Gryphon Knight Epic is a combination of a Horizontal Shmup and an Action game featuring multiple sub weapons, potions and the ability to head multiple directions in order to discover secrets. We play as Sir Oliver and his fantastic mustache on a journey to save his friends that have fallen to corruption. Always on his trusty Griffin and armed with a crossbow the gameplay will instantly be familiar to anyone that’s ever played a shmup. Upon completing the tutorial you will be introduced to the Hubworld where you can choose which level to tackle on next, as well as buy items and weapon upgrades with your spoils of war.
Before heading out to a level you can also read about the lore of the person you are about to face to add some back-story to your next opponent instead of them being one of bosses. From the lands, to the enemies and even the weapons there is a surprising amount of lore to everything if you care to read about it but they are in no way necessary if you just want to play the game. Once you select your level you are given the choice of one of three difficulty modes. This is not the type of game where you get much stronger than you were at the beginning so any of the three are viable options from the start. As the games progresses you get more and more weapons but they are just different ways to fight your foes & not straight upgrades.
To obtain new weapons you must trek through the two levels that each stage contains and defeat the boss holding said weapon. Merely rushing through the stages will likely cause you to miss some very handy but well-hidden secrets that every level has in them. From a safe full of treasure to multiple magical stones that grant you permanent abilities like breathing underwater or sand there are a lot of goodies to be found for the sharp eyed player. What is really unique about this is that along with being able to take multiple paths to reach the end of a level you can also turn tail and go back to the beginning of the level scouring for secrets if you so wish. Enemies do respawn so you will be met with resistance however.
The most unique thing about this title is also its biggest flaw however. You will be attacked from both side of the screens but unfortunately turning to attack those on your rear also causes your gryphon to fly that direction making it likely you will crash right into an enemy if it’s too close and makes it all too easy to get devastated when there are environmental hazards along with enemies on your tail. To make matters worse turning around to face them even where there are no deadly hazards causes more enemies to spawn in from that side making the situation potentially worse and if you waste your time fighting them you will have flown back in the level quite a bit which in turn causes the enemies ahead of you respawn too. All of that ultimately makes attacking the foes behind you a bad idea and makes the controls feel extremely awkward.
It’s not enough to flat out ruin the game but simply adding a stop animation to hold your ground instead of instantly flying directly back into the hazards you just avoided. You have a life bar and can take quite a few hits as well as refill your health as long as you have potions so it is more bearable than it would have been if it was a one shot and you’re dead type of shmup. Putting that issue aside combat is a lot of fun and every stage has completely new and unique enemies for you to face so you’ll always be wanting to see what’s next. The promise of a new sub-weapon to mess around with if you can beat that stage’s boss is strong enough that I didn’t want to put the game down. From bows, slings and firework shooting cannons there is a lot of fun to be had experimenting with your arsenal.
Using a sub weapon drains your energy meter so you can’t spam their powers and makes you use it more wisely. All weapons share the same energy pool so there is no real point in switching if you ran out and are waiting for it to recharge. Accessing weapons is done via a weapon wheel that slows down time whenever you bring it up. Potions and squires are also brought up in the same menu. The problem with potions is that you won’t know what they do unless you paid attention to its exact shape and color when purchasing it. A minor issue that is easily solved after a bit of playing but having the name of the potion pop up when selected would have been a far better way to handle them.
Squires are basically a tiny ally that is always by your side with a wide variety of effects depending on which one you have equipped. One may revive you when you die, others simply increase the amount of gold you get and others will help you destroy enemies. As you can tell there is a lot of options available to combat that really sets it apart from any other shmup. One thing that takes some time to get used to is how large your hit box is. You will only take damage if a projectile hits Sir Oliver himself but since he is sitting up vertically he is a much larger target than what we are typically used to. Imagine controlling a paddle from Pong instead your typical ship.
Story is told via the lore and dialogue between your character and bosses as well as a few comic like cutscenes. It’s nothing that you will remember after turning off the game but it does the job and you can skip all dialogue at the press of a button if you wish. Music is catchy and the graphics are really well done. They are full of a ton of detail and the cutesy look of everything gives it a charming appeal. A single playthrough should be around 3 hours but with higher difficulties and tons of weapons at your disposal there is reason to replay it a few times. Not the longest of titles but every level is very unique and feels like the classic case of quality over quantity. While it may have some issues that are unlikely to be resolved after so long since its original release I’d still suggest it to anyone looking for a title that tries something different with the shmup genre.
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