Gryphon Knight Epic: Definitive Edition

Review

After having defeated the enormous dragon that destroyed the all the crops and the army of the kingdom of Valiantskies, and of course, having saved the Princess, the leader of a group of eight heroes, Sir Oliver, fell deeply in love with the Princess as they stared into each other’s eyes for the first time. In the meantime, the other party members were already at the defeated Dragon’s Lair, taking possession of his gold, and most importantly, of seven powerful magic weapons! By the time Sir Oliver arrived at the Lair, there was plenty of gold for him to scoop away, along with an amulet, but no more special weapons. Years have passed, and Sir Oliver is now married to the Princess and has a child, but life is now kind of boring, his only outing being with his amazing Gryphon Aquila to gather food for supper.  Until one day . . . he comes face to face with his own spectre, which is his total opposite and swears to destroy him, all thanks the Amulet he found years prior in the Dragon’s Lair.

Gryphon Knight Epic: Definitive Edition is an arcade side scroller/Shoot’Em Up game developed and self-published by Cyber Rhino Studios on the 20 of August 2020 on the steam platform. The game is also available on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch!   

The game consists of 7 levels that have 1 mini-boss and one main boss to defeat. In the last level, you have to defeat all the eight main bosses again (and of course a dragon, for good measure).

What a surprising little game this is! As you launch the game for the first time, you have a great introduction followed by a small tutorial where you come face to face with your spectre (which will not end to well for you). Then you’ll land on the world map where the first two levels will be available to you, as well as a market and a Wizard’s shop. At the market shop, you’ll be able to purchase potions, including health and bomb potions, which can help you throughout the next level. You can even purchase squires, which are small characters that fly next to you and your gryphon and have special abilities. For example, the Dragon Squire shoots fireballs while the Shield Squire deflects enemy projectiles aimed at you. I personally like the Witch Cover Squire, who can shoot in three different directions. There are eight squires you can buy, including a Duck Squire, who is absolutely useless but could turn out to be a splendid meal if served with a rich red wine sauce.   

Then when you are satisfied with your purchases and meal you can jump into one of the first two available stages. But before you start, you must select in which difficulty you want to play. Will it be Squire (easy), Knight (normal) or Epic (hard)?

As I mentioned above, you’ll have to defeat a mini-boss and a main boss on each level. But before you reach the first one, you’ll have an onslaught of enemies to deal with in each of these sectors as you fight away enemies coming from your left and right. The first priority, apart from avoiding projectiles, is to grow your combo by eliminating all enemies. Each kill will give you one gold coin, and with each double digit your reach (10, 20, 30 etc), you’ll receive more coins per kill. Some foes will also drop coloured gems which you need to grab to either regenerate your health (green gems), upgrade your squire ability in gameplay (yellow gems), or enjoy the benefits of a couple of other gems which I’ll let you discover. However, if you are touched by an enemy or hit by a projectile, you’ll lose health as well as one ability point off your squire. And, if you keep being hit in rapid succession, your squire will not be able to help during these epic fights you until you regenerate his/her gauge by grabbing enough yellow gems. There are ruins to find in seven of the levels, but I can’t seem to find one, which is really annoying, but hey, it is what it is!

I really like the gameplay; it’s old school, it has a fun little story and the replayability is excellent.  You can play this game solo, local co-op or via remote play through Steam. Great pixel graphics for each level with plenty of different enemies to encounter. I would definitely recommend playing this game with a gamepad. I experienced a couple of freezes during my gameplay and encountered a few bugs too.  

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com