Panzer Paladin is a side-scrolling action platformer developed and published by Tribute Games and released for Microsoft Windows through Steam and Nintendo Switch in July 2020.
The game draws inspiration from several NES-era titles including Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Mega Man and Blaster Master.
Weapons can also be thrown as projectiles at enemies to deal extra damage at the cost of instantly breaking them or be left at one of several pedestals scattered across each level to act as a checkpoint upon death.
She is quick and small enough to fit through tight spaces, but she cannot pick up any weapons dropped by the enemies and has a significantly smaller health bar than Grit does.
She wields a Castlevania-style laser whip that allows her to attack enemies at a distance, siphon energy from power tanks to replenish Grit's health and swing around on ring hooks to reach new areas.
The story follows the exploits of Flame, a spunky, good-natured rescue service android and the pilot of Grit, a sentient bipedal power armor mecha known as a Paladin.
The group works together to fight against the dark prince Ravenous (a tall bird-like creature closely resembling a griffin) along with his army of demonic creatures led by the powerful Weapon Keepers, each of which bearing a strong resemblance to entities from human myth and folklore such as the Egyptian god Anubis, the Russian apparition Baba Yaga and the Greek monster Medusa.
A stoic and enigmatic centaur-like creature known as The Horseman also appears randomly throughout the game as a seemingly neutral party, frequently challenging Flame and Grit to fights.
Dr. Bloom explains to the group that weapon-shaped meteorites landed in ten countries across the planet, each one acting as a transfer gateway to allow for demonic entities to invade cities across the globe.
She explains briefly how a secret religious parchment foretold that spirit weapons would be crafted at a place known as the Forge and would be used to take over the planet, inciting a cosmic war.
Adamant in fulfilling her role as a rescue android, Flame offers to engage Ravenous' Weapon Keepers as a Squire pilot with Grit.
Once Ravenous' final Weapon Keeper is defeated, the skies around Earth begin to darken as the planet is thrust into a perpetual state of twilight.
Dr. Bloom and Grit suddenly detect a massive energy spike as The Horseman appears, opening a conduit to an Inverted Tower now orbiting the planet and the cause of the phenomenon.
He asks Flame and Grit to go to the Spirit Forge within the tower and stop Ravenous, giving a cryptic warning to the pair not to follow in the footsteps of their predecessor.
A final scene depicts Flame and Grit standing atop Gauntlet's now destroyed transport ship before a massive army of monsters, raising up Ravenous' lance triumphantly as their new leader.
Screen Rant's Alex Santa Maria was particularly critical, writing "Outside of those who've mastered every masochistic NES classic, it's just not clear who Panzer Paladin is going to appeal to - and as a result, only hardcore fans of the genre should even attempt to give this one a spin."
"[19] Nadia Oxford from USgamer gave a more positive review, stating that the game "adopts a bit of every NES platformer you played as a kid, and the result is a little chaotic, but a lot of fun ... there are times when the instructions are vague and the lives system doesn't need to exist in this day and age, but it's hard to stay mad when you're surrounded by this much 8-bit beauty.