To note, a code was provided for review by Ratalaika Games.

Daggerhood has the easiest controls to learn. They’re shown to you the moment you enter the game and they are dead simple. However, when it comes to master the same controls in order to pass the later levels, it’s a different story. To complete a level you will have to die; repeatedly.

Press Start

Story

The story isn’t the main focus of the game. You play as Vincent S. Daggerhood, a master thief. Daggerhood lived a happy life through his crimes. However, his good luck runs out as he is caught by the ‘law’ and is thrown down a well. Obviously, Daggerhood isn’t a fan of this and spends his time in the well plotting his revenge. His plan is to steal from the head honcho himself, The King.

A harsh punishment for poor Daggerhood

It’s all about the gameplay

The game is divided into 5 chapters with each one containing 20 levels. At the end of each chapter, you encounter a boss fight. The bosses in Daggerhood are no joke! I found them both hard and challenging.



The gameplay is a two buttons affair- jump and throw your dagger. This layout reminds me of Celeste’s easy to understand controls. However, what’s different from Celeste is that both action buttons have an additional action when you double tap them. The jump acts as a double jump and the shooting teleports you to the current location of your dagger.

The combination of these two actions makes the levels seems easy but they definitely are not! Especially if you want to get all the achievements in the level.



The achievements are divided into three categories:

Items to collect – you have 5 items in each levels that you can collect. Time based additional item – this item is called a Fairy. You can collect it in a specific time frame. If you are too late it will disappear. Time – Each level has a time challenge that you can try to beat. If you beat the time for the level you will be awarded three stars.

Getting all of the three achievements in a single run is pretty hard. Luckily, you don’t have to get all three to progress in the game. They’re mostly there for completionists or people that love a challenge.

Further challenges include obstacles in the levels. The game throws different elements at you inside the levels. You have to collect them in order to destroy a specific blocks or obstacle and pass a specific point.

The Dagger

The movement in the game feels great. It’s fluid and the platforming is really easy to pick up. The mechanic of the teleporting dagger adds something new. It helps build new and exciting levels and gives the player a chance to experiment when reaching goals. For example, in some cases you can double jump to reach a place or throw your dagger and get there faster.

On the other hand, the dagger has a down sides too. You have to be very precise when you push the button because one millisecond too late and you’ll be killed by spikes. The dagger is also used for killing enemies and some bosses.

Watch out for spikes!

Art and Music:

The pixel art design of the game is great, the character is well defined and the surroundings look great. To complement this, the music is fast paced and upbeat. Because of this, it can sometimes trick you into rushing through a screen, causing you to make mistakes!

Issues:

My only gripe with Daggerhood is the story. When compared to the afore mentioned Celeste, the story here is only a décor to the game’s locations. Therefore, it doesn’t make you feel anything for the character, which is a bit of a disappointment.



Summary:



Daggerhood is a great game, the only downside is the story- if you care about one.



The platforming is so much fun and makes you want to keep trying until you finally overcome the level, or reach a collectable in the level.

The game sells for $4.99 on the Nintendo eshop. For this price you are getting a really great platforming game. It will test your abilities and make you proud of yourself after finishing the harder levels.

That’s why I give Daggerhood by Ratalaika Games my rating of

What do you think about Ratalaika Games games on the Switch? Did you like Dan’s review? Will you be picking up Daggerhood? Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter or Discord.

Here’s a review of another Ratalaika Game.

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