Castle Knight: storming the keep in Games by Zaweba

Somewhere at the top of a castle keep, the Stone Gargoyle waits beside the last gate, and a small knight with a big sword has to get there. Castle Knight is a platform game on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba. The castle is full of bats, skeletons and spikes, and it's drawn in an early-90s PC style, in the spirit of EGA and VGA graphics, so it looks and plays like the side-on action games of that time.

Each level has one goal: fight your way to its exit gate.

Moving, jumping and swinging

Left and Right, or A and D, move the knight. Space, Up or X jumps, and Z or Ctrl swings the sword. Having three choices for jump means you can pick whichever feels natural, but it's worth settling on one pair of keys and sticking to it, because jumps over spikes and onto moving platforms want quick, confident presses.

It's also worth getting a feel for how close an enemy needs to be before a swing connects. A few practice swings on the first level will show you, and that sense of distance makes every later fight safer.

Bats, skeletons and spikes

Bats and skeletons are the knight's main problem. Skeletons take two hits, so don't turn away after the first. Spikes have to be jumped, and moving platforms have to be ridden, which means timing the jump on and staying put while they carry you across.

Locked doors need a key. If a door won't open, its key is somewhere else in the level and has to be found first. That's the castle's way of making you look around rather than just running towards the exit, and it's worth checking the corners of a level for that reason.

Banners and hearts

Banners are checkpoints. Once you've passed one, that's where you come back if things go wrong, so reaching a banner is a good moment to relax for a second. Hearts restore your health. If you're low, it can be better to go back for a heart you passed than to carry on into a fight with almost nothing left.

Between those two, the game gives you room to learn. A hard section isn't the end of the run, just something to try again from the last banner.

Facing the Stone Gargoyle

At the top of the keep, the Stone Gargoyle guards the last gate. It attacks with fireballs and dives, and both have to be dodged. The way to beat it is to keep striking it until it crumbles. A fight like this rewards patience: watch what it does a few times before committing, get out of the way of each attack, and take your swings in the gaps between them.

Going in with full health helps, which is one more reason to pick up hearts on the way up.

Playing it well

Castle Knight is for one player. The title card lays out the controls, F1 explains the game during play, Esc pauses (useful before a tricky jump), and F11 gives you the full screen. Games by Zaweba keeps your best score and your plays on your PC and shows your score beside your best at the end, so each attempt has something to measure against.

Everything is drawn and every sound made in code, so the castle runs offline with nothing to download and no adverts. If you enjoy it, the shelf has other platformers in a similar spirit, such as Pip's Rescue and Zippy the Armadillo. Take each level a section at a time, use the banners, and treat every skeleton as a two-hit job.