Battle Princess Madelyn is a side-scrolling platform game about a young knight in training and her ghost dog. It came out in 2018 on PlayStation 4, PC, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Casual Bit Games developed it, and Hound Picked Games and Casual Bit Games published it. It is a single-player game, and it holds a 6.6 out of 10 on the IGDB critic aggregate, drawn from seven outlets.
Trailer, via Hound Picked Games.
Madelyn and Fritzy
The setup is simple and old-fashioned. Madelyn is a knight in training. Her pet dog Fritzy is a ghost. An evil wizard has taken her kingdom and her family, and the two of them set out to get both back.
Battle Princess Madelyn is a game that follows the journey of a young knight in training, Madelyn, and her ghostly pet dog, Fritzy.
That is the whole premise. A girl, a dead dog, a wizard, a kingdom. It does not pretend to be anything else.
A Platformer With Adventure Bones
Battle Princess Madelyn is filed under platform, adventure, indie and arcade. The side view puts Madelyn and Fritzy on a flat plane. The fantasy theme carries the wizard, the kingdom and the ghost dog.
The Problem With the Wizard
The game has one clear idea: a knight and her ghost dog. It leans on that idea hard. What it does not do is build much past it. A wizard is a wizard. A kingdom in danger is a kingdom in danger.
Where It Ships
| Platform | Release year |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 2018 |
| PC (Microsoft Windows) | 2018 |
| Wii U | 2018 |
| PlayStation Vita | 2018 |
| Xbox One | 2018 |
| Nintendo Switch | 2018 |
Six platforms in one year is a wide spread for an indie game. It also means the game had to run on the Vita and the Switch at once, which is a real constraint, not a marketing line.
The Verdict on Battle Princess Madelyn
6.6 out of 10 is the score the IGDB critic aggregate gives it, across seven outlets. Battle Princess Madelyn is competent. It is not memorable.
What matters here is the gap between the idea and the execution. Madelyn and Fritzy are a good pair. The wizard, the kingdom and the family are furniture. It is a 2018 indie platformer that shipped everywhere and stood out nowhere.
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