Back in the olden days, one famous act of chivalry was when a lady was about to step in a mud puddle, a man would put his coat down over the mud for her to step over.  And what could be more chivalrous than knights?  In Puddle Knights, the queen has invited all the nobles and debutants to her castle, but there is a strict dress code.  Everyone must be spotless!  No mud!  Which is pretty difficult when the paths to the castle are littered with the dirty stuff!  Luckily there are knights with capes for them to step on.  Puzzle Knights is a puzzle maze game available to download on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Each level of the game is a maze, and your goal is to make the nobleman or woman get from point A to a shiny spot on point B.  There are more than 100 levels in all, too!  Wow!  You can switch between controlling the knights and the nobles, but there are some strict rules you must follow.  Nobles can walk in any direction, but they can’t step in mud.  Knights can step in mud, but they can’t walk backwards over their own capes.  If a noble is on a knight’s cape, that knight can’t move at all.  If another knight is on a cape, the other one can move, but it’ll tear that knight’s cape, leaving behind some cloth, which can be handy sometimes.  The game does a great job of explaining these rules to you as you play, so don’t worry about it getting too overwhelming.

You can undo moves and reset the level with a push of a button, which is nice.  But what this game really needs is a hint feature.  The game gets tricky really fast, and if you get stumped on a level, you can’t skip ahead so you’re stuck where you’re at until you solve it.  That’s really the only problem this game has.  Other than that, this is a fun and creative take on the block pushing maze puzzle genre.  Just make sure you’re up to the challenge!

I had an idea for a gameplay mode I think they could’ve implemented into the game.  How about a more action oriented mode where you don’t control the noble, they just move on their own.  And you must move the knights into place quickly so the noble can step on their capes without getting into the mud.  This could be multiplayer, too!  But I’m no award-winning game designer or anything, so what do I know?  (joking)

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play.  This game could be considered educational as it teaches logic and thinking skills, but younger gamers may have trouble with the difficult levels.  Puddle Knights is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews