Knight Squad is a well-realised game as it captures the feel of competitive play while doing away with the complication of 3D rotating worlds and landscapes and just keeps the focus of attention on a static map. This approach has allowed the developer to expand on the special effects that occur during player combat and interactions as the screen can turn into a complete mess of colour and explosions when a congregation of players are caught in a melee within a corner of the map.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with
Knight Squad. It reminded me of some especially intense games of
Tower Fall: Ascension, only without gravity!
Knight Squad is available on PC, Mac and Linux on Steam via Early Access.
Miniflake by Wolfgame
There are many games that are described as '8 bit' when in reality they are far from that. No 8-bit based machine could possibly do the fluid animations that you see these retro style games boast and developers know this. Wolf Games is just such an outfit as they are working on
Miniflake, an action RPG that has a pallet of two colours.
Yes, you read correctly.
Miniflake has a total of two colours with which it chooses to display its world. Take a look at the screenshots that litter this article if you don't believe me, I'll be right here when you get back. See? Two colour palate with some of the most detailed sprites you've ever seen. It's a very impressive game and once you see it moving it's even more jaw-dropping, as it has a very sophisticated light engine that follows the player about.
But let us rewind a little before we get too excited.
Miniflake is a top-down action RPG that has the player walking through a dungeon, delving deeper in while collecting gold, potions, weapons and armour. All of this is needed if they are to survive the denizens of the depths for more than 20 seconds.
Movement is within a grid of one square, which is occupied by the player or a creature they are trying to dispatch. Statics on how combat is executed are displayed at the top of the screen akin to an MMO as streams of numbers and descriptions of blows scroll by.
Those who have been playing video games for quite some time will probably liken certain aspects of
Miniflake to other games from many years ago.
Druid,
Ranarama and
Way of the Tiger II: Avenger all spring to mind as games that also sported the top-down view and had an exploration element to them. None of those, however, are nearly as pretty as
Miniflake. No, seriously, they weren't. Must I direct your eyes to the screen shots again?
I found
Miniflake to be a really fun game to play, with the major issue is being that it is currently very much in an Alpha state and does need a lot of work in terms of balancing and content being added. Nevertheless, it is being worked on and you can support its development by purchasing a copy and marvelling at the amazing light engine it has. Oh and you can mod it to your heart's content too; by adding another colour to its pallet maybe?
Miniflake is in Alpha and is currently available on PC with plans to port it to the Mac and PS Vita.
