A Knight’s Quest from Sky 9 and Curve Digital is a single-player adventure game that evokes thoughts of The Legend of Zelda series. Learn more about it in our A Knight’s Quest review!
A gorgeous action adventure on an epic scale. Play as Rusty – a kind-hearted, but clumsy adventurer who accidentally starts a chain of events which will destroy his world. Solve mind-bending puzzles, fight challenging enemies, defeat huge bosses and platform your way through a fantastic open world in this lavish take on classic action adventure games.
In A Knight’s Quest, your adventure beings as you take control of Rusty, a young adventurer who starts his journey by venturing into an ancient cave. As soon as he gets there, things, as expected, end up going haywire, with the entire cave collapsing around him as he runs, trying to find an exit. Once Rusty is finally back at the villages, he learns that he shouldn’t have gone to that cave since he’s unleashed a dangerous entity and its power on the land. Because of all this, he must seek the help of the Guardians, so that he can get things back to normal.
As for the gameplay, Rusty will start without a weapon, but will soon find a wooden sword that will be good enough for dealing with the first batch of enemies he will face – worm-like creatures who won’t pose much of a challenge. I’ve played a ton of games over the last couple of decades, and I’m used to some linear progression during the first part of a game as I get to learn the ropes. What I did not expect for a Knight’s Quest is that the first enemy in the game would require SO MANY HITS before it was defeated. I first thought they might be too strong and invincible when up against a flimsy wooden weapon, but it turns out I just needed to hit a worm almost TWENTY TIMES. This felt weird and unnecessary, but luckily things picked up once I was able to find a stronger sword.
As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock better and more powerful equipment, which certainly helps to be able to defeat enemies in fewer hits. For example, in the first proper dungeon in the game, you’ll get a better sword and shield combo, which you can use to strike down your opponents in a few seconds. Along with protecting you from your enemies’ attacks, and if you time things right, you can even deflect your enemies’ arrows to damage them since they’re usually not positioned anywhere you can reach them with your sword.
There are also some platforming elements to take care of. For instance, there are some walls here and there that you can wall run over, in a way similar to the 3D Prince of Persia games you might have played some years ago. As you progress through the dungeons, you’ll find many puzzles scattered here and here. Puzzles aren’t hard to figure for the most part and often require using a special skill (such as making the wind blow), or pressing various switches to open the way to the next area.
Something that didn’t click with me was the game’s level design. This is a gorgeous looking release and the areas you’ll visit feel great as you explore them… until you get lost in them. Good level design should subtly draw the player towards each new destination, allowing you to visit at your own pace, but for A Knight’s Quest, you can end up lost for several minutes at a time in a single area, wondering why you can’t carry on with your adventure. There was one spot in particular in which I tried to make what seemed to be a very tricky jump until I thought it was a gap too large for my character to cross. It turns out that path IS the one I was supposed to take, and that the jump required almost pixel-perfect timing.
Other than this particular issue, I do have to praise the game for its gorgeous art style. A Knight’s Quest is built on the Unreal Engine, and the dynamic lighting and environments are lush and beautiful to look at, with the game running at a solid 60 frames per second. As soon as the game starts, the PS4’s fan does go into overdrive, which is a bit distracting if you’re playing in an original model PS4. If you’re playing this one on a PS4 Slim model, then the fan is way quieter, and you’ll be able to have a better time.
Final Thoughts
A Knight’s Quest is a gorgeous game that follows Rusty’s quest to destroy an ancient evil that he, unfortunately, released into its world. I loved the game’s presentation, as it has a beautiful art style, but the level design did not feel as polished as the rest of the game. However, if you can get past this issue and are looking for a game that will remind you of the excellent The Legend of Zelda series, then you can give A Knight’s Quest a look. It’s available for a budget $24.99 on PlayStation 4.
Price: $29.99
PSN Game Size: 6.1GB
Disclaimer
This A Knight’s Quest review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Curve Digital Publishing.
