn the crank until the arc is on him and then Gwen will shoot arrows. The game does not use the crank at all before this and there is no hint youll need to use the crank. So I did the fight, thought I won, saw the crank prompt pop up, panicked to get the crank out, and by the time I did he was unstunned and hit me twice. THIS IS BULLSHIT HEY DEVELOPER WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN
-Good news is I had totally figured out his pattern. I had one health left for the rest of the fight and didnt get hit at all. You have to stun him like five times (each of which takes like eight hits with your sword) to finally kill him for real.
-I finally beat stage one! I am the best at this game!
-Gwen says shell see me in town and moseys off. Hey Gwen uh maybe just stick with me so we can fight through all the monsters together andno ok shes gone. Bye I guess.
-The second area is the underground caves. One screen in a bone fish jumps from the ground while Im riding on a moving platform and it knocks me to my death. Yep, shouldve expected that.
-I get a shield now! If I press down it block incoming projectiles, but also knocks me back a space, which was fun to find out accidentally while I was next to a pit.
-Theres actually a pretty big gap between checkpoints in these levels. I could see this being frustrating if youre not a fan of difficulty in games.
-Couple more pit deaths and I lose all my lives. Time to start over, I suppose.
-You at least dont need to go back to level one, which is nice. You beat a level, you dont have to beat it a second time.
-It takes me three attempts to make it to the boss, but when I do I beat it my first try. The boss is this big flower thing reminiscent of the infamous Battle Kid flower boss but like ten times easier. Boss patterns overall have been pretty easy to figure out.
-Hooray Im in Lake Town! Oh and theres people here I can talk to. Its like an actual town.
-Some guy out front says hes standing guard against Morgana. Yeah well she beat all the knights and the king but yeah, sure, Im sure youll hold the line.
-Merlin: Gawain! I have been expecting you! I knew if I sat right here and let you do all the work, eventually either you or your corpse would make their way to me!
-Merlin: The shield you found in the Underground Cavesit possesses a hidden power. Thats rightwith it you get a free subscription to Disney+ for a four month trial period.