A Tale of Two Games
Bright colors, quirky dialog, and nostalgia tickling design makes A Knight’s Quest an intriguing option for gamers looking for their 3d Zelda fix post Breath of The Wild. The Double A gaming scene is lacking, and A Knight’s Quest firmly fills that void. Regardless of lack of polish and some sloppy combat mechanics, A Knight’s Quest is easy to recommend with a few short caveats.
Lacks a Punch.
The first thing you will notice is the beautiful bright colors and charming character designs. A sweeping soundtrack fills your ears as you explore the game’s opening cave area which serves as a tutorial. Once you don your sword and shield you are tasked with taking out a small enemy. This is there your first let down will be. While combat is responsive and what you’d expect, it feels completely weightless. You unleash a flurry of attacks to a nearly standing still enemy while almost no audible sound plays. Your hits just look like no thought was put into it. This is particularly disheartening when some of the games toughest challenges and largest segments are combat based. While the combat never looks or feels good, you will eventually learnt to ignore the lack of polish in that regard due to the rest of the game’s incredible strong points.
A Whole New World.
The world of A Knight’s Quest is vast and absolutely a joy to explore. You will find yourself is a plethora of options at your disposal as you discover new abilities that unlock new areas for you to poke your head in. Platform heavy sequences are married together with really well designed puzzles. These all lead to beautifully designed boss fights, which are still marred by the unimpressive combat system.
The story is A Knight’s Quest is fairly straightforward: You play Rusty, the plucky adventurer and son of the Mayor who may have brought demons upon the earth. You need to find and recruit some mega powerful god-like legendary knights so you can save the world. While the story isn’t very complex, it is greatly enhanced by incredible dialog writing. Simply put – this game is funny. There are a ton of winks and nods to the player as the game explores other notable games in the genre, including the very franchise A Knight’s Quest borrows from.
Aside from the writing and world designs, one of the biggest pluses here is the amount of bang you get for your buck. This is a full sized serving of adventure. In this day and age of “a 10 hour game isn’t worth $60”, you will have no issues with dumping in around 20 hours into A Knight’s Quest.
Conclusion.
A Knight’s Quest is a fantastic effort marred by some technical issues. The open world is vast and beautiful, and the platforming is fun and engaging. Witty and clever dialog coupled with charming visuals and character designs, make for a fun experience. If you can get past the bugs and sub-par battle mechanics, you have yourself a great game. We look for the team at Sky 9 Games to build on this and become a force in the indie game scene. At $24.99, this is a true AA game worth every penny.
A Knight’s Quest was provided for review on Nintendo Switch.
