Review: King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember

Posted by Curtis H on August 5th, 2015 | 0 Comments | Tags: King's Quest: A Knight to Remember

I have no experience with any of the previous King’s Quest games. Nothing to reflect on or be nostalgic about while playing The Odd Gentlemen’s new re-imagined version of King Graham’s story. Despite this I still found myself overwhelmed with nostalgia and joy for reasons I, at first, found difficult to explain. Chapter One of King’s Quest to me felt like digging back into some of the old children’s books I would read as a kid. Books with colorful pictures on each page and fantastical worlds devoid of cynicism. Much like some of my favorite classical Disney movies these were stories that didn’t need to be complex. Instead we got stories small in scope and simple in their morals. King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember captures this and reminded me of why I love this brand of fantasy.

In Chapter One we’re introduced to an over arching story-line that’ll carry throughout each new chapter of the game. An aging King Graham is simply retelling stories from his life to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. Each chapter is its own self-contained story with the occasional breakaway to catch up with what’s going on in the present. This means Chapter One has a clear beginning, middle, and end. It’s lengthier than what I come to expect from episodic adventure games and ultimately feels complete while obviously leaving room for more stories to tell. The over-arching narrative clearly is just starting, but I love that each chapter is poised to present a new and complete story.

As an old school adventure game I also appreciate that solutions to puzzles never feel too obtuse. There’s still plenty of weird scenarios and fun solutions to each puzzle, but they all make sense. Typically I fall in the routine of using everything in my inventory on anything in the environment just hoping that something works. In A Knight to Remember the solutions make sense and are enjoyable to solve. There’s also a few QTE segments and even a first-person archery section that help to change things up and surprisingly work pretty well. The first-person section in particular didn’t last too long and actually controlled pretty well.

The choices made in A Knight to Remember probably aren’t going to have a major impact on Graham’s story throughout the rest of the season. That said the few choices that Graham is given in Chapter One do seem to inspire Gwendolyn. She clearly loves her grandfather and that’s very much evident in the scenes that are shown during the present day story. Graham is clearly a big inspiration on Gwendolyn and I love how that’s been represented so far. Even better the game never gets wrapped up in telling you how each decision will have consequences. The results just play out naturally.

This first chapter of King’s Quest really surprised me. Despite having no prior attachment to the series or its characters I am already sold on where this is going. It certainly helps that the characters are backed by some incredible voice talent. Christopher Lloyd, Wallace Shawn, Zelda Williams, Tom Kenny, and many others are absolutely killing it with their VO. Hopefully Chapter Two isn’t too far behind because I can’t wait to see where things go from here.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.