I grew up basking in the glory of the Point and Click adventure games of the 80s and 90s and those games help shape the type of Gamer I grew up to be and the genres of games I would come hold dear years later. Recently it is fair to say that the Episodic genre has become the new point and click for many in a new generation of Gamer. With its current success for TellTale Game series and 2015’massive success story for DONTNOD Entertainment with Life is Strange, more Publishers are now looking to the Episodic genre to release games. One result has seen the return of two names in gaming not seen since the late 90s, Sierra Games and a huge name in Point and Click adventure games, Kings Quest:
Kings Quest is not a sequel to the original series that ran from the 1980s and ended in 1998 after eight games. Instead it is better to view this new take as more of a reboot which slots in between the original games. The hero of Kings Quest, Graham, is now an old King and is sharing the stories of his youthful adventuring days to his granddaughter Gwendolyn who sits by his bedside dreaming of becoming just as much of a hero as her grandfather. Each Chapter in the five-part series will tell a different story and if you purchase the Complete Collection version of the game, you will also get the exclusive Epilogue chapter that is only included in the Complete Collection Edition.
Starting with the opening Chapter, A Knight to Remember, players will go back in time with Graham to the events that led to him becoming a Knight of Daventry. The game features narration from the old King Graham and Gwendolyn as the story telling unfolds. The very fact that Christopher Lloyd provides the voice talent for the old Graham just instantly grabs the player’s attention when the narration kicks in over gameplay.
The art style is very similar to what has been seen in TellTale games and beautifully creates the world of Daventry and its many locations that gives the player a fantastical world to explore and it really is a World that could very well be taken from the pages from a fairy tale book. The music is beautifully scored and combined with an outstanding voice talent cast this game immediately appealed to the very things I look for in episodic games.
Gameplay wise I came into Kings Quest not sure what to really expect from a series I knew more as point and click to the modern Episodic formula. Happily what I found was a very unique blend of both genres. Movement is controlled via controller with the now standard use of button layout. What does make this game stand out is the freedom to explore areas and events in a non linear way. Once you get into the main story of ‘A Knight to Remember’, you are able to exploring the different locations how you like which leads to discovering new puzzles to be solved outside of what your current task may be. Remembering where this encounters take place will be key to solving the many puzzles that the story will throw at you.
These puzzles are very much a nod to Kings Quest’s point and click past with many having a multipart solution for the player to solve. From talking to a certain character to learn clues in dialogue responses to searching for items a character(s) may send you to collect before helping to craft the item you need. Like a good point and click game sometimes the solutions are not all that obvious at first but with exploration and methodical problem solving can be accomplished with a real sense of achievement. The blending of these two styles of game is a treat of old school gaming meeting its modern replacement and in Kings Quest it works beautifully to give a very refreshing game experience for the first of five-story chapters. Player Choice comes in the form of the type of solution path the player takes when a task is presented. Finding a solution using either Bravery,Compassion or Wisdom can give the player a very different route in the story which for me, a choice that naturally came from how I was playing and viewed each task. Bravery involves following a more action based solution where compassion could mean helping characters to find a way. My route was wisdom, this resulted in finding a work around that could be seen as being either cunning or devious in getting a solution. Although different paths it will still result in solving the same problem but the fun in walking that path is immense fun.
A Knight to Remember is a great opening Chapter for Kings Quest that showcases what makes it stand out from a full genre right now. The characters and story are charming and engaging and you really feel as though you are taking part in tales of legend. I was happily surprised by just how much I enjoyed the gameplay and puzzle solving reminded me of playing point and click games of years ago but with the new episodic style the Kings Quest series is once again back to glory.
I am already looking forward to Chapter 2 and immersing myself in more great story telling. If you enjoy episodic games and rich gameplay with clever puzzle solving, look no further than Kings Quest to add to your 2016 play list.
