Knight Terrors

Knight Terrors is an arcade inspired, infinite runner, themed around spooks and scares. Knight Terrors was originally developed by FreakZone Games who you may also recognize as the developer behind AVGN: Adventures and its sequel. In 2017 Nicalis published a port to Switch. This is what I’ll be taking a look at now. I really enjoyed Knight Terrors when I first played it, but does it still hold up after my experience with both Kid Tripp and Miles & Kilo, as well as with a more critical eye?

In Knight Terrors you control a nameless knight protecting the kingdom from the monsters of the night. If you want to know what kingdom, I don’t know, but it certainly isn’t a happy one. You’re constantly running toward obstacles and enemies are always attempting to kill you. If an enemy gets past you, depending on the mode, you get closer to dying. In most modes if three enemies get past you, you die. The Knight has quite a bit of defense against these enemies however, such as your innate ability to fly indefinitely, your sword, and the power-ups you collect during the run. There are various power-ups like a boomerang, throwing axe, and arrows, but you have to unlock them before they appear in runs. The Knight typically has three hearts, however there is also a health upgrade you can obtain which adds an extra heart. Usually when you get hit you lose whatever power-ups you had at the time, the health upgrade is different though, it will last until you die.

The game sticks to it’s arcade roots, with your main goal being to get the highest score possible; that’s it. There are five modes for you to try out: Normal, Flight Terrors, Endless Knight, K-Type, and Knightmare. A couple examples being Normal, which has a “Level” system where you reach a new level based on your score, and Flight Terrors, which removes the level system and replaces the ground with spikes which forces you to stay in the air. I really like the different modes and high-score game-play, but I know that can be a major downside for many people since it all depends on your tastes, but I like it.

Knight Terrors’ presentation is my favorite so far. The game goes for a monstrous theme and sticks to it the entire time in every way it can, from the sound design, to the sprites, music, and even mechanics. Knight Terrors, while not scary, does feel like a horror game, at least when it’s starting out. There are a lot of repeating music tracks, but I can’t really fault such a small production for something like that. The game’s art looks brilliant and heavily detailed; the monsters you defeat all look varied and interesting, and I loved the atmosphere the game went for. The main menu feels a little bit too detailed for my tastes because it’s hard to read. Sound effects never got on my nerves, but I can see people getting tired of them eventually.

Knight Terrors is one of my favorite indie games ever. I strongly recommend looking into it if you’re into infinite runners, or a ‘not so scary’ game to play on Halloween. Knight Terrors for the time and enjoyment I got out of it, is well worth the small asking price. FreakZone themselves are a very talented developer and I’ve had my eye on them and their projects since I first played Knight Terrors. If you don’t like short games, you should probably skip Knight Terrors, but if you’re fine with length for the asking price, hop on it as soon as possible.