King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is a turn based, isometric, role playing game where players get to live out their fantasies of being Sir Mordred, the Dread Knight.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is a very interesting title. NeocoreGames has made a very fascinating game with all the trappings of a game like Xcom, but has sprinkled on the RPG elements found in other games like it, such as Divinity Original Sin II, Pillars of Eternity, and Wasteland 3. These games allow players to delve into the inner workings of humanity as they make decisions that have larger impacts on the game’s wider world.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale attempts to satiate the fantasy of playing the knight. With a Morality system that seemingly coincides with a ‘religion’ system, players can make whatever Mordred they choose as they explore through the lands of Britannia. Along the way, you will meet a vast array of great Arthurian characters such as The Lady of the Lake, Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, and of course, the man himself, King Arthur.
In terms of King Arthur: Knight’s Tale’s gameplay, it is phenomenal. While somewhat simplistic, the title holds up its own gritty version of turn-based combat that we have become very familiar with in the gaming sphere. Despite having the long, drawn-out battles, they rarely feel like a chore. The player intricately sending your Knights to deal with the forces before you is unendingly satisfying.
This in conjunction with the game’s usage of magic, the game rarely becomes dull and can be a fun experience throughout. The fact that many of the Knights are melee combatants may seem like an annoyance. While they can become tiresome when you are fighting a large group of archers as you slowly trod after them across a map, it, on the whole, maintains its entertainment. Essentially, never drop any archer you get; they could be invaluable.
In terms of the level design, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale suffers a little bit in this regard. While the game’s levels are stunning visually, they can be, on some occasions, hard to read. An example of this is areas that have a lot of clutter. Games like Divinity Original Sin II pride themselves on the ‘hole in the roof’, basically allowing the players to see what’s going on, even though minor objects. King Arthur: Knight’s Tale instead allows it to become overly finicky as you spend an abundance of time attempting to adjust the camera so that you can… You know… see.
Now, this on average is not a massive issue as the level design normally allows players to have a full view of the battlefield with almost little to no issue. In addition to this, the levels can actually be very intuitive with a lot of possible paths for the player to take, leading to a more innate feeling of freedom and intrigue littered throughout the impressive title.
When it comes to King Arthur: Knight’s Tale‘s narrative, the game is rather complicated. The game has what I think maybe the most intricate morality system, which has many caveats and provides not only moral but also gameplay affecting bonuses depending on the choices that you make. The way this morality system works is that players can be ‘righteous’ or a ‘tyrant’; these are the areas of morality. However, in a very interesting concept that is executed incredibly well, players can also dictate whether they fall into the old pagan faith or Christianity, which all lead to interesting bonuses mentioned before.
Now, morality systems can be good and bad; they allow players to understand the implications of their choices before they make them, but this can cause problems in terms of how the game handles the overarching narrative. It can become very easy to fall into the pit of picking a choice ‘because it’s righteous’ rather than what the player thinks is right. While the morality system is very well made, depending on what you want from the game, it could be something that detracts from your experience or enhances it.
One issue that is universal with morality systems is the gamification of morality. Simple advice would be that players should make their choice of what morality they want to follow and stick to the choice, as while you can maintain your neutrality, from a gameplay perspective, there is no purpose to it. You miss out on so many bonuses and characters that being neutral is ultimately a weakness in this world. In the words of another fantastic RPG made back in the early 2000’s “Apathy is Death”. (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
Now in terms of story, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is pretty interesting, but the game’s rather poor dialogue tends to detract from the whole narrative. Plus, Mordred is written in such a way that he adores violence, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but it can lead to what feels like a massive juxtaposition within the character, especially if you have followed the more ‘righteous’ path.
The game has a fantastic soundtrack, which enhances the already dark, gritty, and brooding atmosphere that surrounds the title. Hearing the soft and dark sounds of the cello in the background whilst you slaughter a room full of undead Knights just improves the experience that little bit that makes this game stand out even more.
Finally, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale performs splendidly. In my experience with the game, I faced almost no crashes, and the game ran smoothly with the exception of a few frame rate drops. The game has some unbearably long loading screens, but the game’s quality in terms of gameplay and visuals more than makes up for the loading time.
Overall, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is an incredible addition to the already fantastic resurgence in isometric RPGs that has happened in the last decade. NeocoreGames has crafted a fitting title that is both technically impressive with some of the best gameplay in any isometric game on the market. While the dialogue can feel somewhat clunky, the game still manages to capture the feel of an RPG and the importance of choice. King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is a tremendous game that I believe players will be dipping into for a while.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is available right now on Steam. Here at GamesCreed, we cover everything gaming. From the latest news to stellar reviews, GamesCreed has you covered.
