A platform game with a knight and a castle

A small knight with a big sword storms a castle full of bats, skeletons and spikes in Castle Knight, a platform game on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba. At the top of the keep, the Stone Gargoyle guards the last gate. It's an original game in the style of an early-90s EGA or VGA PC, free and offline.

It's a proper adventure in miniature, with checkpoints, keys and a boss fight at the end.

Moving and fighting

Left and Right, or A and D, move the knight. Space, Up or X jumps. Z or Ctrl swings the sword. That big sword is your answer to most of the castle's dangers.

Swing at bats and skeletons. Skeletons take two hits, so don't turn your back on one after the first swing lands.

The castle's traps

Jump the spikes and ride the moving platforms. The spikes are the danger that the sword can't help with, so time your jumps carefully. Moving platforms need a little patience: wait for the platform to come to you rather than leaping for it.

Locked doors need a key, so explore each level to find one. Banners are checkpoints, so if you lose a life you start again from the last banner you passed. Hearts restore your health, which is welcome after a run-in with a skeleton.

Each level and the exit gate

Fight your way to the exit gate of each level. The levels climb up through the castle, and each one asks a little more of your jumping and fighting.

Taking your time pays off. Rushing into a room full of bats and spikes is a good way to lose health. Clear the enemies first, then deal with the jumps.

The Stone Gargoyle

At the top of the keep the Stone Gargoyle guards the last gate. Dodge its fireballs and its dives, and strike it until it crumbles. Like most boss fights, it rewards watching first: learn its pattern, find the moment when it's open, and strike then. Keep your health topped up on the way up so you arrive ready for it.

The early-90s EGA and VGA look gives Castle Knight rich stone walls, glowing torches and a hero who is easy to pick out against the background. It is the sort of platform game a PC owner of that time might have played on a rainy afternoon, made new and original here, and it is a good length for an evening once you know the levels.

Opening Castle Knight

Find Castle Knight on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, or press Ctrl+F and type knight. The title card explains how to play, F1 explains it again, Esc pauses and F11 fills the screen with the castle. The game pauses itself if you switch windows.

Your best score and plays are kept on the game's tile, in a scores file on your own PC. There are no adverts and no accounts, and everything from the knight to the gargoyle is drawn in code, with every sound synthesised the same way. If you enjoy climbing, Girder Climb on the same shelf has you scaling a building site while a grumpy goat kicks barrels down.