Gladiator Castle Wars

You control the gladiator from a side view, moving through castle rooms and courtyards. The moment-to-moment play involves walking into new areas, which often triggers a fight. You face other warriors one on one in these locked combat sequences. During a fight, you use a basic set of moves: a standard attack, a jumping attack, and a block. Tapping the attack button quickly could string together a combo, and landing a jumping attack felt satisfyingly weighty. The main goal is to defeat all the guards in your path to reach the princess. The pacing is brisk, with little downtime between encounters, and the difficulty comes from learning the timing of your attacks and blocks against different enemy types. It feels like a series of quick, claustrophobic duels where a few solid hits can decide the match.