Knightfall 2
In the first Knightfall, you saved the princess and lived happily ever after. But what exactly does happily ever after mean? Knightfall 2 from Megadev seeks to answer this question. It seems that happily ever after isn't so happy after all. You see, our princess turned blushing bride didn't realize that she was marrying a hero that would lounge about in his boxers all day drinking mead, the mass in his arms migrating ungracefully to his midsection. Oh no, if he wants his happily ever after to actually be happy, then he better get his iron clad butt back out there and get to heroing, or so help her, she's going to rearrange his armor with a very heavy wooden spoon.
Knightfall 2 is a match three style puzzle game with quite a few twists (at least one of them is literal) and some heavy RPG elements thrown in. You will find your character on a grid-like board surrounded by enemies and different colored blocks. You can't move your knight directly, but you can open up gaps by destroying groups of same-colored blocks. Click a group once to highlight it and a second time to destroy it. You can also rotate the board by either clicking on the arrows on either side of the board or by using the [right] and [left] arrow keys.
Your goal in any given level is to snag the key and make your way to the door. There are a host of monsters standing in your way, but you can handily dispatch them by falling on them from above. When you do this, your knight thrusts downward with his hand drill and eradicates the foe. Beware, for the monsters you face can fight back and hit you from a wide variety of locations on the board. Don't let yourself get too caught up fighting monsters, though, for you've only a limited number of moves, or Action Points. Once those are gone, your hero takes damage every time you destroy a group of blocks.
While its basic gameplay is similar to Knightfall, there are a number of improvements in Knightfall 2. It's bigger, for one thing, and now gives you a map that you can travel around, allowing you to choose which dungeons you conquer first. With the bigger map there are more enemies, including several new bosses, each with their own unique properties. A well-stocked fairy store and mana-based spells flesh out the RPG qualities of the game. And finally, groups of blocks smaller than three can now be destroyed, though at a greater AP Cost.
Analysis: This is how you make a sequel. The first Knightfall was an innovative game that caught our attention and easily won our respect. Knightfall 2 manages to capture the same magic, while adding a slew of improvements that speak directly to the feedback received from the first.
The real story with Knightfall 2 is how the Megadev team took a good thing and made it so much better. From the opening movie to the first time you see the game map you realize that this is so much bigger than Knightfall. There's just so much more of everything that made the first Knightfall such a success.
This outing is gorgeous, fun, and addictive. The graphics have taken a few steps forward but still have a respectable retro feel about them, and the music direction is wonderful (I'm particularly entranced by the haunting tune from the snowy areas). Meanwhile, the match-three variation remains familiar enough to draw in puzzle fans, while fresh enough to broaden its appeal. Indeed, I've always felt that the draw of Knightfall's gameplay has been its open-ended quality. The ability to manipulate the board in so many ways lets the player adopt a number of different strategies. This allows the personal capabilities of the players to inject their own freshness into a well established genre.
The RPG elements of Knightfall 2 are more pronounced, though it must be said that there could still stand to be a little more (we still would like to see multiple character classes and a little more control over statistics). The fairy store helps, by allowing you to buy more items that give you control over your character's abilities and growth. But perhaps more substantial is the spell system. There are scrolls to be had this time around, but many spells are now based on mana collection which is directly connected to the number of slain enemies and broken blocks in combat.
Another major improvement that I think really gives Knightfall 2 a lot of its character is the addition of several different bosses scattered throughout the game. These area guardians really show off the creativity of the Megadev team, and their ability to cast broad experiments while at the same time remaining true to the game's core mechanics.
You may get seduced by the new enemies and the pretty new settings, but don't get so wrapped up that you don't notice the small things as well. Achievements are now explained (a common criticism we remember from the first Knightfall). The game now includes a comprehensive in-game tutorial as opposed to an external YouTube video. You now have the ability to knock out single blocks or doubles at a higher AP cost. This little adjustment gives you more options to get yourself out of a tight spot, but forces you to weigh costs vs. benefits before doing so.
The dedication to story telling here is also a welcome addition. From the humorous opening sequence to eavesdropping in the local pub, Knightfall 2 does a good job of patching together the story of this world through anecdotes. It's like watching a quilt get sewn together in such a way that perhaps there is not an exact beginning, middle, and end, but instead a meandering history that is held together by a common thread. At times it's whimsical, and at times it isn't. You can play the game without paying much attention to the various characters you meet, but doing so adds a sense of depth that strengthens the whole package.
An enamored reviewer could keep going, but what's the point? In the end, Knightfall 2 is everything Knightfall was only more of it and then some. At this point I'm just keeping you from experiencing it yourself.
LOL after 2 minutes of reading one-sentence-at-a-time doc on how to play I moved on :)
I blame you entirely for introducing me to this game, its predecessor, and for the death of my productivity. ON YOUR HEAD BE IT.
Really adore this game. Especially the graphics.
This game is so much better than the original, simply by including the ability to drill one or two-block groups. I also love the graphics (despite the fact that some larger enemies cover the blocks above them, which can get annoying).
Anyway, I'm currently kind of stuck. I have two dungeons left to clear on the map. I'd like to go through the Endless Dungeon to rack up some money and buy items before I tackle them, but I'm 5 coins short of the entrance fee. Does anyone know a way to make just a little bit of money without completing an entire dungeon?
Hi Neddo, this is Mike here from Megadev, glad you're enjoying the game! Sadly I think you're going to have to go and complete a dungeon in order to get those few extra coins you need. We were planning to have a location where you could 'work' to earn gold which would have solved your dilemma, but sadly we had to drop this feature as we spent more time on it than we probably should have done. :) I hope your quest for those extra coins doesn't prove too traumatic and I hope you continue to enjoy the game!
Cheers,
Mike.
Yeah, I ended up beating one of the dungeons, which didn't turn out to be too difficult. Then I upgraded some equipment and took on the last boss.
Overall I still really enjoyed this game, with one complaint: after beating the final boss, you no longer have the option of continuing, and can only start a new game. I was hoping to go back to the Endless Dungeon and see how far I could get but I'd have to start all over to do so.
This is a great game! I enjoyed it a lot and would have happily played more. I was trying to build up before taking on the last battle and turned out not to need to. Hope the author makes a sequel with maybe more concepts, add some real treasure hunting elements into it.
Great game, I ended up playing it all the way through first time even though I only meant to play a little bit.
Hey, I thought I'd just say it's a brilliant game.
It doesn't take you long before you can tell how much hard work and thought has gone into Knightfall.
The quality of the backdrops in each locality is beautiful, detailed and imaginative.
The elements of RPG and Puzzle go well together, to me this game was Chess on steroids.
Maybe the guys at Megadev should consider porting this to the iPhone OS, lot's of money to be made in that market ;)
I give it a big thumbs up.
Thanks for your comments Sam - it's always nice to get some proper feedback from players like yourself! It's funny you should mention an iPhone port as that's exactly how the game came about - a good friend of ours was getting in to iPhone development and I thought we should come up with a game specifically for it. The idea was that you could rotate the board by rotating the phone itself, but after putting together a quick prototype I realised that the game would work equally well as a Flash game. Here's the prototype itself (apologies for the programmer art stolen from various sources):
http://www.megadev.co.uk/Knightfall_alpha.htm
We do still have an iPhone version in development (at early alpha stage), but whether it will see the light of day or not I can't be sure. :)
Cheers,
Mike.
Really good game...but I have one issue, much like the previous one. I also screwed up and bought too many things from the shop and didn't have enough money to go back to the dungeon. I only had the last level to do, so if I want to continue I have to start all over.
Since there are so many achievements to unlock, it would have been great to be able to save the money I earned before dying on a level. That way, the game could continue endlessly.
Now I have to start over, and quite honestly it's a little too frustrating for me to do that. It's a small "painted in the corner" issue, but I think it will frustrate players, especially if it goes to market. Having the ability to sell back items might fix the issue, or have a "return" level later on where players can level up and make a small amount of money so they can get to the endless dungeon.
Just my thoughts. Otherwise, a good game. It's a shame I can't finish it. :(
I only wish that after defeating the final boss you could continue playing so you can rack up those acheivements.
I really am enjoying this game. One very small complaint... and since no one else is complaining, maybe it's just me and my cruddy monitor/bad eye sight... but I have trouble reading the font for all the numbers on the screen (your coins, HP, AP, exp). I can read it, but not comfortably.
Apart from that, I really enjoy am enjoying it... too early for me to give any more "valuable" feedback, but the font thing is definitely noticeable for me (just a minor inconvenience... by no means a game killer)
Another minor thing: moving around on the map could be tweaked a bit. I think that, as long as there's a clear path between two points, you should be able to click on one and move straight to it, rather than clicking every single point in between. Also, the yellow "completed" areas tend to blend into the map background so sometimes I'd be clicking and not going anywhere because I didn't realize there was a completed spot in between I had to click on first.
Also, it's a little annoying that sometimes you have to zoom out because the next spot is just off the edge of the map.
None of these are really horrible, but they are minor annoyances that seem like they could be easily fixed.
Here is another thing: There should be a way to use or discard items outside of dungeons.
My inventory is full (ideally, permanent items such as the rings wouldn't take up inventory slots) and I want to buy an item for use in the next dungeon, but I can't because I don't have an empty slot, and I can't use an item unless I go into the next dungeon, and even if I do that the game won't save the fact that I used the item unless I actually beat the dungeon... so it's kind of a catch-22 there.
I hope you don't think I'm nitpicking with all these complaints. I really do love this game and I just think these things could make it better.
I have to say, I'm pretty darned upset that I couldn't keep playing after finishing the last dungeon. Although, that DOES increase the replayability of the game. It'll guarantee that new players who don't know about that will play this at least twice.
I feel that the new ability to drill 1- and 2-piece blocks has broken the challenge of the game. Sure, the game depends less on luck now, but it's a huge step down in puzzle challenge.
Much as I like this game, I do agree with the previous commenter that something has been lost from the original by allowing the drilling of one and two squares.
I encounter a 'you got an item' after beating boss but I don't get that rare item because my inventory is full! :(
rosedragon, those items don't appear in your inventory and you can't use them for anything. As far as I can tell, their only purpose is that you have to have all of them to enter the last section of the map.
Wow, lots of feedback here - thanks everyone. :) I'll try to reply to each comment individually but apologies if I miss anyone out!
1) Not being able to afford endless mode - originally we intended to have a location where you could "work" to earn money and thereby always be able to afford entry to endless mode, but lack of time meant that we never got round to this, and the same goes for the ability to sell items in the shop.
2) Continuing after completing the game - this is something we were considering, but again we didn't have time to test this out. There's nothing to stop you starting a new game and finishing any achievements you've missed, although I know it's not ideal.
3) The HUD font - this was actually a lot worse, but thanks to Kyle we managed to improve this before release; sorry if it's still awkward for some of you to read.
4) Map navigation - this was something else which we couldn't really nail due to time constraints, but yes, ideally players shouldn't have to zoom out to reach any map node, and it would have been nice to click on any unlocked map node to move to it.
5) Drilling one or two blocks - this has certainly made things much easier, but we still feel that the challenge does ramp up appropriately towards the end of the game. The game is definitely much easier at the start, but then the original KF was too hard for many players which put them off playing entirely. I'm a hardened gamer myself and always enjoy a challenge, but we have to consider that the vast majority of people playing our game aren't so "hardcore" and so we have to cater for them the majority of the time.
Well I think that answers just about everyone - thanks for the great feedback and we'll take it all in to consideration if and when we get round to making Knightfall 3. For the meantime though we're going to be trying our hand at a few other genres which we've been keen to try out for some time. :)
Cheers,
Mike.
I seem to be stuck. . . and rather annoyed. The last two areas available are the Fairy shop and the Thieves Hideout. All the areas after that are blue and there are no more levels that I can play before this point. This really kills an otherwise great game.
Hey Danny, you just need to complete the 'Thieves Hideout' to open up the swamp area just below it.
Cheers,
Mike.
Absolutely loved this game... while everyone has suggested some key things, I'd like to point out an unfortunate bug that killed my playthrough and kept me from finishing...
DO NOT use a chicken scroll during the final battle - you can get yourself stuck with the final boss not appearing and no way to get out of the level...
That's how my playthrough ended unfortunately - just stuck at the final battle.
Thanks for that bug report Nickarus - just fixed that (in theory...) and will be uploading a new version to ArmorGames.com later! Glad you enjoyed the game, and sorry about that bug. :)
Mike.
Newbie here: I CANNOT figure out how to beat the spider! Any hints or suggestions?
Just played it through...
I found it more complex and demanding than Knightfall, but it had some loose ends here and there. The World Map is cool, but way can't you take shortcuts to other places nad scroll the map. Also, most of the non-dungeons were rather pointless. I found nothing to do there, so why put them in? Apart from that, I really enjoyed it.
It's amazing that nobody can come up with games with a unique twist on gameplay. This is one of the most addicting puzzle games I've played! It's fun, addictive, the animation is great, the music is great, and the idea is just innovative. The downside to the game is that enemies can attack you when you're trying to make a move, but other than that, it seems flawless. Great Job!
It seems to me that it is possible to continue the game after finishing it, by going back to main menu/reload page and click continue.
After that when you use the menu button there's the option retry stage and I started fighting the final boss.
If you want you could go bakc to endless dungeon and then try retry stage to finish the game.
found another problem, couldn't purchase the "black matter armour" which costs 25k even though I have 95k, not sure what the problem is though.
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