Sword of Ianna (2017)

Sword of Ianna is a sequel/demake of Blade of Darkness created by the Spanish Retroworks. The premise is that the player controls Jarkum, a descendant of the barbarian Tukaram from Blade of Darkness, who is called by the goddess Ianna to retrieve her sword and defeat another great evil.

What it shares in common with its inspiration is a similar difficulty level in that it tries to replicate the perilous, thin-margined combat of Blade of Darkness in a 2D platformer. Simple enemies can be dispatched quickly but if you don't respect them they can also inflict a lot of punishment on you and leave you handicapped going forward if you can't secure enough healing items. There's also a lot of running, jumping, and climbing involved as Jarkum has to navigate environments inspired by the original game, solving simple puzzles such as finding levers to open gates while avoiding traps. The combat uses the old method of pushing the action button to draw your sword, then holding the button and pushing a joystick direction to execute certain attacks. When not in combat, you can run and climb up or down ledges. The game does feature frequent checkpoints, so dying doesn't cost much of a penalty in terms of time lost. Like many modern games, even the more difficult ones still want you to succeed and progress all the way through to the end.

The game was released for the MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC computers, the three most popular PCs in Spain in the 80s and represents each system quite well, although the MSX version is probably the most well-rounded of the three. If a game like it had been released back then, it would have been heralded as a classic, with well-drawn graphics featuring large, well-animated characters and moody environments - orc fortresses, musty tombs, and temples of evil based on the original Blade of Darkness settings. The enemies from Blade of Darkness, such as the orcs, dual-sword-wielding skeletons, and golems, also make returns in 2D form. And it has a memorable soundtrack that emphasizes a sense of danger and mystery. One doesn't need to have played Blade of Darkness to get Sword of Ianna, but it adds a little extra layer of appreciation to what the developers present.