Peasant Knight review for PS Vita, PS4, Switch

I?ve always been kind of impressed by anyone who can do speed runs — largely on account of the fact I?m completely unable to pull them off myself. When it comes to platformers, I?m usually the kind of person who likes to take their time on every level, thinking about what I want to do next before I do it.

As such, it?s fun to play a game like Peasant Knight and get a taste of what it?s like to be able to do speed runs. This isn?t because I?ve suddenly changed my approach to platformers, but rather because there?s literally no other way to play this game. It?s basically a twitch platformer where you have a very short amount of time to finish most levels, and if you don?t jump and stop with near-perfect precision, you?ll die.

While such an approach could easily have been derailed by poor level construction or lousy controls, Peasant Knight works because it gets those things right. The levels are all short and easy to memorize (assuming you don?t get them on your first try, which, after level 15 or so, you probably won?t), which means that you?ll be able to figure out the necessary timing pretty quickly. Likewise, the controls are easy to grasp (in part because the eponymous knight?s default mode is moving forward), and responsive enough that you?ll be able to jump and stop on a dime as need be.

Plus, of course, since this is a Ratalaika-published game, there?s a somewhat easy Platinum to be had — two of them if you play the game on both PS4 and Vita.

And even if you don?t give a whit about trophies, Peasant Knight is still worth checking out. It?s a fun, inexpensive game that knows what it wants to be, and is more than capable of meeting its goals. If that doesn?t count as a success, I don?t know what does.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Peasant Knight PS4/Vita code for review purposes.