Kill Knight delivers violent thrills and cathartic kills | Hands-on preview

Kill Knight delivers violent thrills and cathartic kills | Hands-on preview

As a gamer with a penchant for the darker side of gaming, I must say that Kill Knight has piqued my interest. With its unapologetic title and promise of endless carnage, it’s like a siren’s call to the bloodthirsty part of me that’s been dormant since the last Soulsborne game I played.


The title of Kill Knight is as straightforward as can be. It’s a game where you play as a knight, whose primary objective is to slay numerous enemies. Battling your way through “Super Hell” offers the release one might anticipate, despite its challenging nature. The reasons behind equipping you with an array of weapons to carry out your punishment in hell may be better explained by the creators of Kill Knight, but it seems that the alternative – being repeatedly killed without retaliation – would be rather monotonous. Instead, you’re subjected to a repeated cycle of murder while being murdered to the rhythm of an intense soundtrack.

In the game Kill Knight, the gameplay pattern is characterized as “intense” or “fast-paced”. At the beginning, your actions are extensively taught to you, making it seem overwhelming with all the new information. The protagonist, presumably named Kill Knight (first name: Kill), equips twin pistols, a shotgun, and a razor-sharp sword. The action unfolds on a grid of platforms, which restricts movement and rapidly introduces enemies, similar to a Survivor game.

Kill Knight delivers violent thrills and cathartic kills | Hands-on preview

In addition to constantly moving to dodge being cornered like a boyband member navigating a school playground, it’s crucial to stay alert about the various synchronized abilities that complement your active reloads. To start, there are standard active reloads that make your bullets pack more punch. However, when the slider is in the optimal position, you can also use melee attacks to produce extra energy for your powerful explosion. Furthermore, during an active reload, you can parry, which gathers all the red orbs you’ve extracted from enemies for leveling up your stats, providing a valuable healing effect. Additionally, you can utilize a shotgun that gets reloaded through melee kills.

Although it appears you’re well-equipped, it’s overwhelming to maintain pace when relentless waves (let me rephrase: swarms) of pressing inquiries, requiring intense responses, are constantly pounding at you. These brief respites are fleeting, often lasting only a couple of heartbeats. Additionally, keep in mind that high-ranking individuals and superiors have protective barriers that need to be dismantled with your unique ability, which typically requires several strikes and strategic maneuvers.

Kill Knight, a challenging and intense game, serves as an outlet for venting internal emotions. Unlike other games, it bypasses narrative and context, instead focusing solely on the action. The game appears to offer advancement and weapon upgrades, but these aspects aren’t shown in the demo, making it difficult to predict how satisfying – or unsatisfying – these rewards might be. What keeps players engaged beyond the repetitive task of slaying swarms of demons is a question that remains unanswered. The sense of accomplishment from completing a stage is so fleeting that you may barely celebrate your success before finding yourself once more maneuvering through demon gore.

Kill Knight delivers violent thrills and cathartic kills | Hands-on preview

The rhythm is captivating, reminiscent of an isometric Doom-like gameplay. You’re constantly making decisions such as when to fire your pistols, choosing the right reload type, using the shotgun in critical situations, and switching to melee for temporary ammo recovery. Then comes the big question: do you unleash your super attack to clear a path or save it for a potential tougher enemy? This game keeps you on your toes with its intense minute-to-minute pressure, setting Kill Knight apart from ordinary Roguelike shooters and making it incredibly addictive.

In October, we’ll fully unveil the depth of “Kill Knight.” At this point, it appears to have just the right amount of depth, offering a tactically diverse gameplay experience and a generous helping of gratifyingly violent scenes.

Kill Knight is scheduled for release on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox on October 3, 2024.

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2024-09-11 12:46