Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur – Analysis (Review)

GAME SHEET: Release: October 5, 2023 Players: 01 player Genre: Electronic adventure game, electronic RPG, electronic fighting game, electronic shooting game, Adventure Developer: Gambir Game Studio Publisher: Gambir Game Studio, PQube Available languages : English, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional). Available on platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC – Computer (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS), Xbox Series X|S. Rating: Over 10 years old. Game version analyzed: Nintendo Switch.

Hi everyone, I hope all is well out there!

Today we’re going to talk a little about this game that took me by surprise and showed me, with its simple graphics and fluid gameplay, fun gameplay that, once it starts, is difficult to stop playing. We’re talking about Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur here! 

The game we’re reviewing here (we played and reviewed the Nintendo Switch version), tells a different version of King Arthur’s story, where Merlin is initially introduced as the main narrator and our initial guide. In this game, the player embodies the character of King Arthur, who is setting out on his journey to rebuild Camelot and in his eternal search for the Holy Grail, always wielding his powerful and legendary sword Excalibur, but there is one detail: the sword is broken.

But… what do you mean, Excalibur is broken?

Well, the story begins with Merlin telling us that while Arthur and his companions were in search of the Holy Grail and that on this journey, they ended up summoning a giant by accident, this giant began to destroy everything around it, which in this case was of Camelot, and it was then that the entire Round Table team decided to go after the giant in order to defeat him, however, in this process Excalibur was broken and Arthur, along with his battle companions, fell to the ground and perish before the mighty giant, all dying in battle.

After this brief presentation of the story, Arthur wakes up in the field, with Merlin talking to him. When he wakes up, Arthur asks if he drank too much the night before, as he woke up badly (that is, with a huge hangover) and it is then that Merlin informs him that in fact, this “hangover” was caused by a resuscitation process, as he died in the morning. battle against the giant in the game’s title and that like him, all his knights left for the better, but… as Merlin is a powerful wizard, he managed to resurrect Arthur so that the noble King can travel between Camelot and the Giant’s dimension to achieve the arduous mission of defeating 4 giants (including the one that caused the destruction of the kingdom and the death of the warriors of the round table), recovering the people who were lost in that dimension full of dangers, monsters and also, rebuilding the kingdom of Camelot, which It was destroyed by the giant who broke Excalibur. In this way, we then begin the journey to recover our skills and strength.

Mechanics and Gameplay

Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is a roguelite-style game with RPG aspects, but what does that mean?

According to the story told in the game, Merlin created some teleportation portals where we are taken to another dimension, a dimension where we find different monsters, some bosses and giants, but we also find people from Camelot, who are lost there and we need to rescue them back to our kingdom. When we are teleported to the giant’s dimension, our character needs to do “rounds” of battles, acquiring experience and collecting coins and orbs, which are used to reform our kingdom and also upgrade our skills and weapons.

The game uses a system of weapons and abilities that are based on Arthur’s fellow warriors. According to history, Merlin only managed to resurrect Arthur, but we have statues of warriors around the dimensional portal and which are also mirrored by the parallel dimension, these statues can be “triggered” by Arthur and then we can choose what to improve with a “little help” from warrior friend, be it a weapon, or a skill, which are exclusive characteristics for each warrior. Remember that the game’s subtitle is “The Broken Excalibur”? Well, Arthur’s broken sword can receive the power of the swords of allied warriors, and in this way, we have a type of characteristic and power given to the broken Excalibur based on the sword of each allied warrior, just as we can also select the ability of each warrior to evolve in history. As we evolve and reform the kingdom, we release more statues of warriors, with new weapons and skills and we can also recruit people to help with the character’s evolution work, making each future round easier and we can evolve more, earning more points and so on.

Graphics and Sound

The game’s graphics are attractive, the game features a charismatic King Arthur, interesting characters and a good pinch of humor, but, like any roguelike/roguelite, we need to be patient at the beginning, to pick up the pace, understand the evolution and then yes, To be able to advance, once this barrier is broken, the challenge will be to make you stop playing, as the game is very captivating, challenging and makes us want to achieve more and know how far this world goes.

The game’s sounds are very good too, following the idea of ​​the game and complementing what we are seeing on screen. The controls respond well and as the game progresses, we receive more bonuses to the character’s speed, response time and attack and we see that the controls work exactly as they were designed to work.

Fun

If you like the roguelite style of play and horde and round games, as well as games with a reconstruction theme, this game is ideal. It’s a game where you start slowly, but once you get the hang of it and get used to the mechanics, the evolution and growth of the character leaves us increasingly wanting to gain power and thus see what the warriors have to offer us. with your swords and skills, as well as finishing the kingdom and finding out what our map will look like at the end.

Performance and Optimization

The game’s performance on the Nintendo Switch was perfect. The game has no crashes and the appearance and style of play are perfect features for portable play mode, allowing you to play short rounds at any time.

Conclusion

To close the analysis with a flourish, we can say that Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is the perfect game to play in portable mode, an incredible pastime that will capture your attention and when it scares you, hours and hours have already passed and you get to know more and more about the game, about the characters and you adapt to each mechanic, weapon and ability that the game offers. Highly recommended game, with the negative point being the lack of support for the Brazilian Portuguese language, as the story and humor of the game would go very well in a game with language localization.

Strengths

*Graphics;

*Simple mechanics and gameplay;

*Charismatic characters;

*Short rounds.

Negative points

*Lack of language localization;

*Scenarios with repetitive enemies;

Rating: Graphics: 8.5 Fun: 8.0 Gameplay: 8.0 Sound: 8.0 Performance and Optimization: 10 FINAL RATING: 8.5 / 10.0