Magic & Legend: Time Knights, from developer Legendary Monkey Magic and publisher The Retro Room, is an action platform title for the Game Boy Color. It started as a game jam entry in September 2021 before completion in Jun this year where a small physical print run was produced. In August this year, John Roo picked it up for his publishing house and pre-orders are available now for a new pressing.
You choose one of two kids to take on five-time travelling platform action levels. Each level is set in a different era of human history from ancient Rome to a jewel heist in London. You also have a new outfit and weapon that matches the time as you try to kill all the enemies. Once you have bashed all your foes you can leave the level through the time portal at the end of each stage.
The main difference between the two kids is melee and shooting. Magic uses hitting weapons such as axes and swords, while Legend fires projectiles such as arrows. You can switch between the two kid characters on the fly and this add some variety to the gameplay. There isn’t much difference between the weapons on the levels but some do feel more powerful than others.
You can attack enemies while on the ground or in the middle of a jump. It would’ve been nice to have a drop jump to traverse the levels quicker but the game doesn’t suffer without it. The collision detection is fine for most situations but there a few enemies that tend to ghost attacks on a few of the levels. But this actually helps create some variety as you need to time your attacks to the pixel.
There are also hearts scattered about that give you extra lives should you die at anytime. And while there isn’t much reason to go back through once you complete it the action is constant and never dulls. It’s also quite short, with all levels being beatable in under fifteen minutes. However, Magic & Legend: Time Knights succeeds in everything it sets out to achieve by being fun and accessible.
Overall, Magic & Legend: Time Knights is a fun game that will keep you entertained for a little while. The graphics are sleek if a little bland in places but this is made up for by the great looking pixel art for the levels. Anyone can find some joy playing this one but it’s aimed at younger gamers or those who are die-hard fans of platformers on Game Boy.
