King Arthur: Knight’s Tale PC Review
Summary: The Arthurian Legend gets a new twist in a compelling turn based RPG.
4.5
Dark Knight
It’s been a long time since I read the story of King Arthur (I’m talking probably at least twenty years ago). My memory of certain elements is hazy but I remember loving the story and the overall atmosphere of it. So getting a chance to review King Arthur: Knight’s Tale was an exciting prospect. I was not let down!
The general premise of the game is that you are Sir Mordred, King Arthur’s nemesis, you killed King Arthur… but with his dying breath he too killed you, Yet you both live. The Lady of the Lake, ruler of Avalon, has brought you back and set you on a Knightly quest to finish what you started, you must kill King Arthur… or whatever he has become. So that’s a pretty dire scenario and an odd take on the legend… but it works.
The gameplay is most obviously going to be compared to XCOM 2 and that is reasonable in terms of how movement is managed… but I’d even go so far as to say the overall feel is a bit more like Fallout or even a Baldur’s Gate in that you have your group of heroes and you can level them up and provide them with armour and buffs etc. If you think of any of those games you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Where it differs from those games is in the non combat sections. You have the option to rebuild Camelot… to set up the castle to help you in your quest via training grounds, first aid provisions and so on. You will also get the chance to leave your mark on the people of the land by going on side quests and passing out judgement on situations that arise. Your choices in these matters will change your characters morality so you can become a more righteous knight… or sink to the depths of depravity and be a real nasty piece of work.
The sound is quite well done too and I actually found myself thinking someone was moving around the house before realising it was just the game making good use of the sound space. The only gripe I had was when in combat, after selecting a move like a spell or long range shot, if you change your mind you have to press Esc, it would have been nice to have another button on the mouse cancel. It’s nothing major and you can change key bindings, I’m just used to being able to select with one button or cancel with the other. Having said that, combat does offer some nice strategic elements. You basically (eventually) have a mix of melee units and ranged units. Where you place your units at the start of the battle can make a big difference between success or defeat and how you spend your action points equally can lead to victory or death. Overwatch is both very useful and very satisfying when you are facing hordes.
Overall though, it’s been a lot of fun diving back into the Arthurian legend and this darker take on it. It’s a fun game with a decent amount of polish to it. Grab it if you love Arthurian mythology or just decent turn based RPGs.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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