Battle Princess Madelyn came out last December by Causal Bit games for all the major systems, even the Wii U and Vita. This was a Kickstarter Project that raised over $212,000 when the goal was $60,000. We looked at the Kickstarter back in 2017 when it was first funded. Check out the article by Joanna here.
The game starts off in the bedroom of a young girl, probably around 10 years of age. She is busy playing a game named BuildyKraft when Grampy enters. He says he is there to keep her company since she is sick. She tries to convince him to watch her play BuildyKraft. He has a better idea. He has a story to tell her about a warrior princess who actually has the same name as her. A coincidence I’m sure. Does this sound familiar at all to you? If it reminds you of The Princess Bride movie, we are on the same page.
When Grampy’s story starts you see a village on fire and a skeleton going after the townsfolk when a girl with a spear takes him out. This is our heroine Madelyn, called Maddi for short. Maddi has a cute little dog she calls Fritzy. Unfortunately as soon as we meet him, Fritzy is killed by a monster that can shoot lightning. This is where the part where you play kicks in.
There is no Truer Ending Than the Grave.
Battle Princess Madelyn, starts your adventure in the Boneyard of the Royals. Your team consists of Maddi, Gramps and ghost Fritzy to help you on your way. Maddi attacks with spears that she can throw any direction including up and down. Skeleton enemies will pop up from the ground to attack you with bats and other zombies thrown into the level for good measure. The levels are very open and require a lot of exploration giving it a Metroidvania vibe. If you have played Super Ghosts n’ Goblins a lot of things will feel very familiar to you. The way Maddi moves and is animated is very similar to Arthur. Even the way you disrobe after getting hit is the same. Starting by losing your armor and layers of clothes. Though Maddi is more modest so the furthest she goes is down to her nightgown, not her skivvies like poor Arthur.
“Pay respect to the fallen! They may return the favor!”
The controls in Battle Princess Madelyn are very good so that definitely helps you get through the level. You have the ability to backtrack and to talk to the townsfolk to get advice and items for your quest. Fritz the ghost puppy has the ability to bring you back to life if he has enough magic power. Be sure to take out as many enemies as possible to keep his magic points filled because when you get to the level “boss” you are going to need all the lives you can get. He definitely is challenging to beat! As long as Fritz has magic power if you die you can try again right where you left off. If he runs out you go back to your last save point. So there are no real game overs here.
Challenging but not impossible difficulty
Battle Princess Madelyn has a few different game options to play. Traditional story mode and arcade mode where you do a lot more item collecting and boss fights. You even get to choose if the music is traditional bit tune music or orchestral. The game definitely takes inspiration from a few different things but works well since Princess Bride and Ghosts n’ Goblins are both cool. I appreciate that the difficulty level in this game isn’t nearly as high as Gn’G. I actually feel like there is a chance I can actually beat this game! Hopefully when you get to the end the game it doesn’t say we have to start the game over. Nothing like beating the game a second time to get the true ending!
Battle Princess Madelyn doesn’t do anything really new or innovative. Though if you love retro, action platforming games that have a bit of a challenge this is a fun one to check out. Causal Games really pays homage to some awesome sources.
