Having played video games going back to the digital stone age, and having seen how titles and genres have evolved over the years, I’ve seen it all in many forms. Back when everything was more basic, from the graphics to the gameplay, both the developers and players were generally still figuring things out, so more simplistic games weren’t unusual, and could even be successful. Simply tackling a series of enemies with your limited weapons, trying to understand their attack patterns and work through them, could absolutely suffice. In that regard, I actually recognize some heritage behind Stormy Knights, and can appreciate what it appears its design goals were.

In it, you’ll start out as a very bare bones knight, armed with a simple shield, sword, and the ability to duck or jump backwards. It’s absolutely a humble beginning, and you aren’t likely to get all that far initially, but that’s just the game’s starting point. As you get better at combat, understanding enemy attack patterns and how best to counter them, you’ll slowly begin accumulating coins and an improved understanding of how to beat your foes. Using those coins between rounds you’ll then begin to build your character up for future runs, adding oomph to your attacks, strength to your defenses, and even a new powerful attack.

The problem is, even though you’ll continue to become more effective and lethal, capable of blowing through your initial enemies more and more quickly as you improve your skills and get stronger, the returns for your efforts generally remain quite low stakes. You’ll continue to gain more gold coins, which you can then use for more upgrades, which will then make you better at accumulating more gold coins quicker… but it just really leads to more grinding. Granted, roguelikes and some other arcade-style games go this same route, so I can respect how people can get hooked on it, even if it’s repetitive, but here the rewards just feel much more limited, outside of getting to see what the next unlock may be. Perhaps it’s enough for some gamers, but there are much more satisfying grind loops out there to check out before this one.