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The story involves Phoebe, a young inventor, and her AI companion Carlton, who is built into her robotic arm, and they are trying to set things right in the world. She can use cards to manifest physical beings with the help of Carlton to help protect the ones she loves. It’s a strategy RPG. What are the good things about Floppy Knights and where does this latest indie game fall flat?
8 Best: Every Floppy Knight Is Different
Every hero card in Floppy Knights is different from the last. Most of them are plant-based but there are other types to check out as well like a little purple goo ghost. The designs are not only different but every hero behaves differently too. No two characters are alike as far as attack patterns and card bonuses go. Barrel Cactus, for example, can attack all enemies surrounding it at once. Playing the card also deals a healing potion into the player’s hand. Experimenting is one of the best parts of strategy RPGs like this.
7 Worst: No Challenge Options
The downside to strategy RPGs over other RPGs is that they tend to be more difficult. Some have difficulty modes or assist options to help out the less hardcore. Unfortunately, Floppy Knights has no difficulty options or assist features to speak of. There are barely any options to speak of. The game may feel easy for the first two missions but starting with level three, the difficulty will keep getting more extreme. This might be good news for those looking for a harder game in general. For others, it may make Floppy Knights less attractive.
6 Best: Well Animated Characters
The heroes in Floppy Knights are great because of their gameplay variety. The graphics overall, including the hero and enemy designs, deserve praise as well. The maps may look a bit simple but there is a plus side to that.
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All of the characters on the map are well animated. They’re very bouncy which is fun considering the soundtrack is equally energetic. It’s not pushing any graphical boundaries but this is a good-looking indie game to be sure.
5 Worst: No Way To Grind
One way this game is challenging, besides lacking difficulty options, is that players can’t grind. If an RPG is too difficult, the solution is usually to grind until players get to a better level. There is no leveling-up system in Floppy Knights. Players can gain new and powerful cards by defeating stages or by crafting them. Crafting cards takes money and doesn’t require materials or anything extra like that. It’s a plus except for the fact that players can’t grind for gold by replaying stages. Taking the rewards out of the replay options is very strange.
4 Best: Free Actions
Card-based RPGs are one sub-genre that may initially scare some players away. Thankfully it’s nice to report that the card system in this game is easy to understand within five minutes. Not every action in the game requires cards to use either. Every hero character in the field is allowed one free attack option. If players wish for that hero to attack again then they need to use an attack card. Players don’t get a free move card, but at least characters get one freebie. That’s better than some other card-based RPGs.
3 Worst: Death On Leaders
The final reason why this game can be brutal is the losing conditions. If the leader card dies, that’s game over. This is true across all maps in Floppy Knights. It doesn’t seem fair when RPGs use this method of failure.
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The leader is most often the strongest character in the deck. However, using it in battle is risky because they could die at any moment. Like Chess regarding the King, it’s best to leave the leader at home which feels like a waste in a strategy RPG.
2 Best: You Can Skip Cutscenes
The story is not the best thing about this game. It’s not bad as the characters can be charming in their own quirky little ways even if they aren’t fully voiced. For players that wish to skip story in their RPGs, the option is present in Floppy Knights. Simply holding A will get the job done. That’s for console players at least. This may seem like a silly, simple feature to praise. However, one would be surprised by how many games force players to watch cutscenes. Every game that offers a skip or fast-forward option should be praised on some level.
1 Worst: Technical Issues
There are a couple of technical issues worth bringing up about Floppy Knights. There is only one save file. Players can change profiles on their Xbox Series X, for example, to start another game but that’s more complicated than it should be. The game only allows autosaves as well which hurts experimentation. The strangest problem in the game is that the cursor can sometimes freeze or disappear. If players are trying to select an option in the menu, there may be some lag associated too. It’s not something that persists a lot but it’s still worth noting.
Floppy Knights was released on May 24, 2022, and is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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