Good Knight

Coming back to this more than 3 years after the Good Knight craze went by and I still think about this game a lot... It is still one of the best Filipino passion projects I've stumbled upon, and I find myself craving the satisfaction that this game provides even 3 years after. I really really really love this game. But in all honesty I do think Good Knight is a game that not everyone (but a lot nonetheless) can enjoy and appreciate. Though I would say that this just goes for every bullet hell game that exists as well. It's meant to be visually cluttered and chaotic. But what I find very appealing and honestly very clever about Good Knight's game design is that, since the player just moves in a fixed circular direction, you don't need to mind all of the bullets at the same time, and there is a certain way to visually read the bullet patterns in the game that is very unique compared to all the shmups and bullet hells I've played in the past. Once you give the game enough time, your brain will pick this up automatically. For me, once you reach this point, that is when I would say you've just started playing the game for real. I say all of this technical stuff because what I love the most about the game is that although it has Super Hexagon-esque mechanics and Touhou-inspired bullet hell, Good Knight still manages to give you a unique game that needs a unique set of eyes that takes time to develop. It opens as a rage game, but it slowly unravels and metamorphoses into a puzzle game driven by mechanical skill and memorization, and it gives so much satisfaction to pass certain hard chokepoints. Take it from me, man. I've squeezed every ounce of juice i can from this game and I still find it fun. Level design is also superb in my opinion. It does a great job gradually introducing patterns. I remember when I started playing this game, there were some levels that had awkward transitions (levels seamlessly transition to each other in the game) and Alex (the dev) did fix them right away. The level design of the current state of the game is really really solid and very creative. Hats off. About the art and music, there really is nothing else to say about GK's visuals and OST apart from the fact that they're just perfect. Zaid and Ramon are just masters of their work, and it was nothing but an elevation of the already satisfying gameplay. This game is close to my heart, and this game is still the hidden gem of hidden gems for me. Thank you Team Good Knight for this game! p.s. Alex you are the bees knees p.p.s. Filipino difficulty when?!?!?! game too ez bro jk