Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
It's challenging to build on an idea for a sequel and then have the execution expand on the premise so well while still feeling true to the original. Knights in Tight Spaces is Ground Shatter's sequel to 2021's Fights in Tight Spaces, building on the idea of card battling to craft a fight scene. It's wild that I can look at both games and see the commonalities while recognizing that Knights is an entirely different animal. That's part of Knights' brilliance, which takes the Fights roguelike formula and makes it into a pseudo-pen-and-paper RPG.
Knights in Tight Spaces begins by having players select a character, who will then journey across the land beating up bad guys before getting embroiled in a shadow conspiracy involving the kingdom's throne. For Ground Shatter's original game, players took on the role of a secret agent. For this sequel, the protagonist selection has expanded to multiple classes, many of which are unlocked over the course of numerous runs. To further separate itself from its predecessor, Knights' characters and settings look like ink drawn on papyrus. It's drastically different than the silhouetted style of Fights, but it's also more visually appealing.
Each class will begin with a different opening set of cards, which players use to string together attacks and maneuver across the board game-like grid. On top of that, classes are noticeably different with some carrying around weapons that can offer damage modifiers and others who can strike at range or with area-of-effect attacks.
Like Fights before it, the card battling system in Knights can sound intimidating, but it's easy to comprehend once the game begins. Before long, players are managing their Momentum (the game's Mana resource) to put together killer combos and slink away to safety to avoid incoming attacks. The challenge is in responding to those inevitable moments when the walls figuratively close in on you and you're surrounded by baddies. After all, everybody has a plan until they get cornered and punched in the mouth. With Knights, however, things get a little spicier with the implementation of parties.
After completing the Prologue quest, players can enter Taverns and recruit up to two other party members. Depending on who's available, these new teammates can have different class roles. This offers the challenge of fighting in sync, especially since party members all share Momentum and Combo Meters. It's one thing for a single character to avoid contact, but keeping every party member from taking a punch (or something worse) is a much taller task and the fact that party members can be permanently killed keeps the stakes feeling high.
The other thing to note about runs in Knights in Tight Spaces is that they unfold with a pen-and-paper RPG flair, building further on the foundation laid out by Fights. The narrative unfolds via text on parchment and players are frequently prompted to make choices that can result in equipment upgrades, extra gold, or new cards. Some might even lead to side quests where players can risk their run for greater rewards. It's a cool idea with the only drawback being that there isn't too much variety with certain parts of the story. Hope you like the Prologue conversations, because they're going to pop up again and again every time the story starts anew.
There are multiple difficulty settings available, each offering tougher enemies and fewer advantages. Rollbacks are mulligans that players can take if they make a wrong move and they're only offered on lower difficulty levels. The idea is that players will learn as they go and ultimately reach a high enough difficulty that will allow them to see the game's narrative through to the end.
As players progress through more and more runs, they'll earn more cards that they can find on new outings or through deck drafts. It helps ensure that no two runs are the same, at least in terms of gameplay and strategy. Of course, not everything is going to work out and sometimes, players will face certain doom. Unfortunately, one issue that remains from Fights is that there's no option to abandon a run if things go south. If your party has been wiped out or if your party leader is facing a mortal blow with no way out, players are forced to watch the whole thing unfold before they can start over.
The last thing to note is that there's still a satisfaction in watching these characters duke it out. If anything, that aspect of the game has gotten better with classes like the Sorcerer able to fire off lightning spells that can wipe out multiple targets at a time. Unfortunately, the camera in Knights feels like a massive step backwards. There were numerous instances where an attack would unfold by a wall and the camera would position itself directly behind or even inside the wall as the characters were attacking. There are keys to reposition the camera during the card-selection phase, but some of these camera errors felt especially egregious.
Knights in Tight Spaces is a strong sequel from Ground Shatter and takes the Fights in Tight Spaces formula to exciting new places. The refreshed art style does a great job in matching the atmosphere. The roguelike card battling formula still feels enjoyably simple and evolves enough to make it feel distinct from the original game. Plus, the daily runs with set parties and modifiers offer fresh challenges.
Like Fights before it, Knights in Tight Spaces is the kind of game where it's easy to lose track of time. The story will have you reaching for the Skip button by the time you go on your 10th or 20th run, but there's nothing repetitive about the formula, especially as battles get more intense with tougher foes. It turns out that even when the clock is dialed back a few dozen centuries, close quarters fighting is still a grand old time.
This review is based on a Steam digital code provided by the publisher. Knights in Tight Spaces will be available later today on Steam for $19.99 USD. The game is not rated by the ESRB.