GamerEscape

Kill Knight is a title that immediately jumped out at me when it came across my virtual desk. For the absolutely radical name, yes, but also for far more than that: the isometric viewpoint, the chunky original PlayStation-esque aesthetic, the apparent emphasis on tight mechanical execution and strict resource management… Everything about it screamed the type of game I could really get stuck into and learn the ins and outs of, so I was eager to get my hands on it and see how well it stacked up to such potentially lofty expectations.

Developed and published by PlaySide for PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch, Kill Knight is set to release on October 2nd, 2024. My experience with the title was on PC, and while I was excited to start given everything I just mentioned above, the game’s alleged difficulty was a large question mark. Would it actually put my reactions to the test, or would it be more Chill Knight than Kill Knight?

It was very much the former.

The Descent

In Kill Knight, you play as a knight. What do you do? You kill. Nefarious and otherworldly creatures in particular.

I jest with that description, but the fact remains that Kill Knight isn’t much interested in establishing an overarching narrative. Promotional material and the game’s store page on Steam lets us know we’re behind the reins of the reanimated corpse of a loyal knight, unceremoniously betrayed, cast into the Abyss, and now driven by singular goal of defeating the Last Angel, but that’s about as much as we get to work with. Telling an in-depth story is decidedly not the focus here.

There’s certainly a sense of progression to be had and appreciable differences between each level of the Abyss with regard to aesthetics and the types of monsters you grapple with. It’s always neat to see what’s waiting for you when you survive long enough to see experience something new, but there’s just not much in the way of a meaty story or character development; you’re a cool knight with big guns, so get to killing.

Killer Knight, Dude!

I already talked a bit about expecting Kill Knight to be the kind of game I could feel myself improving with over time, but I was floored by just how fast the feeling set in. My first, second, and third attempts at the game’s first stage exponentially built a basic grasp of the fundamentals and what Kill Knight was expecting of me, which cleared the way to start improving my general skill level. Sure, I learned the big stuff first—always be moving and don’t change direction unless you’re absolutely certain it’s safe to do so—but it’s in the way the game forces you to engage with its mechanics that really pushes you towards proficiency.

A huge part of Kill Knight is resource management, especially when it comes to knowing when and how to earn the right sources to best suit your current situation before spending them in the most optimal way. Every enemy you kill will drop Blood Gems, which build toward your heavy weapon’s Wrath Burst attack as well as increasing the knight’s damage and overall movement speed, provided you avoid taking damage yourself. Deciding when to absorb them or go out of your way to pick them up is a constant concern, as is deciding if you need to use your melee attack to replenish your heavy weapon ammo or use a Wrath Burst to replenish any depleted HP. Heavy weapon ammo is scarce and has the power to back up its limited supply, rewarding you with breathing room when used at the correct time.

What arises from all of this is a keenly felt priority system that’s always at the forefront of gameplay. When you combine it with an active, time-sensitive reload mechanic that provides the player with no less than three separate options to build these resources every time their pistols run out of ammo, you find yourself constantly making split-second decisions that could decide the ultimate fate of your run. Choose wisely and reap the rewards, or choose poorly and start over from the beginning of the level because you opted to get heavy weapons ammo instead of focusing on restoring your health. Once you begin playing Kill Knight, it demands your attention in a way that feels unique to games of this style. You begin to fall into a rhythm of anticipating your next move at every turn.

This required focus also lets the game surprise you greatly in the heat of the moment. Every moment you get past the point of your previous death, the fear of the unknown comes front and center thanks to how much damage the player is in danger of taking when making a mistake. You’re still juggling all of these resources and decisions, and now you have to contend with a tough enemy spawning or a laser trap requiring you to take note of its pattern and make a precise dodge roll through it. The environment will change as well between waves of enemies, giving you more room or reducing the playing field at a moment’s notice.

And on that note, it’s important to the success of the player’s improvement that there’s no randomness to the stages. Enemies, traps, and environmental changes all occur in a preset pattern every time you go through a given level, granting the player some leeway and something of an even playing field as they get better at the game itself. A roguelike this is not, and it’s all the better for it.

At the conclusion of every attempt or level clear the player is awarded with tokens they can spend to to earn new weapons that provide a different feel from the knight’s default arsenal. Some weapons also have gameplay prerequisites to unlock them without the tokens, which can serve as a great motivator should you be looking for something more to work towards than simple progress or merely want to switch things up a bit. Kill Knight also provides a wide array of difficulty options for you to experiment with, although even the lowest of them provides a significant challenge early on.

Hell Is an Abyss

As a rule, Kill Knight’s aesthetic is dark and menacing throughout, but with a lo-fi aliased look that’s simultaneously harsh, cozy, and evocative of its arcade inspirations. I particularly enjoyed the way each level of the Abyss felt substantially different from the floor prior while still maintaining minimal distraction from the core gameplay. The same is true for enemies that sport visual elements to denote the way they interact with specific weapons and the like, such as the purple carapaces for enemies susceptible to Wrath Bursts. It stands out just enough to inform you it’s there.

The interface elements are also designed and placed in such a way that they’re always readily available in your peripheral vision, so you never have to take your eyes off the action. That said, I did still find myself left wanting for an option to centralize the various resource meters and information to take this a step further, but it still works fine as it is now. I also greatly appreciated the inclusion of accessibility options to make the text and menus more legible than they are by default.

Sound effects are suitably punchy and, in some instances, a huge source of the satisfaction of pulling off certain attacks at the right time. The heavy weapons are a standout with shotguns that sound as powerful as they feel to fire, as well as the successful execution of a Hyper Drive which slows down time and swaps the level’s colors around to give it more oomph. The original soundtrack is more serviceable than standout, though. I wish it had been more at the fore as far as composition is concerned.

All Killer, No Filler

For those of us that love engaging with punishing mechanics and feeling a tangible sense of improvement with each failure, Kill Knight is simply excellent. It offers a constant barrage of split-second decisions for the player to make, greatly rewards both heat-of-the-moment reaction time and preparedness in remembering which enemies are coming up next, and wraps it all up in an atmospheric pixelated hellscape. The result is an addictive twin-stick shooter playing out at a breakneck pace, and one very much worth your time if you’re looking for something that will let you notice tangible improvement with every attempt to clear its difficult stages.

~ Final Score: 9/10 ~

Review copy provided by PlaySide for PC. Screenshots provided by reviewer. Featured image courtesy of PlaySide.