Y’know? Despite not growing up playing neither of the inspirations for this little adventure, that being King’s Field and RuneScape, this game did manage to bring me back to the past, to remind of the old days… days I’d get dizzy as fuck playing rather crusty and busted-ass first person PC games to the point of getting a migraine… good times!

And that’s a kind of perfect way to start this, ‘cause FlyKnight feels like an homage first and foremost: an hour long nostalgia trip to those who grew up playing its inspirations of games that looked and played remotely similar for some, a little look into that brief period of time where early 3D gaming looked incredibly freaky in the best of ways for others that didn’t get to experience it, and a bit of a headache for a few. It describes itself as a ‘’little piece of a grand, much larger adventure’’, and buddy, don’t know how to tell ya this, but I think the length is as perfect as it is, because… well, hear me out…

Before 2023, I wasn’t that familiar with Game Jams; not trying any game that spawned from one helped that a lot, and so I sought to correct that as the year went on, and I’m extremely glad I did, because I like to think I’ve grown to not only respect all the games that spawn from these competitions, but also to have a better understanding of why some of them are the way they are. On some occasions you may get some absolute bonkers and fantastic full-blown experience like the amazing Yo-Noid! 2, but most of the time they are simple, short tales that either experiment with a particular mechanic, visual style or something that you couldn’t even imagine, they may sometimes turn into complete and longer experiences later down the line, but in the moment they are just a little bite, the kind of bite that has the potential to be delicious; the best Game Jam games I’ve played not only have a ton of heart and work poured into them, but they are also those that understand perfectly what they are, a concise, small experience with not that many mechanics that stills manages to feel complete a vision of the author/s idea realized into a format suitable to be developed in a really short time frame. And despites FlyKnight’s statement on its own page, this is a perfect example of a game that checks all of the boxes, almost to a fault.

If I had to describe FlyKnight in just two words, I’d probably choose ‘’controlled clunkiness’’, which aside of sounding like the most dumb term I’ve ever come up with in my life, I really think it’s the best way to define it: the camera is so slow and sometimes unresponsive that feels like the game is played using tank controls spite of using the mouse; attacks and just about every form of movement feel organic and like the character is taking the time to do the actions you command it, yet the hitboxes and complete lack of perspective in combat encounters make it feel super choppy; all the enemies are incredibly well designed and they even have independent health for each body part which can create different for the encounters to play out, but they are also super difficult to tack with the camera (specially the motherfucking punching beetle, I hate that son of a beetch with all of my soul) and the way the feel completely disconnected to the world and areas is both surreal in a good way and in a confusing way; the health system is very forgiving except foe when it decides to screw you over and do a bit of a , what we would call it in Spanish, canallada; the final boss is actually super well design and their area is the most visually stunning of the game, but avoiding area attacks taking into account how the stamina actively works against you it’s like trying to not get hit in dodgeball while having a blindfold on. Every single thing in this game is just tolerable enough to be playable while completely broken on purpose to be endearing, it’s not just an amazing looking game, it actually feels like what it wants to replicate and then some, and that’s an effort I respect, and effort that results in a charming, almost cute experience.

And that’s why I think it’s fine the way it is, because even if it lacks enemy variety or the weapons don’t feel distinct enough from each other or even if it does lose entirely the puzzle and maze like aspect of its inspirations and instead is way more linear and combat focused, I’ll take that over the game having those things and being longer in return, ‘cause in that case, the whole sloppiness would have been less tolerable. I like the way you are, FlyKnight, even tho I wouldn’t complain if another game gave a try to this visual style, with this gameplay, 1 hour is juuuuuust the right amount before it gets insufferable, as it is, it’s a joy of a bug-like adventure…

Also, do not ask players what they think of the final boss, believe me, you do NOT wanna know.