In a neat framing device, the elderly, bedridden King Graham – wonderfully voiced by Christopher Lloyd – is recounting tales from his younger days to his granddaughter. It’s a splendid conceit, not least because he’ll change the story to take account of your actions or if you meet an untimely death.
The game begins with a brief prologue, which takes place in a huge underground cavern, as you attempt to outwit a gigantic fire-breathing dragon in order to retrieve a magical mirror. It’s a brief call-back to the first game in the series, as you jump over creaking bridges and walkways, shoot targets with a bow and arrow, and use a system of pulleys and winches to get to where you need to go.
It’s a clever introduction, and instantly cements the reader in the story, but it’s the game’s sky-high production values that really impress. The gorgeous cartoon visuals look like a cross between a Don Bluth film and Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us, while the voice work and soundtrack are top-notch, too.
Aesthetics aside, you soon arrive in Daventry as a wide-eyed adventurer, and enter a competition to become a new knight of the realm. It’s here that the game broadens out, as you’re given a series of challenges to complete, against four other would-be knights, and you also get to explore the area, talk to the locals, add items to your inventory, and solve some easy puzzles.
A Knight To Remember is the first of five linked episodes, which will be released over the next few months. It clocks in at roughly five to six hours, with a ton of replay value if you want to explore every narrative choice and dialogue option that’s open to you. Like most adventure games of its ilk, there’s an over-reliance on inventory-based puzzles, while frequent loading screens are a constant annoyance. Other niggles included the lack of an in-game map, and the fact that you can’t skip conversations and cutscenes, no matter how many times you’ve been forced to sit through them.
None of these concerns spoil an adventure that’s a fun, light-hearted romp from start to finish. It has a warmth that’s sadly lacking in many modern games, and manages to capture the whimsical nature of the original King’s Quest series with admirable ease.
Score: HHHHI
Set in a steampunk version of Victorian London, The Swindle is a burglary sim dressed up as a 2D platform game.
It tasks players with breaking into randomly-generated houses, warehouses and banks, and liberating as much cash as possible, without setting off any alarms or being spotted by robot guards.
The reason for all this sticky-fingered activity is to be able to afford all the gadgets and skills you’ll need to pull of some of the bigger jobs. The grand prize is a crack at stealing The Devil’s Basilisk, a new security device developed by Scotland Yard, but this only comes at the end of a 100-day crime spree.
Thankfully, if you fail a mission, you’re simply replaced by another thief, who inherits all the skills you’ve acquired, so making it through to the end is tough, but not impossible.
Score: HHHHI
While a soothing soundtrack plays in the background, it’s up to you to pop a seed into the ground and nurture your tiny sapling by trimming its leaves and branches so it grows towards the sunlight. Eventually it’ll blossom into life, enabling you to move onto the next stage to repeat the process.
At first, it all appears to be effortlessly easy, but subsequent levels present new problems, including a poisonous water supply – forcing you to cut out the infected part of your tree in order for it to survive – and deadly red circles that will cause branches to wither and die.
There are lots of other challenges, too, but the pace is always gentle, and there’s a fantastic sense of achievement every time your careful pruning leads to a healthy tree in full bloom.
Score: HHHII
This fast paced twin-stick shooter throws you into a geometric universe, and then asks you to blow the merry hell out of it all.
Piloting a tiny square ship, which can be armed with all sorts of fancy weapons, the game is effectively two games in one. Classic mode consists of five levels of bullet hell, which can be played solo or co-operatively with a local buddy, as you boost and brake your way through screens packed full of enemy ships, power-ups and deadly obstacles.
As if that wasn’t enough there’s also Macro mode, which is made up of procedurally generated levels, waves of random enemies and huge multi-screen bosses, plus a store, where you can stock up on upgrades, shields and extra lives.
The game can be played with a keyboard and mouse, although a pad probably has the edge, while the tight controls are complimented by a striking minimalist design.
Score: HHHII
BLADES OF GLORY: For Honour is a third-person sword-fighting simulator that lets you step back in time and wield your blade against a variety of ancient warriors.
Taking place in different eras, the game lets you put your swordsmanship to the ultimate test as you battle Vikings, knights and samurai across a number of different modes. As well as a single-player campaign, where you get to wage war against skilled AI combatants, you can also duke it out with friends in murderous 4v4 multiplayer battles, alongside many more modes that have yet to be unveiled.
The game is in development for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but there’s no news on a release date yet.
ALIEN NATION: If turn-based tactical combat with a sci-fi twist gets you out of bed in the morning, then doubtless you’re already excited about XCOM 2.
A sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown – which itself was a reboot of the original Amiga classic from the 90s – the new game posits a future where the global paramilitary force known as XCOM lost the war against invading aliens, and has been reduced to fighting a guerilla-style campaign against our new intergalactic overlords.
Alongside the rejigged narrative sits a bunch of other refinements, including new soldier classes, a bunch of new aliens to eviscerate and a looting system that lets you scavenge the battlefield for supplies. XCOM 2 debuts on PC this November.
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