Panzer Paladin (Steam) Review

While gaming has made huge strides in terms of mechanics and visuals over the past decade, it is an expected development. That is what gaming strives for, progress, to push things to the next level. What was less expected was the rise in popularity of indie titles that take a look back and try to capture the magic of those retro titles of times of yore. Shovel Knight and Undertale are both perfect examples of games that have broken the mold, excelling and perfecting their respective genres and introducing new concepts, ideas, and gameplay into them. What followed has been a slew of creators, designers, and developers trying to make their mark on capturing the same magic. Titles like Dead Cells, The Messenger, and Owlboy have also found success in the landscape of pixels and one of the latest of these is Panzer Paladin. Panzer Paladin offers up the experience of piloting a mech suit and the power that comes with it. Added in is a complex risk/reward weapon management system and dangerous sections only accessible outside of the mech. Panzer Paladin may just be what you need to scratch that nostalgia itch.

This art really captures the way it feels to play Panzer Paladin.

Panzer Paladin starts up like any good retro platformer, being introduced to the major threat and the basic gameplay. All over the world notable locations have come under attack from mythological entities. Each of these being prevalent in the local folklore of the culture they come from. Wendigo, Baba Yaga, Anubis, and more make an appearance. Each is stunningly designed in pixel art and I thoroughly enjoyed looking at this game from beginning to end. Intentional use of colors and design elements give characters and locations great visual appeal. The additional touch that each level also features is unique weapons specific to those levels helping create a stronger sense of world-building. The mech, the levels, the map, the cutscenes all look amazing and help give Panzer Paladin a distinct look despite being tied to a pixel-based art style. It’s nice that even after all these years that games can still establish a visual style within a medium that has been around for so long. I did make some comparisons to Mega Man X and Blaster Master many times throughout my time with the game. I can easily see this becoming a game that can be recognized at a glance.

Bosses reflect the mythology of the region they are from.

Panzer Paladin is an action platformer with lots of jumping across platforms and attacking enemies with melee weapons as well as throwing those weapons. A familiar backdash allows for quick dodging of enemy attacks. That part is pretty standard but where things get changed up from other games in the genre is the weapon management system. Weapons can be found all over. These weapons vary in reach and damage and after enough uses will break. Each weapon can also be intentionally broken to cast a spell that is held within. These spells can range from buffs in attack or defense, healing, damaging rays, and lightning bolts. Leftover weapons after completing a level can be committed to increasing your mech suit’s health bar. This creates an interesting economy within the game where decisions need to be made about what weapons to use. Saving weapons based on their spells and knowing when to break them becomes a crucial part of the gameplay. Too often I was careless and accidentally used a weapon to its breaking point when I was planning on using the spell held inside.

This weapon economy is pushed further as checkpoints that require players to give up one of their weapons to activate it. No weapon? No checkpoint. These checkpoints are spaced pretty far apart and are simultaneously a point of relief and contention as it can feel pretty disheartening to go back so far if you fail, especially if the only reason you died is a slightly missed jump versus losing your health. This happened multiple times and certainly, this is a result of the mech suit jump feeling heavy. While this makes sense, a good reliable-feeling jump is crucial for games with instant death pits.

Taking control of the pilot outside of the mech suit feels better. Armed with only a whip and a small stature that allows access to areas the mech cannot fit, the pilot is more agile overall. Here the jump feels more natural and the whip can be used to swing across larger gaps. Care must be taken though as along with the smaller size, comes a significantly smaller health bar too. This is perfect for breaking levels up and adding variety to the level design. Bosses all have distinct patterns of movement and attack and do offer a decent challenge, requiring various strategies of spell uses, weapon choices, and platforming, and dodging. With the limited lives per level, each attempt may just need every life at your disposal to learn a boss before obtaining victory.

Break the weapon, cast the spell.

The soundtrack is banging and adds a lot of energy to the feeling to the levels. The only thing I think that could be improved is if each boss had themes as well as the levels. I’ll settle for what is present though and what is there is real good, condensing 80’s power metal into chip-tune goodness and masterfully injecting it with local flavors unique to where in the world each level is located. I often found myself humming along and getting into the music throughout the game and have added a number of tracks into my regular listening rotation. Pat Bourgeault did a fantastic job, giving Panzer Paladin a distinct musical flavor.  The rest of the sound design is equally solid. Breaking weapons, attacks, jumps, and enemies all are given excellent sound effects that provide good audio cues for everything happening on screen.

Getting out of the mech suit feels different and dangerous.

Panzer Paladin has a lot to offer the action-platformer genre. While I struggle with the consequences of missing certain jumps, it’s unique weapon economy and blend of platforming styles with fantastic visuals and sound make this an excellent addition to any retro gamer fan’s collection. The additional modes, including speedrun, add some excellent replayability and certain challenges are sure to give some players their value for this excellent game. Simply said, Panzer Paladin is just super cool.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

VISUALS - 9.5/10

SOUND - 10/10

CONTROLS - 10/10

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

OVERALL - 9.1/10

More information about Panzer Paladin can be found on the official Tribute Games website. A digital Steam copy was provided for the purpose of review.