Similar Games
Castle of Heart Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
Castle of Heart is a fun platformer with an interestingly challenging twist. The levels are well designed, but depending on skill, they may not take too long. The story is your run of the mill " slay the bad guy and save the girl" plot, but that meshes perfectly with a world of knights and monsters.
Editor Update [June 8, 2018]: Castle of Heart received a major update after this review which addressed several of our concerns. As such, we have changed our or
From 7Levels comes CASTLE OF HEART, a classic action platformer that pays homage to those titles from the past and transforms gamers into a Knight who must
Input latency and levels that are too long without the ability to save keep Castle of Heart from being as fun as it ought to be. That being said, it’s certainly not a bad experience. It is quite nice to look at no matter how you play. If you can overcome the controller lag, Castle of Heart can quench the thirst for classic action platforming among diehard genre fans. For more casual players, mileage may vary.
Castle of Heart goes for that Souls level of challenge but without the nuance and balance needed to make that kind of difficulty satisfying. It's visually striking for an indie game but it needs some fine-tuning; for now it's mostly just frustrating.
With his friends and allies turned to stone, the love of his life kidnapped, and affliction that perpetually threatens his very existence, the stone-knight must survive the droves of enemies and myriad obstacles trying to end his very existence at every turn. Castle of Heart is an action platformer that is reminiscent of old school Nintendo platformers and brings a ton of weaponry, usable obstacles, and deep levels with secret areas. Nintendo fans rejoice and get ready for a new indie game that pays tribute to the Nintendo legacy.
But I didn’t care. And I suspect most other people will be in the same boat. Castle of Heart simply has nothing of substance to offer. It’s a ridiculously difficult game without the reward. It’s a dime-a-dozen aesthetic presented with technical proficiently but with no inspiration. It’s the wrong kind of indie game in that it’s utterly beholden to existing templates, but lacking the understanding of what really made those games great. And it fails to demonstrate any inquisitive or creative spirit, which is what makes indie games innovative, vibrant and, ultimately, worth playing.
Castle of Heart is a generic, infuriating, and ultimately underwhelming experience. It doesn’t even come close to emulating what made the old Castlevania games classics, as it just crams enemies and traps into levels and hope it works, rather than having coherent level design. If anything, all that Castle of Heart has done is reminded me of how good the old Castlevania games were and that this doesn’t fill that void that has been left behind.
2D action platformers have been the genre of choice for many gamers over the decades. Castle of Heart looks promising with its medieval setting and appealing visuals but does it deliver the old-school goods?