In most games you’re cast as the hero. Even when you start out weaker, your path to victory is all but assured. Strength, power, and better gear await you like the inexorable march of time. But, what if you weren’t destined to be the hero? That’s what The Knightling asks, a newly-announced action-adventure game from Saber Interactive, which casts you in the role of a great hero’s helper – but you might just have what it takes to rise and become a champion yourself.
In The Knightling you’re just that – a knight-in-training. Usually you spend your time accompanying the wonderful, powerful, and extremely brave Sir Lionstone but something awful has happened – he’s gone missing. With no-one else around to find out where your mentor has gone, you’ll have to take up his magic shield and head out into the world to get to the bottom of this mystery in true action-adventure game style.
Your only weapon is Lionstone’s shield itself but fear not, it’s not just a tool for cowering behind while enemies whale on you. You can toss it at things, Captain America-style, hit foes with it, and use it to slide down hills or as a makeshift hang glider. With it, and lashings of personal bravery, you’ll be able to take on whatever the game has to throw at you including devious puzzles and platforming challenges, all in aid of saving the realm – when the realm’s savior is missing.
Putting you in the role of someone who quite definitely is not a hero is an intriguing setup for a game, and brings to mind some of the greatest storylines in gaming – Frog’s plotline in Chrono Trigger, for instance. An unknown becoming a champion is a repeated trope in fantasy fiction, though in games that kind of hero’s journey often fails to make an appearance, at least outside of titles like The Elder Scrolls series.
Combining bright, colorful fantasy vistas and the type of open-world puzzle, platforming action reminiscent of games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Knightling looks like it might just fill a niche that PC gaming has been crying out for.
The Knightling release window is set for 2025. you can head over to Steam to add it to your wishlist now.
You can also take a look at our guide to the very best fantasy games on PC, as well as our picks for the best platform games you can play in 2024.
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