Van Gogh was a revolutionary painter during his time, but while he was talented, he suffered quite a great deal during his life, leading to his falling a part and tragic death by his own hand.
Starry Knight is less than conventional. At its core, it is an Action Game with a Side View perspective, however it goes through an abbreviated narrative of Van Gogh's life, fighting through the world of his works as he reaches the high point of his life, before heading back to his lowest lows.
The game was released December 15th, 2021 by Peace Blvd Games. It is a short experience (though it is surprisingly difficult ) and rather cheap on the Steam storefront. It is not a perfect game, mainly in its slightly stiff controls, but it's very respectful to its subject matter and a love letter to art and artist alike.
Starry Knight contains examples of:
- Bat Out of Hell: the third boss is The Flying Fox, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and splits into smaller bats to fight. It's also the only boss who's design is not remixed on the return trip, and is replaced by Madness.
- Boss Game: of the "Entirely Bosses" variety. It's a fairly straightforward approach, each stage is a boss set in a painting, the only other content is the narrative that is told in between these fights.
- Eldritch Abomination: Madness, the boss that replaces the Flying Fox at the Cafe Terrace at Night. A representation of Van Gogh's growing paranoia, it's first phase has you fight the characters who were previously background elements as they float in various patterns and laugh at you. Once they're each dealt with, they combine into a single entity that does things like contort them into legs to stab you with.
- Mood Whiplash: The first half is fairly casual and as such the first set of bosses are surreal, at their worst, but nothing out of sorts. The second half however becomes Psychological Horror as Van Gogh begins to deteriorate further and further, especially with the Madness Boss fight.
- Scenery Porn: The whole game is a world made from Van Gogh oil paintings, animated so that details such as clouds and background characters move.
- Sinister Scythe: The first boss, The Reaper, is something of a subversion. carries a hand sickle, but is a Warm-Up Boss who's attacks are easily dealt with until midway when he summons crows. it's later counterpart, Despair, is far more of a danger and the bloody slashes give it a much more dangerous reach.
