One of my favorite video game genres is the platformer. The indie video game industry has been great for the genre in recent years as most of the best games have come from indie studios. With it being one of the most popular indie genres though, this means there can be a pretty big range in the quality of games. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of average to bad platformers to find a good one. Today I am looking at the newly released platformer Sir Lovelot which intrigued me a lot when I first saw it. The gameplay reminded me a lot of games like Super Meatboy, and the overall theme seemed charming. Sir Lovelot might be kind of short and not the most original platformer, but it features really satisfying gameplay making it a game that fans of platformers should love.
In Sir Lovelot you play as the titular Sir Lovelot. He is a knight that is on a quest to find the love of his life. To find it he is willing to roam the entire kingdom of Lululand. Along the way he will have to fight off dangerous creatures as he gathers presents to give to the next lady that he meets. Can Sir Lovelot find his true love, or will he be stuck forever on his journey for love?
To its very core Sir Lovelot is a 2D platformer. Each level consists of a number of connected screens. The objective of each level is to reach the next tower and potential love interest. In your journey though you will have plenty of obstacles to overcome. You are given a double jump and the ability to wall jump. Later in the game you will also get the ability to swim as well as use other objects such as springs to help you proceed.
To deal with the enemies that get in your way you also have a ranged weapon that has unlimited ammo. If Sir Lovelot gets hit by an enemy or other object, he will immediately be killed. When you die you will be sent back to the entrance that you used to enter your current screen.
Sir Lovelot doesn’t want to reach the potential love of his life without anything to give her though. So while jumping between platforms and avoiding enemies and other obstacles, there are a bunch of collectibles to pick up. Each level will have a number of gifts to pick up to impress the lady in the next tower as well as gold coins and hidden ducks/geese. In many of the screens there are fake walls that hide passageways. These mostly hide collectibles, but can also have shortcuts that allow you to skip the most difficult parts of a screen. When you reach the end of a level you will receive a score based on the number of gifts and coins you pick up, how many of the ducks/geese you find, and whether you completed the level before losing a given number of lives.
When I first saw Sir Lovelot it reminded me a lot of games like Super Meatboy and other indie 2D platformers that were built around short levels and precise platforming. While it might not be exactly the same, those familiar with this genre of games will feel right at home. The basic gameplay involves getting from point A to B while also picking up some collectibles along the way. Basically your feelings about the 2D platforming genre will likely translate to Sir Lovelot as well. I enjoyed my time with the game. The game gets right to the point as it mostly entails jumping between platforms while avoiding obstacles and enemies.
I think the main reason why Sir Lovelot succeeds is because the platforming is really satisfying. This can mostly be attributed to the fact that the controls are really precise. When you die in the game it will be your fault. The movement and jump controls in particular are really precise which are key for this type of game. Jumping requires a decent amount of precise timing, but it isn’t one of those games where you have to make pixel perfect jumps in order to avoid dying. The game gives you some leniency allowing you to recover if you slightly miss a jump. The controls allow the gameplay to be really quick as you can jump and otherwise traverse the gameworld quite quickly. The levels are pretty short where you are able to finish a level within a couple minutes. The controls are key for this genre of games, and Sir Lovelot nails them.
Most of the video games from this genre of precision 2D platformers pride themselves on their difficulty. While I would say that I am usually pretty good at platformers, there are plenty of gamers that are considerably better at the genre than I am. I personally would classify Sir Lovelot as a moderately difficult game. The difficulty can be kind of up and down. There are some sections that are pretty easy, and others that are quite difficult. You will likely die a number of times in each level, but it never really reaches the level where it becomes frustrating. If you want to add to the game’s difficulty, I would recommend trying to get all of the collectibles as these led to a lot of my deaths as some require you to make some difficult jumps. I think the game finds the right level of difficulty where it is challenging without becoming frustrating. If you are looking for a real challenge though, you likely will be disappointed.
While I had quite a bit of fun playing Sir Lovelot, there really isn’t anything about the gameplay that is particularly original. I can’t really recall any mechanics that I haven’t seen used in other games from the 2D platforming genre. The game does a good job with its mechanics to make them enjoyable. If you are looking for a game that brings something new to the table though, you may be a little disappointed. This doesn’t mean that the game is bad (it isn’t), it just fails to really differentiate itself.
In general I thought Sir Lovelot’s overall theme was pretty good. The game uses a pixel graphical style which I thought worked well for the game. Those who hate the pixel style, probably won’t like it, but I thought the game looked nice. The game utilizes a more cartoony look which is charming and should work well for the whole family. The music is pretty good as well. The game’s story is pretty limited as it basically entails moving from castle to castle to try and find Sir Lovelot’s true love. I personally didn’t have strong feelings about the story as it is not bad, but not really anything special either.
As for its length, Sir Lovelot is not a particularly long game. The game features a little over 40 levels in total. Most of the levels feature four to ten different screens. I would say that most of the levels could probably be beat within 2-8 minutes. How much time you get out of the game will really depend on what type of player that you are. If you are okay with just doing the bare minimum needed to advance in the game, I am guessing you can beat the game in around 2-2.5 hours. Each of the levels feature quite a few collectibles though. Some of the hidden locations are quite hard to find as well. My tip would be to try to wall jump on every wall that you can reach as that is the best way to guarantee that you will find all of the fake walls. If you wanted to 100% all of the levels I would guess that it will take around 3-4 hours.
I genuinely enjoyed my time with Sir Lovelot. To its very core the game doesn’t strive too far from the typical platforming formula, but it didn’t really have to. The game succeeds because the gameplay is really fun. The controls are quite precise where the deaths are your fault, and the jumping just feels really satisfying. I would say the game is moderately difficult as it can be challenging at times, but never reaches the frustrating level. The theme is pretty charming as well. Honestly the game’s biggest fault is just that it is kind of short. Most players should be able to beat the game within two to four hours.
If you generally don’t like platformers like Super Meatboy or want a highly unique or really hard game from the genre, Sir Lovelot may not be for you. Those looking for a fun and charming little platformer though should enjoy and consider picking up Sir Lovelot.
Buy Sir Lovelot online: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S
We at Geeky Hobbies would like to thank pixel.lu for the review copy of Sir Lovelot used for this review. Other than receiving a free copy of the game to review, we at Geeky Hobbies received no other compensation for this review. Receiving the review copy for free had no impact on the content of this review or the final score.
