I loved and hated the Eagle Knights (Or whatever you called them) from Zelda II: the Adventure of Link. With their shields and acrobatic ability, each fight with them was a brutal dance of defense and attack. It was hard to find little openings within their fantastic defense, but when you stole one hit away, you felt like a king. If you lost your temper and stopped using your head, things went south pretty fast. This thinking has gone into One-bit Punch’s Shadowcrypt, and has resulted in a sharp game against difficult foes. If you aren’t willing to give each of your foes a Dark Souls level of attention when fighting them, I don’t think you’ll live long.
The game takes place over seventy screens that will lead you toward a showdown with a Necromancer. Between you and him are lots of intelligent enemies that won’t just let you hit them. Then again, you have your own shield to protect yourself, and can use it to knock projectiles aside or thump skulls if you like. With a few sub weapons thrown in to keep things interesting, you have to fight your way past varied groups of enemies, carefully protecting yourself as you whittle the enemy down. This game isn’t big on disposable enemies, so expect to be careful during each fight.
It looks really smooth while it runs, too. The enemy and character sprites all look great in motion, giving it some nice visual charm. Might not want to savor that look for too long, though, as the game has lots of traps and other fun surprises for careless players. It’s a pretty good package for fans of games like Zelda II and 8 Eyes (I may be the only one of those) for $9.99. If you’re a retro fan looking for a solid challenge, you just found it.
