Puddle Knights

Review

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the Medieval times is the knights with their swords and their incredible heavy armour, fighting each other on the battlefield for their kings and kingdoms.  What I was unaware of is that there was a style of knights called the Puddle Knights. They were assigned to bishops as well as the ladies of the upper class. Their job was solely to make sure these people move from one location to the next without splashing mud on their exquisite outfits. It must have been quite a terrifying job as most roads were dirt roads those days. Well, my dear vassals, it’s time to go back in time to the Bi-annual Medieval Hygiene Conference. All ladies and bishops of the kingdom will be attending and will hopefully arrive safe and sound without mud on their clothes. You have been knighted, Puddle Knights!  

Puddle Knights is a casual puzzle game developed and self-published by Lockpickle and currently available on Steam since the 4^th of March 2020.

The game consists of 8 worlds with over 100 levels to complete, and the goal in each level is to move either the Lady or the Bishop to the light white circle which is usually located on the opposite site of the map. To help you in these endeavours, you’ll be given one to three knights per stage. Each knight will have a cape of a certain length. Some capes can be ripped apart (capes that have 5 horizontal dots laid into one or more segments along the length of the cape) while others cannot be ripped (they have no dots on them).  The idea is to place the cape over the mud so that the Lady or the Bishop can move over the obstacle safely and remain spotlessly clean.  As you progress through the worlds, you will also be able to use the cape as a bridge, or even to hold down drawbridges.

The first world is basically a tutorial with easy levels, but from there, the stages will gradually become harder and harder with the introduction of elevated platforms or floors. In general, the levels are relatively small, which is good in one way and not good in another way, especially if you are struggling to figure it out. It’s deviously clever!

The good news is that you can rotate the camera at any time, and I personally find it useful at the start of each level to scan the map and the potential movements of my knights. Interestingly, the knights can only move forward, left and right, but not backwards, as long as they are wearing their full caps. So, the knights wearing caps without dots will never be able to go backwards. The knights who wear caps with dots will be able to move backwards when their caps have been totally ripped apart, and they’ll be able to move freely around the level. Ripping off part of the cap (with dots) is straightforward; all you have to do is to place one of the other knights on top of that cap (just in front of the dots), swap back to the knight with the dotted cap, move him forward and that will rip a portion of his cap.

At the time of writing this review, I am halfway through the fifth world, and let me tell you, my head is spinning. It’s bloody hard, but a lot of fun! I like the fact that you can reverse your last move all the way to the start if you like, or simply restart the level. However, it actually helped me finish a level more than once to retrace my steps and identifying where I went wrong.

Nice graphics and sounds overall. Beware, your grey matter will work overtime with Puddle Knights, and you may feel frustrated more than once!