My new favorite thing is to relax by the pool while trying not to drop my Switch in the water as I hit the pixie pixies on the face. This is more relaxing than it sounds. In fact, Panzer Paladin It’s the 8-bit inspired fuel that holds my summer together.
In Panzer PaladinToday on Switch and PC, you play as an android who pilots a robot named Paladin and is tasked with saving the world from an army of invading demons using an arsenal of giant medieval weapons. The arcade action that results from this thought experiment “what if a robot, but also a knight?” It’s nimble and fun, but NES steroid art and chiptune music tie the pack together. When I play, it is as if every adult responsibility that weighs on me disappears. No job, no school, just me wasting a sweaty, cicada afternoon jumping over spiked pits and hitting a claymore in the face of an evil snowman.
At first sight, Panzer Paladin It looks like a bunch of other retro-inspired action platform games, and it mostly is. You start on a mission select screen, choose from over a dozen levels spread across the world, and kill a ton of stuff on your way to a boss fight. What helps maintain Panzer Paladin interesting is its novel weapon system. As you kill enemies and bosses, and loot hidden places, you collect swords, spears and other ancient melee weapons. Each one has its own attack and durability stats, and after a certain number of hits it will eventually break.
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But you can also use weapons to cast magic spells, such as a lightning bolt that grills everything around you or special auras that increase your strength or defense. You can also launch weapons such as projectiles, or save them in your inventory to remove them later. After collecting enough weapons, you can knock them down and use their magical energy to improve your Paladin’s overall health stat. It’s a simple gear system that adds a deeper, vaguely more RPG-ish layer to the game without interfering too much with its underlying beat ’em up sensitivity. Tribute Games, creators of Mercenary kings and Flinthookhave always been great for giving new and original twists to classic game archetypes, and Panzer Paladin is no different
There are indications of Megaman and Ninja gaiden, but also Zelda II: Link’s Adventure, the side-scrolling sequel where Link gains magical spells and battles against enemies with his own swords and shields. Panzer Paladin It gives you a shield that can block certain incoming attacks and occasionally drops enemies that also have shields. These mini-duels are fun, with the help of a back lunge to dodge attacks that are too big to block, though I haven’t found any that reach the length or intensity of some of Zelda II‘s hardest encountersBut there is also a more difficult difficulty and a remix mode that I haven’t gotten into yet, so it’s possible these more knuckle issues are buried deeper in the game. And given how frustrating it is to punish Zelda II is that I’m glad Panzer Paladin You are wrong next to a more windy adventure. There are many challenges, but nothing to stop me from more than a few deaths. Which is good, because like I said, I’ve mainly been playing Panzer Paladin on my Switch while floating in the water.
It’s not something I encourage others to do, for obvious reasons (I’ve already lost a phone in my pool), but with the pandemic in progress, I’m hell-bent on things that make me feel like summer is fun and not just someone uploading the temperature on the current covid-19 horror show. With no picnics, barbecues, movie outings, or beach trips, which typically anchors my summers, I’ve been searching for things to fill the seasonal void in my soul. Multi-month non-E3 It has turned out to be a real drag in this regard, and the seasonal mini events featuring retro-inspired indie games such as Microsoft Summer of Arcade. Fortunately there are still individuals, arcadey nostalgia travel I like it Panzer Paladin to make summer feel a little more like vacation.
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