Castle Pals — Play Free Online

Castle Pals is a cooperative platformer built around two characters who are useless alone and quite capable together. One is a fighter who can deal with the goblins that patrol the castle; the other can get airborne and reach ledges the fighter never could. You switch between them as you go, and the whole game is about knowing which of the two a given room is asking for.

It is a different kind of jumper from the vertical climbers on Doodle Jump. Instead of one endless ascent, you work through a fixed set of 40 castle levels, with hazards such as fireballs and enemies placed to make you think about who goes first. A level takes a minute or two, which makes it a good fit for short breaks, and it plays free in the browser with nothing to install.

How to play

Movement is on the arrow keys, and the action button is Z. That one key does the character-specific job: attacking for the fighter, and using the flying ability for the other. On a phone or tablet the game runs with touch controls instead. Note that the listing on this site mentions WASD and mouse aiming, but the original release is a keys-and-one-button game, so try the arrows and Z first.

A typical room goes like this: look at what is in the way, decide which pal suits it, clear the threat or cross the gap with the right one, then bring the other through. Fireballs and goblins punish rushing, so watching their timing for a moment usually pays off.

Tips

• Clear enemies with the fighter before bringing the flyer through, rather than trying to dodge around them.
• Learn the rhythm of fireballs before committing to a jump; they repeat on a steady pattern.
• If you get stuck, ask which character the room is built for. Most puzzles have one intended order.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

Fireboy and Watergirl is the closest relative here, since it also pairs two characters with different strengths, though its puzzles lean harder on switches and doors. Ovo 2 is a pure precision platformer with a single runner, and Bird Jumper is simpler and more arcade-like. Doodle Jump itself is endless and one-button-simple by comparison.

Castle Pals suits players who like a steady, fair difficulty curve and a bit of planning between jumps.