- The fourth entry in the narrative saga!
- Save the world from the war of the Three Kingdoms
- Quest with unexpected allies to fight, grow, and wield true power
Games are getting more advanced, and already we've had many with compelling stories that are told with few words. Sometimes all you need are clean, clear visuals that paint a narrative for you to follow. In that sense, the pictures form words in your mind, which you use to make sense of everything, but it's nice to return to the words themselves. Reading lets us create our own images and details that come to life as fully as possible, and the more words we have, the more complete the images feel. Dgjam Studio is continuing to pursue this with Knight & Dragon IV, where the words are ready to whisk you away on a fantasy journey… but can they do so with gusto?
What is Knight & Dragon IV?
With so many adventures already forming part of the saga, Knight & Dragon IV has a lot to go on. However, it seems to be going for an independent story that stands on its own. In a medieval country of fantasy, the Three Kingdoms are at odds with each other, and peace is a distant memory. Those in power are quite literally in their positions due to being accompanied by Guardian Angels, entities of incredible power that follow the whim of their charge. One kingdom is seeking more power by attempting to expand, but a certain territory is resisting. You play as a mercenary for hire, open to anything, and it looks like fate has a role for you in this growing conflict that can change the fate of the world.
Knight & Dragon IV, you
Since Knight & Dragon IV is a narrative-based adventure, it places a lot of responsibility on you to visually create the world. It starts by giving you a lot to work with, starting with all the lands and concepts you'll need to keep in mind as you play. However, despite an in-depth and heavy introduction, the words won't constantly overwhelm you. They'll mostly appear to paint the scene and give you the necessary details, so you can let your mind rest as you get into the playing part of the game. But when those details do appear, the images they can foster can be vividly interesting and exciting.
The actual journey itself offers many options while remaining streamlined. The UI is easy to follow, with everything presented plainly and simply. Once the story gives you control, you can quickly get a team together and start completing quests. This is after a fairly thorough custom-creation tool that lets you create the hero of the hour. After they're put into the mix, the other people who can join your party will be randomised to keep things varied and encourage you to adjust your strategy, change your playstyle, and create multiple parties made for different jobs.
The jobs themselves involve going to certain areas and solving problems. It's questing; you go to the place, talk to the people, and then fight whatever is causing the problem. It's cut-and-dried, and it's fine. Combat is displayed via icons with silhouettes and data, so you know exactly how close either the enemy or your team is to dying. You've got standard attacks, skills, and then class-specific abilities for that little bit of extra flavor. You can resolve fights pretty fast, but you can't get too comfortable, as one enemy's strong hit can turn the tide and put you into emergency mode, and that's the intensity we want.
Knight & Dragon IV, what?
When it comes to games that are mostly text, we're forced to examine the technical aspects more closely, and Knight & Dragon IV has some issues that should be dealt with. The first one deals with enemy combat behaviour. Each unit involved in the battle has a Threat Bar to indicate how much of a threat they're perceived which is meant to affect who enemies attack. But, despite that, the enemies always seem to attack the lead character, no matter what. I even went out of my way to make the main character a background scholarly-type, and enemies were still more scared of her than of the Gladiator Lycanthrope charging right at them.
Now, even though there's a fair amount of variety in character types and classes, it takes quite a while to see that variety. It's a slow-burn to get your characters to the level of power where they can actually do cool stuff in battle. Until that point, you'll pretty much be swapping the same low-level gear you find from fights or buy from the shop to determine who does the best damage with a sad little knife.
Sometimes the questing can feel a little dull as you go from fight to fight with only a few pop-up icons and numbers to indicate just how rough things are going. It'd be a welcome sight to see more kinds of quests to undertake.
Knight & Dragon IV, sure
Knight & Dragon IV is a 2D text-based fantasy adventure about trying to save the world from destruction and endless war between kingdoms. The words draw you in with plenty of detail and intrigue, while the technical writing lets you start adventuring as soon as you can. It can take quite a while to get into it and make you crave more variety as the leader gets swamped by King Rat on multiple occasions, but it keeps you alert for the harder fights. Steel thy sword for the knight and dragon… whichever one is the most reasonable.
Knight & Dragon IV review - "The fourth story of adventure!"
Knight & Dragon IV continues its tradition of telling a story through words and action, but with customisation and strategy to keep you involved as your hero remains the prime target.
Will Quick
Will Quick is a travelling writer currently dedicating his time to writing about the games he spends his free time playing. He's always on the lookout for the smaller and stranger of the bunch so he can shine a light on them.