Knight ‘n’ Grail (C64)

Knight'n'Grail (Mikael Tillander) $4.99 USD (digital)/£5.99 - £14.99 (disk)

Game title: Knight'n'Grail

Game description: The backstory to Knight ‘n’ Grail involves a knight who is on a quest to find a magical grail in order to lift a curse that has transformed his beloved into a dragon like creature. In order to find the grail, the Knight will have to explore a large castle, navigating through its vast number of sections, avoiding enemy creatures, working out how to get through locked doors and collecting power ups along the way. As you start your exploration through the game’s colorful flip screens, you immediately notice that a number of the areas within the castle are initially blocked off. This represents the main challenge within Knight ‘n’ Grail as you spend most of your time searching for orbs that will trigger mechanisms that unlock doors. The castle also contains many rune stones, providing cryptic hints on how to by-pass various blockages that the Knight will encounter. As the player starts to notice inaccessible areas, it becomes obvious that power-ups are to be collected and that the Knight’s quest to find the grail will not be a linear journey. Weapon and armour upgrades are also a key element to Knight ‘n’ Grail. You start off with an iron sword and armour but these can be upgraded to anyone of the four swords and armours named after the elements – Earth, Wind, Fire and Ice. Each upgrade has a different impact upon enemies. Your progress through the game will be stunted unless you collect all of the upgrades as they are all required to obtain the gold sword for the final section of the game. The game features a good number of enemies with each type containing distinct characteristics in respect to their attacking capabilities and what is required to eliminate them. Enemy kills result in coins being dropped for the Knight to collect, which will be used later on in the game to purchase a particular powerful power up.

[ Game Page ]

  • Production - 85%
    85%
  • Fun - 90%
    90%
  • Depth - 95%
    95%

Summary

This is simply a hidden gem for those who had abandoned C64 gaming soon after the early 1990s (only to return in the past couple of years). The sheer size of the game, along with its relaxed pacing, the fluid, generous control of your knight  and  the intuitive puzzle elements makes the game a joy to play.

Knight’n’Grail contains hidden features and nice little touches like including two possible end sequences depending on how you complete the game. Knight ‘n’ Grail as an X factor about it with its great story telling, graphics and atmospheric music, motivating you to continue discovering new things contained within the castle.

A superb arcade adventure that excels on some many fronts with it outstanding production values – this is one of the all time greatest for the C64.

Overall
90%
90%
Sending
User Review
4.44 (9 votes)

Pros

  • Great backstory
  • Logical puzzle elments
  • Atmospheric soundtrack
  • Large & varied game world
  • Gentle difficulty curve
  • Game checkpoints
  • Multiple endings

Cons

  • No SFX while music is playing
  • Re-spawning enemies

Video Link

Game Gallery

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *