The Rogue-like game genre originated from the classic game “Rogue” in 1980. Initially, random levels, turn-based combat, and completely restarting after death were the three main features of Rogue-like. However, as this game genre has developed, the three main elements have changed except for the core element of random levels.
In recent years, a new concept, Rogue-lite, has emerged, mainly referring to Rogue-like games that reduce the penalty for death. Players still cannot take away the items in the level after death, but every attempt will benefit the entire adventure. The horizontal platform action game “Shapeless Knight” is such a Rogue-lite type of work. This game has created extremely difficult level challenges with excellent level design and action system, but allows players to achieve their goals through continuous challenges and step by step, and experience the rich and interesting plots in the game.
The excellent 2D hand-painted art style and visual expression of “Shapeless Knight” are eye-catching when you first enter the game. The scenes of several major levels, whether it is a dilapidated castle palace or an outdoor flowing water forest, all use a slightly dark tone, combined with the depth of field processing of near and far scenes and the grasp of lighting details, to create an adventurous atmosphere of exploring an unknown world.
The main characters of the game are in the shape of slightly cute cartoon animals. The creators create them frame by frame, making the movements of these characters and the various monsters in the levels both detailed and vivid, and the high-level cutscenes give people a delicate and exquisite look.
In addition, the game’s soundtrack and sound effects are also excellent, and they match the various scenes and actions perfectly. Just through the pictures and music, people can quickly immerse themselves in it, which is enough to show how much effort the producer put into this work.
Jump and sprint in the barrage of bullets
Our protagonist, Abel, the White Tiger, has special skills. In addition to the usual movement, jumping, and slashing, he also has a charging jump, sprinting, downward impact, and two active skills, one of which is a powerful ultimate move, and the other is a secondary weapon skill, both of which require SP to use. As soon as you see that a platform action game has a big jump and a sprint, veteran players should know that this game will never be easy. That’s right, although each level is a random level, the various designs that require jumping, sprinting, and falling, the dangerous multiple mechanisms, and the various melee and ranged enemies scattered everywhere require players to master these operations. Not only do they need to formulate appropriate passing strategies based on the terrain, but they also need to respond in a timely manner to various situations.
Fortunately, although the game’s level design is difficult, most of the mechanisms have prompts before they are activated, such as small flames to be lit and stones to be loosened. Experienced players can tell at a glance that there are no malicious designs such as placing monsters in blind spots to make people “encounter love at the corner”, or sudden collapses and inexplicable generation of mechanisms. What the creators are trying their best to do is to add new gameplay elements to each large level of a new scene, so that players can constantly adapt and challenge themselves while bringing novelty. For example, in the water flow of the forest, the speed of the protagonist will be affected by acceleration and deceleration, and some monsters will be resurrected and have new characteristics in the undead level, etc. In addition, the various actions and skills of the game are very smooth and easy to use. After mastering them, you can soon experience the full sense of pleasure and accomplishment in the level challenges.
Of course, it is not easy to be “proficient”. Using various movements, jumps and sprints to pass through the traps is just basic operation. It is not complicated to clear monsters by using the domineering state of falling impact. The most critical operation of the game is to use the invincible state at the moment of sprinting to avoid those bullets that cannot be avoided by movement and jumping, especially in the face of elite monsters and BOSS battles. The flying bullets cover the sky and the sun, and the trajectory and speed are all kinds of strange. Even if the movement is exquisite, if you can’t use the sprint well, you will still lose health.
Speaking of BOSS battles, the BOSS design of each level in the game is very exquisite, and the mechanisms are different, but without exception, they are all difficult! If the previous level mechanisms are just minor fights, then facing the BOSS directly is the real challenge. Even if you have figured out the various mechanisms of the BOSS, you still have to face the “decathlon” test of mastering running, jumping, slashing, sprinting and using skills, and experience the excitement of jumping and sprinting in the sky full of bullets.
Roguelite closely integrated with the plot
What if it’s too difficult to pass? Don’t worry, the creators have fully considered it for everyone (why is it so difficult?). First of all, there are a variety of random props in each level to enhance the protagonist’s ability. These props include providing some passive skills, such as preventing falling rock damage, increasing flat slash damage, summoning a follower who can help attack, etc., and also replacing the original main and secondary skills with various powerful skills. Different prop combinations allow the protagonist to grow into an almost unique superpower character every time he adventures. To obtain these props, in addition to opening boxes at the nodes of the level, you can also buy your favorite props with money in the store on the road. In addition, defeating a large number of the same monsters will also drop related props, which can be queried in the monster illustrations. However, the pricing of props in the store is not balanced enough. Some props look expensive but are not practical, and some are cheap but very cost-effective. For players who have not been exposed to the game much, it may be easy to buy inappropriate props because they pursue the most expensive is the best.
The way of replacing experience upgrades with random item enhancements will undoubtedly remind people of the once phenomenal Roguelike game “The Binding of Isaac”. Some of the shadows of this game can indeed be seen in “The Body Knight”, such as some settings that are rarely involved but still exist – selling the upper limit of blood volume to buy props, irrecoverable blue blood volume, etc. However, as a platform action game that passes through levels horizontally, the overall game rhythm of “The Body Knight” and the core gameplay that emphasizes smooth action control experience are very different from “The Binding of Isaac”. “The Binding of Isaac” is mainly based on flat movement and long-range attacks, and props play a greater role. In my experience, it is easy to pass the level perfectly with a few powerful props. But in “The Body Knight”, which requires melee flat slashing and skills must consume blue bars, even if you get powerful props, you will fail in a level if you are not careful.
Second, as mentioned at the beginning, this is a Roguelite game. In addition to training our operating skills, each attempt can also provide help for the next challenge. What is even more surprising is that the game combines this setting with the plot perfectly, allowing players to start their journey to clear the game as the main plot progresses.
The growable rune system is the first helper. After each death, the props we get in the level cannot be taken out, but we can take out some prop fragments. Through these prop fragments, new runes can be obtained to strengthen the protagonist’s initial ability. At the same time, you can choose one of these runes to activate to obtain a more powerful special ability. The farther players go in the level, the more props they get, and the more prop fragments they can take out. Some players may reach the end of the level but fall in front of the BOSS. Then the acquisition of a large number of prop fragments can undoubtedly alleviate the sense of loss to a certain extent.
The second help comes from the props dropped by monsters. As mentioned above, if you defeat a large number of the same monster, it will drop related props. The number of monsters killed by players each time they pass a level is constantly accumulated. When a certain number of monsters is reached, if you kill a large number of monsters again, the props dropped will be of higher level and more powerful, which is more conducive to clearing the current level.
In general, growth in adventure is two-fold. It involves the growth of players’ own operating skills and familiarity with level design, and the growth of the protagonist’s abilities inside and outside the levels. In this process, most players can gradually adapt to and complete difficult levels. Of course, the masters of operation should be able to pass the levels smoothly without these aids.
In addition, considering the high difficulty of the game, the creators did not let players rush straight from the first level to the end, but after passing two or three levels, the previous levels were saved in the form of unfolding the plot. Players can either challenge the previous levels again, or directly start from the subsequent levels, and finally complete the entire process by taking a step-by-step approach. This setting is not only to reduce the difficulty, but also to serve the advancement of the main storyline.
Because “Shape Knight” is not a game that simply allows players to repeatedly challenge levels. On the contrary, it has a very rich and interesting plot, and is closely integrated with the gameplay mechanism. After the opening plot of the White Tiger brothers’ grievances, the protagonists will enter a different world and start a level-breaking adventure. At first, the author thought that after the challenge failed, he could only directly enter the level again to try, but he didn’t expect that there would be a plot dialogue almost every time he came out of the level. Who the protagonist met in the level, what news he heard, and what conjectures he had, he would discuss with another character, “profiteer” Will, and also explain the game’s mechanism and gameplay in the plot, such as the random level is because it is a parallel world, and why the protagonist can be resurrected after the death of the level, etc. Most of the conversations between the two are very humorous, and they also discuss the real problem of what NPCs should eat when they are stranded in a barren land. The sentence “What the protagonist eats, I eat” is really impressive and hilarious.
The main storyline of the game, in addition to the interaction with Will, is mainly advanced by facing and defeating the bosses of each level. At the same time, the dialogue between the protagonist and some NPCs encountered in the level not only supplements and improves the main storyline, but also expands the side storyline. The game mainly tells the story of the protagonist, White Tiger Prince Abel, exploring the mysterious plague incident and the cause of his brother’s mutation. In order to avoid spoilers, I will not expand on it here. Overall, the game plot is suspenseful and has many clues, which are then connected to form a complete and wonderful story, and have multiple endings based on some of the players’ choices. The rich and interesting plot that is closely integrated with the gameplay mechanism undoubtedly gives players a greater sense of substitution and immersion in the adventure challenge.
Conclusion: Excellent independent game works worth trying
The smooth action system, exquisite level design and multiple combinations of props and runes constitute the biggest selling point of “Shapeless Knight”, while the exquisite hand-painted game screen and rich and interesting plot are the icing on the cake. Although the overall difficulty is relatively high, the game has reduced the difficulty of clearance to a certain extent through various means, and has smoothly adapted to the speed of level improvement of more players. There is no doubt that “Shapeless Knight” is an excellent independent game worth recommending.
