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Review: Deepest Sword

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Ages 13 and up
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
License: Freeware
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2021
Reviewed Version: 0.1.5c-s
Review Published On: August 17th, 2022
Played on: Thaddeus

Available on:

Windows
MacOS

Available from:

Itch.io
Steam

Soundtrack: Available for free at Itch.io
Areas of Concern:
  • Very mild violence
  • Sexual humor


How to Save and Pause:

Your best times are recorded when you finish the game, but otherwise theres no save feature at all.

To pause the game, press ESC to bring up the games menu.

Time needed per session:

A skilled player can complete this game in under 10 minutes, so thats probably a good minimum session length.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

Yes
Nearly all of the humor in this game revolves around sexual puns, and frankly, thats really all there is to make this game interesting for more than a few minutes.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
Early in the dungeon

[view screenshot]
I dont think shes all that impressed

[view screenshot]
The longer the sword, the harder the level



Game Overview

Deepest Sword was initially created as an entry for the Luden Dare 48. Like most gams created for a game jam, the developer didnt have much time to put together the finished product, so their game is simple, short, and sweet. However, this games combination of the unique pole vaulting movement mechanics and sense of humor resulted in it becoming quite popular in a short amount of time.

Youll be taking on the role of a small knight whos off to slay a mighty dragon. The catch is, your sword may not be long enough to get the job done. If your attack fails to reach the dragons heart, shell simply mock you before giving you a taste of her fiery breath. Fortunately, your knight is quite resilient, and after every failure, theyll get up to try again with an upgraded weapon.

The swords length isnt the only problem, however. Although this game looks like a typical platformer, it doesnt control like one. While you can move left and right, theres no way to jump. Instead, youll need to use your sword like a lever to push yourself up to different ledges. This can be surprisingly difficult to do, as there isnt always room for you to swing the sword around. In fact, some areas are even explicitly there as a trap for unwary players.

If youre willing to be patient, your weapon will eventually be long enough to pierce the monsters heart and save the day. Just be prepared to do sections of the dungeon over and over again.

Unfortunately, there is one big drawback to this otherwise polished game: the humor is almost entirely based around double entendres. This can get old rather quickly, as it feels like the same joke is repeated ad nauseum.

Points of Interest

Enhanced for Steam

After the game jam, the developer upgraded their project with some extra polish before they released it on Steam. These new features mostly revolve around speed running, as it gives you more of a reason to replay the game and learn to master the sword wiggle.

Steam community features

There are 12 achievements for players to earn while they attempt to conquer the dragoness. Youll get an achievement each time you stab the dragon with a new sword, and there are a few achievements for completing the game in a very short amount of time. The remaining achievements are earned by trying things that dont really matter, like figuring out how to stand on the dragons head.

Concerns and Issues

Very mild violence

Excluding the dragon herself, there are no enemies for you to fight in the dragons lair. Fighting the dragon is also pretty simple: you slide the swords blade into an existing hole on her belly. In a cutaway view, you can see her heart beating. If the blade is long enough to reach her heart, she cries out and the game ends - theres no blood shown.

On the other hand, when the hero fails to defeat the dragon, shell finish him off quickly with a blast of fire. Just like when the dragon is slain, you dont see the knight die.

Lots of sexual humor

Pretty much the entire concept behind this game is that the players sword just isnt big enough to satisfy a lady dragon. On the plus side, its not crass and there is no swearing.