New part of the revived King’s Quest, published this summer with the subtitle A Knight to Remember, fully lived up to its name and our expectations: it turned out to be a truly exciting “royal” adventure with colorful characters, excellent humor and many interesting riddles – both classical and more modern, involving sleight of hand. We had to wait almost six months for the release of the second episode, and it turned out to be almost half as long as the first. Well, the authors are giving up their positions, unable to maintain the pace they set? No, they just decided to experiment with the format..
Captivated by fairy tales
Let us remind you that the plot of the new part is based on the memories of the elderly Graham, the constant hero of the first games of the legendary series. IN A Knight to Remember he told his grandchildren how, as a result of a series of dangerous and funny adventures, he became the king of the fairy-tale country of Daventria. There was a moral choice that is fashionable today, and one of the key characters died before our eyes, but still the atmosphere of the first part was quite light.
What can’t you say about Chapter 2: Rubble Without A Cause. Here Graham recalls how, immediately after ascending to the throne, he was captured by goblins. Yes, he’s not the only one, but almost all the key characters from the first episode – an elderly couple of alchemists, the mustachioed pastry chef Bramble with his pregnant wife, the dashing and brave gunsmith Amaya, and even the goat (in the literal sense of the word) Mr. Fancy Cakes.
Goblins sure are funny. They have https://44aces-casino-online.co.uk/games/ read all sorts of legends and fairy tales and now in their dungeons they are trying to bring it all to life – they sleep on a pyramid of mattresses, under which lies a pea, vigorously kiss a frightened frog, try to squeeze their paws into a fragile shoe. And here you can also find a stone into which the legendary sword Excalibur is driven – only with a frying pan instead of a blade. And yet, in general, this is no laughing matter, and the atmosphere itself is closest to “Telltail” The Walking Dead.
King’s Quest – Survival Edition
The fact is that all the characters are imprisoned and gradually lose strength – from hunger, fatigue or illness. For some reason, Graham is periodically released from his cell, and in full view of the goblin guards, he looks for ways to help the others – this, of course, is a convention that the scriptwriters practically do not explain in any way. But you need help, because escaping from the dungeon will only be possible if at least one of the prisoners leaves the cage and is cheerful and strong enough to pull the lever at the massive door at the same time as Graham.
To advance in the plot, Graham must go to bed – and with each new day, the remaining characters’ health reserves decrease. Therefore, throughout the game we have to think about who to give the piece of meat that we are given every morning, what to buy with the found gold – medicine for Bramble’s pregnant wife or food for the four alchemists. Or maybe give the potion to the poor goat? And how can we save everyone, so that everyone is cheerful and healthy and so that one morning we don’t see how goblins, for example, Amaia, are carried away on a stretcher to mournful music??
Royal elections
The result was a truly non-linear passage. The way to achieve your goal and gain long-awaited freedom largely depends on who you are betting on, who you are saving. The alchemist couple will offer to make a bomb, Bramble and his wife will bake poisoned cookies for the goblins, and Amaya, of course, will ask to bring her a sword. Therefore, after passing Rubble Without A Cause for the first time and having helped out, for example, Bramble’s wife, you will not know about half of the other situations and opportunities that are in the game. It’s another matter if you try to get everyone out..
There will be a choice in the finale – similar to what was in the first part. Torn in Graham’s memories between, conditionally, strength and compassion, we again influence how his grandchildren will behave in the present.
The riddles themselves Rubble Without A Cause mostly classic, designed for the collection and proper use of objects. Acrobatic performances for overcoming traps have been reduced to a minimum, and QTE exercises have completely disappeared. However, there are practically no complex puzzles here either. But you can tell fairy tales to goblins and scare them with a huge shadow from a very small dragon.
King’s Quest – Chapter 2: Rubble Without A Cause much shorter than the first episode, and there is not such a variety of puzzles and situations. But the authors decided to look into the territory of survival games that are fashionable today, offering a much more responsible moral choice and genuine non-linearity. At the same time, they didn’t just copy and spy on their colleagues, but did everything with the humor inherent in the series, maintaining the signature atmosphere of a dangerous and at the same time funny fairy tale. And most importantly, we saw that the developers are ready to experiment with the format and mechanics, without focusing on one thing. It’s all the more interesting what they’ll come up with next time.
Pros: more responsible and mature moral dilemmas; more nonlinearity; signature humor; excellent graphics and sound.
Cons: the second part is much shorter than the first; less variety in riddles and game situations.