KnifeBoy Rebooted

[h1] The Metroidvania Review[/h1] [url= https://metroidvaniareview.com/2019/10/21/knifeboy/] Scored Summary[/url] | | [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/30503887/] Subscribe to our Curator [/url] [b]How Metroidvania is it?[/b] High Fit – While fairly open, [i]Knifeboy[/i] differs slightly from the spaghetti pattern of the traditional Metroidvania level design and opts for a hub area where all the stages shoot off from that. Other than that, it’s very Metroidvania. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/MetroidvaniaReview/discussions/1/1609400247640698470/] Want to hear a different opinion, or want to share your own review? Check out our Forum here.[/url] [h1]Full Review[/h1] [i]The Review Code for Knifeboy was provided by the developer.[/i] My normal approach to reviewing games is to try and get all of the positive features out of the way first and then dive into my criticisms. This lets me try and sell you on the idea of the game first before I disclose factors that might be deal breakers for you. For [i]Knifeboy[/i] I’m going to turn that upside down, since I feel that for a lot of people its issues are something of an elephant in the room if you’ve just watched the trailers. This may serve as an early confirmation bias for some, but for the open-minded of you, I beg of you to stick around to the end of this review. [i]Knifeboy[/i] is another one of those big surprises that I’ve had the opportunity to play as part of this Metroidvania Review project. The world of [i]Knifeboy[/i] is visually striking – it’s a style that you’ll either love or hate. Characters are either straight-up grotesque or based on some drug-addled fantasy where having a horse head or being a blue guy in a loin cloth is perfectly normal. Close up, I personally found this style very appealing, and definitely appropriate for the game’s theming. The game spends most of its time zoomed out, however, making it hard to appreciate the comic-book details of the characters. You’re able to zoom in any time you want with the push of a button, but for the purposes of the gameplay the smaller sprites and bigger game world was a wise decision. Unfortunately it creates something of a clash of styles, where textures can run together, or simply don’t look very good at the default distance. For the platforming and gameplay, this is really only a problem in the game’s hub area where consequences are the lowest – it’s difficult to tell what is a platform and what isn’t. Just climbing back up to the hub after falling off is bound to be a frustration for someone playing the game early on. The actual levels however use contrasting dark backgrounds with light platforms, so it’s never an issue when it matters. The initial moments of the game definitively give an impression that this is an amateur designer’s game. Enemies sort of quietly walk up to you and you can stunlock them to death pretty easily with a three-hit combo. For a game that advertises itself as a “Mortal Kombat” style game, the combat is actually very basic – or at least there isn’t any reason to go beyond the basics. Enemies that are as tall as you can easily be grouped together to punch to death with low consequences. Larger enemies seem like they COULD be challenging at first, but if you jump to punch them in the face, they get stunned just as easily. You’re given an overdrive technique from the beginning that appears to be useful for hitting these giants perfectly, but I found that the startup time was too much of a liability to use it. Bosses are slightly better designed, having patterns where you’re forced to dodge, but even for them spamming the punch button is the primary strategy. Platforming can be slightly more interesting than the combat, especially as you unlock new movement upgrades. However, the physics and collision detection lacks polish, making everything seem just a little loose. There were a few times I shunted up onto a platform I obviously wasn’t supposed to be able to reach, and once I even skyrocketed through the ceiling and had to reset my game. I read a lot of negative reviews on Steam, so I’m well aware that for a LOT of people the technical issues that [i]Knifeboy[/i] has are completely unacceptable. First impressions definitely weren’t good, and I initially let out a deep sigh that I was in for another hard one to get through – a disheartening feeling since I really don’t like giving out bad reviews any more than I like to frustratingly charge through a game just to say I completed it before reviewing it. But here’s the crazy thing… Frustration never came with [i]Knifeboy[/i]. In fact, I found myself excited to play it again after I finished my daily responsibilities, which is nuts. Allow me to put on my pretentious hat for a minute… The story in [i]Knifeboy[/i] is somewhat incoherent – or at least it seems that way at first. The text for dialogue and comic book pages are riddled with grammar errors and egregious spelling issues. But all of these issues are almost the point of the story… The titular Knifeboy is insane, and the entire game could be interpreted as being viewed through the lens of an unreliable narrator. The awkward way that you view comic book cut scenes while riding on a gondola, the game’s glitches and simple combat; it’s almost art when taken within the context of the story overall. If you’re the type who likes to do literary analysis, [i]Knifeboy[/i] is one of the deeper games I’ve experienced. For people that don’t care about putting on some hipster glasses and discussing game symbolism on internet forums, this might not be a feature for you – but it’s definitely something that appealed to me. The biggest surprise, however, is that if you can look past the technical issues that [i]Knifeboy[/i] suffers from, the game is actually quite [i]good.[/i] Level design never feels padded. With every new power the game’s challenges build upon themselves. Checkpoints are generous and getting hit by traps doesn’t actually deal damage, letting you try platforming sections as many times as it takes. The only way to truly die is in combat, but this is where your overpowered three-hit combo actually shines and becomes a tool for power fantasy rather than a boring slog. There’s only one real save point in the game at the hub world, which is a bummer, but every level has intelligently placed shortcuts to help you get back in the action if you do fail. I already mentioned that the bosses are a step above in terms of combat, but ignoring the “punchy punchy” aspect of the fights, the sheer creativity of the monsters makes the encounters entirely worthwhile to experience. The glitches and physics problems would definitely be game breaking if [i]Knifeboy[/i] was more punishing, but the game is designed [i]around[/i] its weaknesses. It makes me wonder even more if problems were the result of conscious genius rather than from just a lack of programming experience. Whichever it is, there is definitely an awareness in the construction, and once you get used to it there’s [i]fun[/i] to be had. I’m not going to lie and say that [i]Knifeboy[/i] stands up to games that are obviously more polished than it is, but it’s maybe the best unpolished game I’ve looked at – or at least it’s the most interesting. Its strange world and bonkers story is unique, which makes it something I can’t recommend enough, especially if you’re into working out the details of what may be a brilliant satire. The narrative is something that will likely haunt me for weeks to come. Most importantly though, for the purposes of rating this game, it was never boring to me; I always felt like I had something to look forward to. If you took one look at the game’s trailer and judged it based on only those surface assets and apparent designs, I urge you to not judge this book by its cover. Beauty, sometimes, isn’t only skin deep. 3 out of 5

[h1]Follow our [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36214917/]Curator Group for more reviews[/url][/h1] KnifeBoy is a metroidvania with a distinctive setting and art style, but gameplay that could use more work. There is a noticeable lack of polish, occasionally even feeling amateurish. Still, there are some bright spots that show a lot of potential. KnifeBoy’s presentation is easily its strongest asset. The soundtrack is unusual, but tends to be interesting. It ranges from somewhat standard background music to bizarre tracks that grab your attention. A few tracks are bad, either because they are annoying or because they are overused and get repetitive. Visually, the game is detailed and unique, although sometimes it’s rough around the edges. The graphic style of KnifeBoy is essentially an animated comic book. You need to zoom in the camera in order to really appreciate it, but it’s a great element of the game. Some enemy designs are bland, but a number of them look great. The world in general has a cohesive design that gives the game a unique flavor. For better or worse, I can’t think of a game I’ve played that had a world even somewhat similar to KnifeBoy. Story-wise, KnifeBoy feels underwhelming. The unique world is wasted on a storyline that doesn’t have much going on, and isn’t particularly well-written or engaging. You are tasked with saving someone from the bad guy, with little bits and pieces of plot scattered throughout the world. To be fair to KnifeBoy, most metroidvanias don’t even attempt to tell a decent story, so its mediocre plot is at least above average for the genre. It just comes off too generic for the unique setting, as if most of the writing time was spent on world building rather than the story itself. There are a handful of intriguing ideas, but because gameplay is the main focus, these ideas are never really expanded on. Unfortunately, the game’s combat system is its biggest misstep. It is bare bones and somewhat awkward to use. Your primary attack is a 3-hit combo, which you will use for the entire game. Occasionally you might use one of your special attacks, but they aren’t powerful enough to feel worth using. In a standard metroidvania, this wouldn’t be a problem thanks to your combat abilities progressing as you play, but KnifeBoy doesn’t add many new moves, even by the very end of the game. It is also hampered by a lack of difficulty. Mashing the attack button will stun-lock the majority of enemies, preventing them from attacking you. Your other moves cost the KnifeBoy equivalent of mana and stamina, so they are only worth using at specific times. Boss fights are much more interesting and engaging, but they still tend to be quite easy. Similar to the combat system, KnifeBoy’s platforming and exploration mechanics are rough around the edges. While the platforming is generally good, some areas of the world are too difficult, not because of the level design, but because it can be hard to make out what is the background and what isn’t. This is exacerbated by the world being one giant map that connects to every location. While this is standard for metroidvanias, KnifeBoy has a layout that allows you to fall from one area to another, making exploration annoying. Trying to figure out where you should go next is also a challenge, although it may have been exacerbated due to a bug I encountered. I accidentally killed one of the bosses in the wrong order, so when talking to the NPC that tells you where to go, he would give me the wrong area. Due to the metroidvania nature of the game, when going to an area out of order, you are often unable to complete it without having an item/power-up from the previous area. This led to me playing through numerous levels, just to get to the end and realize I need to be able to power jump to finish it. KnifeBoy also has some issues with polish. It is well-optimized and the graphics look good, but there are far too many bugs. The game crashed once, but the biggest issue was the game freezing or preventing you from respawning after a death. You can only save from the center of the map, so if your character gets stuck, you can only reload an older save. Some hit-boxes can feel wonky, especially for the larger enemies. Accidentally jumping through a wall happened twice, although thankfully, it usually results in death rather than soft-locking the game. Considering this is the developer’s first game, it’s understandable that polish wouldn’t be their strong suit, but it has a big impact on how enjoyable KnifeBoy can be. Overall, KnifeBoy is a good first game for a new developer, but doesn’t hold up against many other games in the metroidvania genre. There is plenty of creativity though, from the setting to the music, it just doesn’t pan out due to some poorly executed ideas. 4/10 [quote] Visit our [url=https://www.mmmreviews.com]website[/url] for more in-depth reviews and recommendations [/quote]

An unexpected surprise for a crazy metroidvania based on indie comics. The art-style is very detailed and interesting, especially the enemies design and some locations. It could be raw sometime, but it is full of passion and able to paint a unique world full of colors and details. The game is based on a quite big open world, with lot of secrets and places to explore. A day/night cycle allow different layers of exploration, with some places opening only at a specific time, and different monsters or collectibles only available at night, for example. The game is a crazy tornado of surprises and pulp references, with secondary quests allowing to access a UFO or to see the true face of Santa Claus. Also, the game is a proper metroidvania, since new upgrades will allow the player to explore new areas. The combat side is not that deep, with very standard combos and easy but really interesting boss fights. Platform sections are really challenging, but never tiring, thanks to really good checkpoints. Of course as a one-man game, there are some bugs that can be a bit bothering. Several times the double-jump suddenly refused to work, so it was impossible to continue without loading. In a couple of occasion I also goth stuck in walls or got invisible after loading the checkpoint. However, the experience is so original and interesting, that I kept playing regarding the bugs. The world, the dozens of characters, the crazy bosses and the many secrets are too interesting to stop playing. Also the game is quite good in contents, I finished the main quest after 8 hours, but I still have to check for all the secrets and the collectibles. If you want to immerse yourself in an interesting and unique world, really funny to explore, go for it. The combat is not that deep and there are bugs, but you will appreciate all the other sides. Because the bugs can be solved, while the world and the characters will still be interesting.

For MOST people, I would honestly not recommend KnifeBoy, the main reasons for that are how buggy the game is and the tediousness and unnecessary difficulty which exists in travelling the world. HOWEVER! For big fans of Metroidvanias and fans of the surreal atmosphere in the screenshots, I think it's worth a shot. It does have a very unique atmosphere to it, with interesting surreal elements all throughout the game, spectacularly done music and many other well done things outlined in my full review here: https://emberapp.gg/blogs/entry/375-knifeboy-a-strange-metroidvania/

[i]KnifeBoy[/i] oozes atmosphere, combining elements of trippy surrealism, with a weird, post-apocalyptic kind of setting… but it is otherwise a boring, and heavily unpolished piece of software - one where the love of its creator still manages to shine through the cracks, but that’s not enough. Still worth a go for those who have a thing for the unique and the bizarre, but there are far better metroidvanias out there. [b]Cubed3 Rating:[/b] [b]4/10[/b] [url=http://www.cubed3.com/review/6289/1/knifeboy-pc.html][b]Read Full Review Here[/b][/url]

Sanning och Action GG!

In the world that KnifeBoy presents, the disturbed and gruesome become normal within society. Monsters for DJs, Horses for Club owners and Pirates underground are all common place in this creepy universe. While platforming from place to place, overcoming obstacles and solving puzzles, the world atmosphere around you will draw you in with its terror and unnerving unease that you notice when taking a look around. Fighting monsters, collecting money, discovering new abilities and collecting golden cogs is the basis of the game. All in all, KnifeBoy is a sharp game with an amazing look. To read our full review visit us at https://indareareviews.com/knifeboy

Good. saw