Battle Princess Madelyn is currently in development by Casual Bit Games. BMP is an arcade style action/platformer and provides its very own unique style on the retro 16bit inspired graphics.
BPM follows the journey of Princess Madelyn who is a young Knight in training, and her quest to save her kingdom from the evil that means to cause it harm. Along with her ghostly pet dog, Fritzy.
This classic style of arcade-inspired platformer will instantly give you the feels. Whilst being completely unique with its story and premise, it will be a reminder of the games that old-school gamers used to play.
During this journey, playing as Madelyn, you will venture through various levels. Whether it’s through castles, graveyards or swamps, you take on any enemy that crosses your path.
This story begins with Madelyn and her Gramps, who both seem to be in some sort of distress. It appears there is someone threatening the family and Kingdom and while you want to be the hero everyone needs, you are still a young princess and a knight in training. Nevertheless, you set off on your journey with Gramps in search of a map that will lead you to the evil wizard that threatens the Kingdom and your family. As Madelyn, you take your first steps into the fast-paced action platformer while you navigate through the bone yard, in order to reach your end goal; the crypt. The bone yard is almost like a tutorial in a sense that instead of being thrown straight in, you are accompanied by Gramps.
As I began my journey, I spent some time messing around with all the keyboard buttons, trying to figure out which buttons did what, as I’m not too familiar with the standard setup of arcade gameplay. It took a good few tries before I realised that Madelyn is a badass, when she flies through the air with grace and throws that deadly spear. As I went running through the boneyard, hitting every enemy I saw, the skeletons, the bats, even the plants.
At the start of this game, it doesn’t take long before you can get yourself killed, as I experienced quite a few times. Madelyn respawns with witty one liners, with a great animation and visual effect. You can’t keep that Princess down.
After completing the boneyard level, you enter the flooded royal crypt, which in all honesty is slightly harder, as it’s just you and the dog. What I did find fascinating is that there seem to be what look like secret areas, within the structure of the environment. I accidently destroyed some wall slightly above my head and an opening appeared, things like that get me excited for secret goodies. Shortly after making your way through the crypt, you will finally meet the big boss. The King’s Guard.
This was an exciting quite fast-paced fight for me. Multi-tasking button bashing-I’m good at games.
The massive skeleton with a huge sword is enough to make any Princess shake in her knight boots, but not for Madelyn. Me and the dog fought bravely, along with many deaths, and finally received our loot-map. The motion and graphics for this fight are smooth. As the boss shuffles side to side, trying to stomp on you, or take a big swing at you with his sword, you see how much detail has gone into just one character.
The ease with which this game plays is very nice. Just a few simple buttons and you are good to go. The attack available at the beginning of the game appears to be a wooden spear, dealing massive blows to all enemies alike. It wasn’t until late into this level that I realised my ghostly pet dog Fritzy could also use attacks – a green ghostly plasma ball of doom. He’s a good boy! Along with that spear attack you have a jump/double jump available, which will aid you in getting to higher areas or platforms.
With each area you complete, you’re granted rewards in a style reminiscent to the Legend of Zelda, open the chest (enter chest reward music). After the completion of an area, you can revisit the map to select which level you would like to kick ass at, or simply visit the town where you will encounter various kingdom folk.
From what I have played so far, this game brought me back into the old-school style of gaming, whilst keeping it fresh at the same time. The detail incorporated into this seemingly emulated arcade game is far beyond what I was expecting. Every block and colour is fit perfectly into this world, with vibrant colours and textures.
The dual audio for this game is a great addition. As I was playing around with the buttons, I came across the option to switch between the arcade version and orchestral version. Although both genres perfectly compliment this style of game, I have to say I did much prefer the orchestral version, but that’s just my own preference.
Battle Princess Madelyn is well on its way to becoming that game every gamer will enjoy, whether it’s for the old-school feels or just something with a classic arcade game with a new style of platforming. This has so far been an enjoyable game to play, get back to the basics and have a little fun.
Battle Princess Madelyn Reviewed on PC.
You must be logged in to post a comment.