Black Knight Sword Review

There's no shame in taking the easy way out, especially when playing a gruesome platformer like Black Knight Sword. Its five stages don't appear insurmountable at first, but it doesn’t take long for merciless traps to pick away at your confidence and measly stock of extra lives. The chilling presentation and strict mechanics may lose you at first, but digging deeper into Black Knight Sword heightens your appreciation for its intricate web of creative misdirection. Expect the worst when venturing into this world, and you'll be rewarded with stylish and satisfying action.

It starts innocently enough: the game is presented as a staged performance, and as the main menu loads, the orchestra warms up while a lively audience chatters away. Once you begin the Story Mode, a narrator with a chilling timbre gloomily introduces the scene. He presents it in the typical “dark and stormy night” manner, but there’s never any mention of the events or characters at hand. It’s a mysterious start, and the only way to get any real context for Black Knight Sword’s plot is to sit idle at the main menu. After a few moments, a semi-hidden prologue reveals that the you have been reborn as the agent of a sword spirit and sent on a mission to destroy an evil, murderous princess. The fact that these breadcrumbs of plot points aren’t readily communicated is odd, but in the context of the ominous performance in which the gameplay exists, the ambiguity gives your imagination plenty of room to wander.

Nearly everything in Black Knight Sword resembles papercraft. Though enemies may occasionally appear organic, they’re animated like an unsophisticated marionette puppet and movement is limited to simple joint articulation. Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame seems to have been a major influence, but with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe’s morbid sensibilities thrown in for good measure. Most of your enemies resemble mishandled biological experiments fit with miserable expressions and droopy, lifeless flesh. There are occasional deviations, such as ravenous wolves and brightly colored sewer slimes, but you’ll spend the majority of your time fending off decapitated heads of various shapes and sizes. The motif does wear a bit thin, but variations in enemy design and mannerisms prevent its use from growing completely stale.

How quaint; your first mission is to free your dusty corpse from a noose.

The soundtrack is in many ways the most absurd element of Black Knight Sword, and there’s nothing quite like battling waves of sorrowful foes and bravely leaping for perilous ledges while a demented cacophony of atonal string instruments and hauntingly repetitive vocals attacks your senses, and perhaps your sanity, too. The entire aural and visual presentation is a stressful combination of ungodly sights and sounds that are anything but pleasant or endearing, but they ultimately work in the context of the game’s nightmarish setting.

As the Black Knight, your sword is your primary survival tool. You are limited to thrusting attacks in the early going, other offensive moves must be unlocked later. Your thrust is a quick motion that can be repeated in rapid succession to quickly deliver multiple strikes, but you are unable to do so while in motion. Thrusting in mid-air allows the Black Knight to hover in place, and you can also use it like a pointy pogo-stick, repeatedly stabbing enemies below.

Gratuitous displays of blood and horribly demented faces are commonplace throughout Black Knight Sword.

New sword abilities become available as you progress through the game, including an upward swing and the ability to fire projectiles, but the basic thrusting action remains the best tool for the job in most scenarios. Your new, flashy abilities are never truly required though and are only useful on rare occasions. When you need to hit an object or enemy at a distance, you do have the option of projecting your sword’s spirit, but it’s a slow process that hampers your ability to attack or double jump until she returns to her sword form.