Gryphon Knight Epic. It’s a side scrolling shoot’em up. Honestly I didn’t expect anything good out of this but I was wrong. I actually liked this game quite a lot and I’ll tell you why.
Let’s start with the plot of this game. Kingdom of Valiant Sky gets attacked by a dragon. The beast ravages through the kingdom scorching everything in his way. Not only does he damage and devastate the kingdom but the dragon also kidnaps the king’s daughter. The king asks for help from his loyal champion: Gryphon Knight Oliver. Oliver calls for his loyal friends and mighty warriors. Together they defeat the dragon and save the princess. Then Oliver's friends raid the dragon’s mountain of treasures, each grabbing not only the riches but also the dragon’s weapons. Oliver only takes a strange looking talisman. Years go by, Oliver marries the princess and she gives birth to his son. Everything is going fine until a new disaster strikes. The kingdom once again gets invaded but this time it is Oliver’s copy. Turns out the amulet that Oliver wore all this time removed his evil dark side. But that’s not all, all of Oliver’s friends turn rogue and starts to abuse their lands. Oliver takes his trusty crossbow, mounts his gryphon Aquila and flies forward to try to fix everything once again.
Now let’s move to the gameplay section. As I said previously it’s a shoot'em up. It has the same features as the NES game Talespin, meaning our knight can turn his gryphon the other way to fly back when it's required or whenever he wants it. Our weapon has two firing modes: regular and charged shots, the second one will drain magic points. Mana regenerates on its own after a short period. We also have secondary weapons we can set in place of our charge shot. Those weapons we get from the bosses. Those weapons are: bow, saber, lance, sling, magical wand and fireworks cannon. Each weapon can be upgraded three times in the shop. The saber shoots a wave that goes through obstacles. The bow shoots a wide spread of arrows, the lance gives you a dash forward move, the wand will shoot a ball that explodes in a vertical column shape, and the sling will unleash a couple of homing stones. The fireworks cannon shoots fireworks that stay on one place and continuously damages enemies.
Next Oliver has potions to aid him. We have regular healing potions that heal three hit points. Energy potions will give you short mana regeneration. Bomb potions are a clear screen from enemies (a common feature in a shmup). Shrink potions will make your hit box smaller for a while. Invincibility potions make you invincible for 10 seconds. Familiar energy potions...these restore energy of your familiar to the max. Berserk potions double your shot speed for a period of time, and there are potions that show enemy HP.
Next we have familiars. Like most shmups we have some little helper who will one way or another aid us in our journey. The first is the knight familiar, when he has energy he will shield us from an attack. Second is dragon familiar, he’ll just shoot fireballs at enemies. Third one is dwarf familiar, the higher his energy level the more bonus money we will get from enemies. Witch covenant familiar will have three witches flying up, down and behind you and shoot at enemies. Fairy familiar, she will revive you when you run out of HP, but I’ve never really had a chance to use her, due to focusing on a boss and forgetting about familiars at the moment. Vampire familiar will increase chances of heal crystals appearing after you defeat an enemy. Lastly duck familiar...duck’s useless.
Last things to help Oliver on his journey are runes. They are hidden in the levels and you need to find a way to discover an entrance to the rune shrine. Those runes are breath rune, to explore under water or quick sands. Dash rune unlike the Lance it does not give us immunity frames. But you can dash in all directions (once it’s fully upgraded). The other three runes are passive bonuses runes for HP, MP, movement and charisma. Just like weapons, runes can be upgraded in the shop.
Well that’s it. I liked this game and can recommend it. The pace of the levels is mild and it won’t take long to reach a boss. Graphics are beautiful, pixel art made with quality. Bosses are quite easy and won’t take long to learn their patterns. You start with 5 lives and once again I’ve never run out of them. The OST is kind of mid I say for a shmup but it doesn’t bother me.
Mild ost but it fits.
