Castle of Heart is a medieval action platformer developed by 7Levels.  The game is spread over 20 levels and in 5 different locations.  The knight in this tale has been cursed by a powerful sorcerer.  The village is in ruins and now the love of his life is gone.  Players are now tasked with rescuing her and restoring peace back to his home land.  The path that lies ahead is difficult and treacherous, but worth the time and effort with a little patience and practice.

The side-scrolling platformer is no doubt challenging, as your knight is slowly turning to stone due to the curse he now carries with him.  When dangerously low on energy, you will eventually lose one arm, making the quest incredibly daunting.  Once your health bar is completely emptied, you’ll crack and crumble till you break into pieces, marking an untimely end to your quest.  There are ways to combat this curse however and come out victorious.  Each checkpoint restores your entire health bar, while health orbs scattered and hidden throughout each stage will simply buy you more time to keep pushing forward.

There are many different types of enemies (soldiers, creatures and wizards to name a few) and luckily a wide selection of weapons to use against them during your journey.  This includes swords, bows, spears, knives and bombs.  Over 50 different weapons in total.

Each adversary you face in Castle of Heart has a specific attack pattern that you will have to learn in order to time your strikes correctly.  Learning these patterns are crucial for progressing through each level.  As your tactical skills increase, you’ll find yourself getting further in each area and eventually to the bosses that will punish you relentlessly until you discover their weakness.

Players will also face challenges in simply navigating through each level.  The platforming can be tough at times in regards to nailing jumps, swinging on ropes and getting past various obstacles.  There is a bit of lag that you must get accustomed to that can lead to what feels like cheap deaths at times.  Overall, it’s a minor chink in the armor once you get use to how the controls respond with each input.  It could use some more fine tuning, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker.

Key Features:

• 20 completely different levels in 4 beautiful environments loosely inspired by real life places such as the Giewont Mountain and the Hercules’s Mace;
• Over 50 types of weapons of both short and long range, allowing each gamer to find his own, individual combat style;
• HD Rumble support strengthening the immersion;
• At least 7 hours of addictive, exciting gameplay;
• Epic boss fights at the end of every location;
• Breathtaking graphic design

Conclusion

Castle of Heart for the Nintendo Switch offers a challenging medieval platformer with a unique approach that provides serious challenges throughout its 20 levels.  The enemies and bosses can crush you in short order without the proper strategy in place.  Overcoming these obstacles and defeating each area rewards players with a great feeling of accomplishment.  There isn’t anything quite like this on the Switch at the moment and it’s definitely worth picking up if you are up for the challenge.

Review Copy provided by 7Levels