From first impressions, Muffin Knight looks like a game which you would normally find being promoted on Facebook which sees you receiving numerous unwanted invites. I’m glad that this turns out not to be the case with Muffin Knight and the game looks and plays very well on PC.
Muffin Knight sees you playing as a small child who manages to scatter an old lady’s muffins around a vast world and it’s up to you to retrieve what muffins you can. You begin the game playing as a knight who can fire arrows, but as you gather muffins, each muffin changes your character into a different role. To begin with you are a knight, an archer or a mage and each character has their own unique traits.
At the beginning of each level you are set a number of muffins you have to collect in order to progress to the next stage. Aside from having this set goal you also have a star rating out of 5 which takes into consideration how many muffins you’ve collected as there’s no limit on how many you can collect, although you only have one life.
Although the game isn’t greatly impressive graphically, the colours all stand out very well on the PC screen. As you progress through the levels, each level has you facing off against different enemies who all act the same. These levels vary in designs and range from a Christmas style levels, Halloween themed areas and various fantasy battlegrounds.
While some of the earlier levels feel uninspiring, levels soon change and become far more intricate and enjoyable. There isn’t much in terms of sound design in Muffin Knight. Each level comes with its own music style and some of the weapons do make noises, but one of the most annoying aspects of the game comes from the sound. Whenever your character changes, an elderly woman says what you have changed into. Having played the game for a few hours and unlocked every character, the sound of someone saying: “NINJA KITTY” at various times during a level does become infuriating.
The gameplay is simple and easily accessible to even those who are unfamiliar with games. Aside from shooting by using the ‘Z’ key or the ‘X’ button on a 360 pad, you only have to move your character using the directional buttons and precision platforming plays a huge part especially later in each level. The movement of the character works well enough, although using the keyboard isn’t as precise as it could be. If you have a PC controller then that would be the best way to play this even though I found both methods to be fun enough.
One of the features of the gameplay is that the enemies make their way from either the top of the area or the side and make their way to the bottom. If you fail to kill them before they reach the bottom, they’ll respawn at the top, but will be quicker and harder to defeat which adds a great sense of panic and makes every encounter different. The only problem with this method is that there isn’t much else to the game other than this. There are several levels which feeling the same and, although some levels are well thought out, a few of the levels merely feel like re-skinned battlegrounds. Although there are only 10 stages, Angry Mob Games have made it clear that they will be adding more soon.
Another gripe I have with Muffin Knight is that you aren’t able to select which heroes you play as. You can play as 18 characters, but you have to eventually unlock 15 of this 18 by playing through the levels and gathering as many muffins as you can. There have been times where I have enjoyed playing as the Archer or the Cyclops, but some characters aren’t as easy to play with such as the Panda or the Yeti which aren’t as precise as the other characters. While it does change the gameplay and make each experience different, there were times where I was desperate just to change my character as their powers are very weak or difficult to use.
This does play a part in Muffin Knight‘s charm, however. The degree of panic which difficult areas throw at you are rewarding if you manage to survive. The fact that you only have one life until you eventually unlock two lives is harrowing and allows you to learn the game before you proceed into the harder levels. The upgrading system sees you being able to upgrade each character with every experience level you gain. You receive experience no matter how far you get into a level and you are able to upgrade each character up to 3 levels. With each of these experiences levels, the character’s attacks become stronger and able to take out more enemies.
Muffin Knight is a relatively simple game executed very well. The simplistic art style and music helps to make the game memorable and easily accessible. While there is a co-op aspect, I haven’t been able to play this mode as of yet, but the singleplayer is an entertaining and intriguing experience. If you already own Muffin Knight on a mobile or tablet device, I would suggest that the PC version would be the strongest as the controls are precise and has a great ‘one more go‘ feeling if you fail a level. For those who entertain guests or have regular family visits then I’d suggest playing this as Muffin Knight is a very good game which appeals to everyone.
Muffin Knight is available now on Steam, iOS and Android devices.