Battle Princess Madelyn - Girls can fight too

Developer Causal Bit Games
Genre Platformer
Game modes Single Player
Players 1
Reviewed on PC

Available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One

Where to buy Steam

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Published April 25, 2017

Indie games are labours of love. In this case, Battle Princess Madelyn was a game created to prove that even girls can be knights and trust me, Maddie is one tough cookie too. A side-scroller in the same vein as Ghouls ‘n Ghosts – it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. Now, bear in mind that Battle Princess Madelyn is still in alpha – and the issues I’ll raise will either get fixed or change. I suspect, though, that the core of this game will not. So if there’s anything worth noting – it’s these last two lines.

Battle Princess Madelyn starts off with a bang. A short cutscene inspired by games of old, where our heroes seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time sets the tone. Within a few seconds, the hordes of undead in the swarm Maddie and her companions – and they’re hungry for some breakfast. And so it falls onto Maddie to defeat these untimely invaders. So begins Battle Princess Madelyn.

The pace the game runs at is sometimes eye-wateringly fast. The point is to keep moving to stay alive. After all – your enemies are faster and more lethal than you want them to be. The controls plug into a simple dynamic: press a button, fire a spear. Mash the button and you’ll keep the undead army at bay, as long as you react quickly enough. You can either use your analogue sticks or DPAD. The right and left shoulder buttons switch between Maddie’s attacks combined with her ghost dog’s or just her own.

Battle Princess Madelyn is a pretty game, even if its visuals are decidedly “retro”. The developers’ uses of lighting effects and aberration add to the visual flair of the game and the hand-animated movements are real eye-candy. It’s in the little details. Skeletons stick their heads out before they hop out and charge at you, bosses have some truly unique (and humorous) animations and little blobs of slime literally ooze around to attack you. This is a pretty game indeed.

When it comes to sound – both the sound effects and music are excellent. You have a choice between an orchestral and arcade soundtrack. Both are great. I chose the arcade, because, well, what better a set of music to go with the visuals, right? Then there are the little blips and bleeps, weapon strike sounds and faux-voice work. I felt almost as if the sound felt deliberately 8-bit. That brought a feeling of nostalgia, of a time long passed.

The memories don’t stop there though. Even for a Dark Souls masochist like myself, I found Battle Princess Madelyn difficult. The combination of frantic pace and punishing enemy attacks were frustrating and enjoyable at times. This isn’t a game you just blast through – there’s an element of patience involved. A big part of survival is watching enemy movements before reacting. Certain enemies fire projectiles and the developers designed them to hit you if you decide to run through without pausing. The same goes for the melee types. You’re more likely to die trying to avoid a ranged attack, only to fall into an enemy in the midst of a charge animation.

In some ways this is frustrating. Maddie’s inability to defend herself close-up becomes annoying. Several respawns later when you’re at the beginning of the level again – you’re going to wish for some kind of evasion or defences. Perhaps it’s asking too much, given Battle Princess’s source material. Who knows? Maybe some adjustment to enemy movements could prove beneficial to the flow of combat. Another issue for me was the fact that in the heat of combat, I never knew when Maddie wasn’t going to be able to attack. Several untimely deaths later – the need for caution felt on par with frustration. With one swiftly taking over the other at seemingly random times. There is some clear balancing work needed here.

If like me, you fell in love with Danny o’ Dwyer’s brilliant documentary on mystery – this is a game you’d appreciate. Battle Princess has so many hidden passages throughout each level – and finding them is wonderful. Some let you face fewer enemies. Others give you items if you can find a way to interact with the ghosts and statues in the game. I love this, and the fact that the developers have taken the time to implement these small things – well, colour me impressed. Another touch I appreciated is that once you’re past the second level, you have a chance to go back to a village where you can take on side quests, enhancing replayability. It’s not often we see developers taking the high road and hiding things from players so that they can discover more of the game world.

Now that I’m done showing my age – let’s talk snags, for there are many. Maddie has a tendency of falling through levels if attacking too much walking down stairs. She also cannot attack enemies if they are below her – forcing me to backtrack, and then face enemies which have respawned. The jumping and dodging mechanics are also not quite as responsive as I’d like them to be. It’s a point of concern when your protagonist needed to be sprier than your enemies. I hope that the developers iron this out as it’s a critical factor preventing me from enjoying this title more.

Now, I liked the level design that I saw – but certain ledge and boxes which I should’ve been able to climb onto were not available – leaving my ultimately dissatisfied with level navigation. The A.I. needs a fair amount of work as well. I found enemies running away from me while attacking me from behind, only to turn back and attack. They also have a tendency to fall into the water way too often.

Lastly, the level selection map needs some navigation improvements. Games like Super Mario 3 did this well by offering straight paths to each level. A simple press of a button should take me where I need to go. Instead, I’m forced to figure out which button the game wants me to play. I trust that this is something that can be ironed out later on.

In conclusion – Battle Princess Madelyn is a title with plenty of promise. The developers worked hard, you can see it from the hand-drawn art design to the quirky animations and excellent music. I understand the game is a pre-release alpha and the issues highlighted will most likely be fixed. In truth, games like Battle Princess Madelyn make me understand what I love most in games: focus on gameplay and mechanics, solid level design and most importantly mystery. I wish there were more developers out there who put as much effort into these three things – we’d certainly see more happy gamers out there if there were.

We’ll put out a full review once the game sees full release.

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Gaming / Tech / Entertainment Author at Geek Node

Zubayr could be defined as any one of these traits: Grizzled, optimistic, jaded, blunt, opinionated, irreverent and reserved. His experience was once carbon dated to the glory days of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. It still amazes him how irrelevant those have become these days.Some say his tears generate DLC unlock codes, and that the WASD combination was discovered by his typo while on Yahoo Chat.