While playing through Sky 9 Games’ A Knight’s Quest, I couldn’t help but think, “Boy, someone likes Legend of Zelda.” That’s because the adventure game clearly takes inspiration from some of the later Zelda games in the series, including a little bit of Breath of the Wild. It’s not a complete copy, mind you, but you can definitely see where it takes some of its inspiration from.
That said, the game’s not bad. If you have an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 and have no intention of picking up a Switch, there just might be something here for you. Just don’t expect anything along the lines of a Legend-ary replacement and you’ll be fine.
A Knight’s Quest has you playing Rusty, a young warrior who accidentally unleashes a demonic force across his world. It’s up to him to right his wrongs, with sword and shield in hand. It’s a typical adventure quest, but Sky 9 did pepper the game with a lot of humorous jokes, so it’s actually worth going through all the conversations.
This looks familiar.
Then you get to the game itself, which is, yep, very Zelda-like. The combat is quite similar, right down to the lock-on system and acquiring items that can help make a difference against tougher enemies. It even has some odes to the game’s music tones when it comes to switching to the last foe on the screen.
As for the rest of the gameplay, it’s not bad, but there are some quirks to get over. Number one, each level is large. A little too large for their own good. It took me a while to backtrack in some places and get some stuff figured out, which was slightly annoying. But the puzzles are mostly well designed, and rather inspired, in some ways.
The enemy encounters are cool as well, and some of the timed bonuses, like collecting enough gems on a run before they disappear for good, are rather cool. That said, there is a slight loftiness to the controls, so that they aren’t entirely accurate, but not faulted either. Still, enough of the game is charming enough that it just might hook you.
There’s a good length of quest here, which will take you several hours to fully complete. But for some, that might be too much based on the game’s visuals. They’re not entirely bad, but there are a few bugs that are rather annoying, particularly in the first portion of the game. If you can get past that, some of the environments are magnificent, while others look slightly unpolished — even on a PlayStation 4 Pro. Maybe Sky 9 will fix this with a quick patch.
The sound’s alright, but hardly innovative. The music has a good, proper tone to it, even if it’s clearly inspired by, um, that other thing. And the sound effects are all right, mixed in with quick voice samples for each character. It’s not a full script, like Indivisible, but it has its moments.
Not a bad adventure game, but still…
A Knight’s Quest is definitely a game that feels like a distance second place to the real adventuring champion, Zelda. Its visuals could’ve used a little more time in the oven, and the worlds can be a little too big for their own good when it comes to getting around. Nevertheless, the quest is loaded with fun, humorous moments, and the gameplay is solid enough that it’ll be worth the time for fans of this sort of thing. Just don’t expect to be blown away — just mildly entertained.
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