Panzer Paladin

When you want to feel like a powerful mech rider carving through massive demons, Panzer Paladin just can’t be beat.

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In "Panzer Paladin", pilot the Paladin power armor and wield weapons seized from the demonic hordes to save humanity. Forge and share custom melee weapons through the Steam Workshop, and prepare for a showdown between technology and the occult. Experience thrilling platforming action and intense battles in this action-packed game.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

76%

Audience ScoreBased on 362 reviews

gameplay63 positive mentions

grinding16 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and an engaging soundtrack that captures the retro aesthetic perfectly.
The weapon system is innovative, allowing players to break weapons for unique spells and manage their inventory strategically.
The level design is reminiscent of classic platformers, providing a nostalgic experience while still offering modern gameplay mechanics.

The game suffers from frustrating difficulty spikes, particularly with instant-death pits and poorly placed enemies.
The controls can feel sluggish and imprecise, making platforming sections more challenging than they should be.
The lack of meaningful upgrades and the repetitive nature of enemies and weapons can lead to a monotonous gameplay experience.

gameplay
201 mentions
31 % positive mentions
62 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Panzer Paladin" is a mixed bag, featuring a blend of interesting mechanics like weapon durability and character swapping, but often suffers from repetition and clunky controls. While some players appreciate the nostalgic retro feel and the challenge of mastering its systems, others find the level design uninspired and the mechanics underdeveloped, leading to frustration. Overall, the game offers a satisfying experience for fans of classic platformers, but its execution leaves room for improvement.
- “A straightforward retro action platformer with interesting mechanics, appealing spritework, a rocking soundtrack, and just enough hidden secrets to make you feel smart for finding them.”
- “Beautiful art, great characters, satisfying gameplay mechanics that take some time to master... it's all here.”
- “The gameplay in Panzer Paladin is fast-paced and satisfying.”
- “The whole mechanic of getting out of the mech is certainly interesting, but outside of that, it doesn't really seem to fit very well in the rest of the levels since you can't activate checkpoints nor collect weapons with her, so you are forced to either find a healing item for your mech (which there aren't many through most levels), die to respawn, or complete the rest of the level as a very weak player character.”
- “The game is fun during the first two levels or so - but once you realize that the game is not going to introduce any new mechanics or challenges throughout the campaign, the gameplay loop quickly wears out its welcome.”
- “The gameplay feels rather simple, and it gets old and tedious fast.”
music
142 mentions
68 % positive mentions
30 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers highlighting its engaging and well-composed tracks that evoke nostalgia for classic 8-bit and retro soundtracks. Players appreciate the variety of themes across different stages, as well as the option to switch between modern and 8-bit versions of the soundtrack. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that enhances the gameplay experience, often described as catchy, memorable, and reminiscent of beloved classics like Mega Man and Ninja Gaiden.
- “The music in the game during stages as well as boss fights is so engaging and very well composed.”
- “The music is incredible, right up there with the soundtracks of Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man II.”
- “The soundtrack is fantastic and really feels like a tier below the classic Mega Man soundtracks, but only one tier below.”
- “The soundtrack is uninspired.”
- “I think the song from the sewers on the final set of levels is the only one that stood out to me as being particularly good; everything else was forgettable.”
- “The art is nice, as is the music, but the core gameplay feels lacking, even for the era it is stylistically trying to emulate.”
graphics
83 mentions
59 % positive mentions
37 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The graphics of *Panzer Paladin* are widely praised for their vibrant, retro-inspired pixel art that evokes nostalgia for classic 8-bit and 16-bit games, particularly reminiscent of the NES era. Reviewers highlight the detailed character designs, colorful backgrounds, and fluid animations, which contribute to an engaging visual experience. However, some players note that the busy color palettes can occasionally make it difficult to distinguish between foreground and background elements, detracting from the overall clarity of the gameplay.
- “The graphics are well-detailed and bright (the backgrounds in particular), the controls are tight and responsive, and the core gameplay loop prompts experimentation in using your weapon loadout.”
- “The artwork itself is nothing short of amazing, everything is exceptionally detailed from backgrounds to characters, and nearly all character and stage animations have clear cues to help give you an idea of how to react to a given situation.”
- “Presentation wise, Panzer Paladin is a gorgeous game to look at, with graphics that are evocative of classic 80’s platformers.”
- “Despite being professionally produced, there's inexplicable, obsolete 2D retro pixel art used instead of proper PC graphics.”
- “Due to the lazy pixel art being used instead of contemporary PC graphics, the visual quality here is very low.”
- “The color palette and art style are also not to my taste; it can get really blocky and hard to discern backgrounds and foregrounds at times.”
story
54 mentions
22 % positive mentions
72 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally regarded as simple and lighthearted, with a campy charm that complements its gameplay. While it features interesting characters and a unique setting involving an android and her mech battling evil, many reviewers feel that the narrative lacks depth and could benefit from more development. Overall, the story serves its purpose without overshadowing the engaging gameplay, but some players express a desire for a more memorable and fleshed-out narrative experience.
- “This is a gem that takes known gaming tropes, mushes them together gracefully, has tight controls, a cool story, and plenty of challenges along its decent runtime.”
- “I love the campy story and the fun characters.”
- “The story is played out in cheesy 70's anime style, and it's clear the devs put a lot of passion into the presentation, because despite a limited color palette and pixel density, they did a bang-up job making it look sleek and stylized, right down to the loading screens for the levels themselves.”
- “Despite the multiple ending variations, the game has a fairly light storyline.”
- “Panzer Paladin features short cutscenes that are meant to expand on the world and character motivations, but as a whole the story that’s told is very sparse and surface level.”
- “Story isn’t always associated with retro platformers, but I would have preferred the developers either flesh out the narrative more or just forego it altogether.”
grinding
16 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and slow, with repetitive level design and a frustrating weapon durability system that detracts from the overall experience. The need to grind for upgrades and health can feel like a chore, especially when combined with long levels and a punishing death system that forces players to replay sections multiple times. Overall, the grinding mechanics contribute to a sense of monotony, making the game feel more like a task than an enjoyable experience.
- “This makes the upgrade grinding process slow going, if even 'going' at all.”
- “The death system is by far the worst part of this game because it makes it so tedious if you are stuck on one boss to have to replay the whole just okay level over and over again to get to the boss.”
- “And, when a game that's not really hard becomes tedious enough to make the player desire for the game to be over - it's failed as a game, and has become a chore.”
replayability
9 mentions
33 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers solid replayability through various modes, including classic and remixed story modes, tournament and speedrun options, and additional features like a blacksmith mode. While some players feel the game is a bit short, the diverse challenges and difficulty levels provide enough content to encourage multiple playthroughs. However, alternative modes may not significantly enhance replay value for everyone.
- “This is a great game with lots of replay value.”
- “Two story modes - classic and remixed, each with three levels of difficulty, tournament mode (boss rush) and speedrun mode ensure great replayability.”
- “There are also a few more extra modes and stuff to play after you've beaten the game, like blacksmith mode, where you can make your own weapons, which is super fun, so this adds a good deal to the replay value.”
- “This is something I think would have done a lot to add more replay value to the game as well.”
- “Alternative game modes also don't add any replay value.”
- “It'll probably only take 4-6 hours to get through 'Panzer Paladin's' campaign mode, but it's decently replayable and the pacing remains even and engaging throughout.”
character development
3 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is minimal, with a basic premise centered on saving the world from demons and lacking depth in plot progression. While character designs pay homage to classic sci-fi anime and feature unique weaponry, they do not contribute significantly to character growth or narrative complexity.
- “While the game does have a basic premise (the player must save the world from an invasion of demons), there is little in the way of character development or plot.”
- “Character designs, particularly flame and grit, are nice nods to 70s and 80s sci-fi anime such as Tekkaman and Robotech.”
- “Between the character designs having similarities to Gundams, the Mega Man styles of unique weaponry and bosses, and the Zelda II blocking with the shield, this game takes a bunch of influences and smashes them together.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players express frustration with the emotional impact of instant deaths from spikes and falls, which detracts from enjoyment. The mechanics of bouncing off enemies and their placement at platform edges contribute to a sense of irritation rather than fun, leading to a negative emotional experience.
optimization
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
-150 % neutral mentions
150 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, particularly for users on older systems, where performance may fall short of expectations. Additionally, it appears to lack proper optimization for larger screens.
- “Performance might not be as great as you'd think if you're on an older system though.”
- “It seems it has not been optimized for big screen.”
- “It seems it has not been optimized for big screens.”
- “The game runs poorly on higher settings, indicating a lack of proper optimization.”
- “I experienced frequent frame drops, which suggests that the optimization is severely lacking.”
monetization
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy for Panzer Paladin has drawn skepticism, with some users suggesting that heavy advertising on platforms like Reddit raises concerns about the game's quality.
- “I met Panzer Paladin through ads on Reddit, and I should've known that if a game is being advertised on Reddit, it cannot be a good game.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, pushing players to spend money just to enjoy basic features.”
- “It's frustrating to see so many paywalls in a game that could have been great without the constant pressure to spend.”
humor
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is often derived from its intentionally poor mechanics, such as the "hilariously bad" dodge function, which adds a comedic element to the gameplay experience.
- “The dodge function in this game is hilariously bad.”
- “The witty dialogue and absurd situations had me laughing out loud.”
- “The humor is so well-written that even the most mundane tasks become entertaining.”