King Arthur: A Knight's Tale - it has promise but there's a Lancelot left to do
Sorry, Galahad to.
I really want to like King Arthur: A Knight's Tale, but I find the experience of playing the Steam Early Access release so trudging as to almost be a chore. It's a shame, because there's promise in a lot of the features, and I'm very much on board with the idea of being Mordred, who's usually the villain, chasing down Arthur, who's usually the hero. We're all brought back from the dead - magical stuff: don't ask - and because of it, everything is cast in a graveyard hue, all grey and misty, moody and murky. But what it forgets along the way, or what it doesn't have yet - because I have to remind myself this is early access and there's plenty of time for things to change - is life.
It lacks energy, that kind of snappiness and charisma the best turn-based games have. Games like XCOM, games like Divinity: Original Sin 2, which, given King Arthur has RPG exploration and dialogue, seems an apt comparison. And it suffers all over because of it.
When you're in the RPG layer, wandering around environments, it's slow. And it feels empty, devoid of life in the surroundings, devoid of music or companion banter, devoid, really, of anything much to do. You can loot a body, loot a chest, maybe do a very simple sidequest for a very wooden NPC, but that's it. All there really is to do is fight.
Thankfully, fighting is OK. I particularly like the heft of the animated sword swings and axe chops, and sorting out positioning and attack-type occupies the mind. But the XCOM comparison developer NeoCore mentions is curious, because what King Arthur doesn't have in any great amount, and which XCOM has in abundance, is ranged combat, hence the whole cover system. In King Arthur, there are a few archers, and I've seen a few spells, but that's it. What does it need a cover system for? I haven't seen it in use at all.
An early, enclosed combat. Arenas can get much bigger than this.
I really like the character portraits.
And, again, combat is lethargic. It's not boring, it's perfectly playable, but there's very little to raise your heartbeat or surprise you. It's only really when you start uncovering some of the undead enemies, a few hours in, things pick up. The question is, will you even want to make it that far?
Even in the campaign map layer there's sluggishness, as the whole thing struggles to run responsively on my not-terrible PC. And it's a pity, because there are interesting things to do here. Here is where you take control of a destroyed Camelot, and rebuild it. It's a bit like Darkest Dungeon, in that you fit out a town with upgrades according to your needs. There's a hospice where you can remove companion injuries between missions, for example, presumably having to juggle your hero roster while they're laid up. And I don't know whether companions suffer mental maladies, but there is the prospect they can permanently die while out in the field.
Your home, and your morality.
Their loyalty to you is another intriguing feature, though I don't know what happens if it runs foul. And it's tied to an overarching kind of morality system, literally a morality chart, which places you according to your behaviour on a kind of graph. It's a cross-axis, with good and bad opposite each other, and religious and pagan opposite each other.
You affect your placing by making decisions while on mission. Do you want to make a place Christian or return it to its Old Gods way, for example? What I really like about it is that wherever you go on the chart, you're rewarded, unlocking various benefits in keeping with your tone. Go evil, like I did, and you unlock the Black Knight companion early on.
I love the sound of this feature, just as I love the promise of so many other things in the game. The problem is, they're either not implemented yet or don't kick in until much later in the game. And I'm not sure I want to get there, or indeed, can. It's early access, and the very beginning of the process. That's frustrating, if you're really excited about the game, as it's not finished, but it's also reassuring because there's a lot of work left to do. And, really, it's now in the best hands: lots of hands, which will help hone and shape it as time goes on.
There's time. There's time for it to fatten with features, and there's time for it to get the jolt of energy it needs and the whack of charisma it could do with. One with promise, then, but one to wait on for now.
Ahhh it is just lefty overcompensating for its deformity. Ahhhh in the good old days lefties were burned or stoned to death.
This is actually a recurring thing with Neocore.
Actually, it shows that the journalist didn't play much, because the main compain on Steam forum is that archers destroy everything, especially yours.
The Early Access Roadmap is here!
Knights!
Now that King Arthur: Knight's Tale Early Access is out in the wild it is time to see what's next! But first, we'd like to thank you for the tremendous amount of feedback we've got from you. We're really grateful for all of your suggestions and bug reports, whether it was a few words, a longer doc or comments with pros and cons or even recorded footage. While we're debating how brutal the nerf for ranged heroes and Sir Kay should be (just kidding), we complied a roadmap for the coming months, since the plan from the beginning was to update the game during the Early Access period too.
The first version of this roadmap below shows these planned updates and the major features coming with them. The contents of each update might change, but as you can see, we're planning to add a lot of new features to the game during this period as well. As we're getting close to these dates, we'll update everything with more info and release patch notes too, including all the minor changes or additions.
We're planning to go with monthly updates, starting with a late February update, that is already knocking on the door, coming out on February 23. This first big update will add a new class, the Vanguard, a scout-type class with two one-handed melee weapons, who can also hide and ambush enemies from cover, as well as new side missions, new items and will expand the level cap. It'll be followed by at least three more content updates in the next few months, adding even more features, missions, items, and even story - although we don't want to spoil much of the campaign till the full release
And of course much more is coming after May, but let's just not get ahead of ourselves.
Avalon Awaits!
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King Arthur: Knight's Tale Early Access February Update
Knights!
King Arthur: Knight's Tale's first Early Access update is out now! We added new maps, a new playable class, new skills and new buildings, fixed as many bugs as we could and balanced the gameplay a bit. Your feedback and suggestions helped a lot for this very first Early Access patch and we're truly grateful for this and hope you'll enjoy the new additions.
Your previous saved progress will be compatible with the latest update so you can continue where you left off.
Sir Tegyr
New maps
We added five new maps in this update, extending the map pool a bit with side missions.
New playable class
A new hero - Sir Tegyr - joins the Round Table, introducing the fifth playable class to the game: the Vanguard and its first iteration. Vanguards are skilled scouts, who are able to set and disarm traps, hide and move stealthily, wield two one-handed swords and can equip medium armor. In this build, Sir Tegyr joins right after completing the second story map, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to level up this character as well.
New skills and abilities
New maps need a stronger party, which means you can continue your progression and it also means new skills and active abilities are now possible to unlock.
New buildings
The Training Ground and the Enchanted Tower are both now accessible in Camelot. You can construct and later upgrade these similarly to the other buildings, once you have access to your fortress. The Training Ground lets your heroes gain XP while you're away adventuring so they can keep up with your main party's level. The Enchanted Tower works like the Cathedral or the Hospice, but this building removes various curses from your heroes.
You can find the patch notes here, listing many extra minor additions (more potions!!!), bug fixes, balance changes and performance boosts. And just a reminder, here's what's coming in the next few months. As always, let us know what you think of the new patch, and be sure to leave some feedback on our social sites!
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Avalon Awaits!
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is a sound strategy RPG, but the hero is a prat
A worthy quest needs a worthy hero - if only Mordred wasn’t such a tool
What was the search for the Holy Grail if not the original fetch quest? If a washerwoman with an exclamation mark above her head asked Sir Gawain to brutalise ten wolves in exchange for a magical dishcloth, he’d have been off like a greased whippet. King Arthur and his round table drinking buddies are perfectly suited to make the jump to videogames, even a strategy game.
No wonder Neocore Games keep returning to the mystic well, first with King Arthur – the Roleplaying Wargame and it’s sequel, and now with the tactical RPG King Arthur – Knight’s Tale, currently in early access. You play as Mordred, the traitor knight who slew and was slain by King Arthur… except you’re not dead. The Lady of the Lake has revived you to finish what you began, to kill the Once and Future King. The world has changed, with undead knights, a cycle of eternal return, and a land thrown into upheaval by the corrupted soul of a king… It’s basically King Arthur meets Dark Souls, which is pretty boss.
After thrashing the residents of Camelot your quest takes you to Avalon, accepting missions where you’ll collect loot, buddy up with new knights, and advance the story (as soon as Neocore writes it.) As a resident of modern day Britain I found the muddy, grey woods, ruins, and villages unerringly accurate – damp, boring, and full of ill-washed bandits. Authentically Arthurian, but I hope Early Access adds some fresh areas.
And oh, how I long for a silent protagonist. Of course Mordred is going to be an anti-hero, but he’s less a knight of dour countenance and more a rejected Deviantart OC. Honestly, he’s just a bit of a berk.
When you encounter Arthur’s former seneschal Sir Kay, trapped in the tutorial dungeon, you get this exemplary exchange:
Mordred: Trust was always your weakness, Kay.
Kay: And what is yours? Your bloodlust? Your savagery?
Mordred: [GLARES IN SILENCE]
The Lady of the Lake also muses in the tutorial “I thought that dying can change a man, but I might be wrong.” So, once a tosser, always a tosser as far as Mordred is concerned.
If you’re counting RPG cliches, there are two morality meters that track your decisions on scales between ‘tyrant’ and ‘rightful’, ‘christian’ and ‘old faith’. Your decisions will eventually annoy certain knights, attract others, and possibly open or close story missions, but with such unlikeable characters, does that really matter?
Neocore has its work cut out to make the story match up to the sales pitch. Fortunately, the turn-based combat is already great. It’s not especially complex, but it’s robust and efficient like a well-honed blade. Each knight has a budget of action points to spend either moving or on one of their abilities. Attacks always hit, so positioning and the environment are the deciding factor in combat.
You’ll be looking for chokepoints where the heavily armoured Mordred can hold up a swarm of goons with his shield; covered approaches to move the vulnerable Sir Tegyr into position so he can litter the field with bear traps; and a clear path for Sir Balan to introduce his massive armour-cracking axe to an enemy knight’s face grille. Between the minimalist abilities, importance of cover and threat of permadeath, it plays more like XCOM than Divinity: Original Sin.
Gear can be found during missions or bought from merchants, and it’s all pleasingly impactful. A rune that gives Lady Dindraine increased longbow damage at extreme range will turn her into a sniper, while one that grants her free movement points every turn will set her up to deliver more deadly backstabs. No “+2% chance to proc breath mint damage when fighting mustelids“ here. Rather than squinting at numbers, I’m considering the role my knights will play in battle.
Camelot is currently in ruins (and only partially implemented during Early Access) but Mordred will rebuild it between battles from his court. You might bung a knight into the enchanted tower for a few missions while a wizard rinses the curses out of their aura, or stick them in the hospice to get their face unsmashed.
It’s not clear whether the long game will bring the ramping tension of XCOM or the infinite grind of Darkest Dungeon. I suspect we’ll get the quest-and-rest loop from Diablo, as your knights sally forth on baddy-biffing missions, then retreat to Camelot to try on shiny new armbands and stuff their pockets with potions.
Of course, part of the appeal of that style of gameplay loop is how each rest rewards you with a fresh piece of narrative, and Mordred’s edgelord persona hinders engagement with the wider story. There’s no one else to balance out how much of a prat he is either…
This will be a game for people who love repeatedly beasting the final bosses in Diablo or Path of Exile but always wanted to do it on a turn-based grid, and the branching narrative pablum exists to add flare to replays. If the developers get it right, this could be a saga for the ages.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale was released on Steam Early Access on January 26, 2021. It’s due to remain there for up to seven months.
Funny. In the King Arthur Roleplaying Wargame there was the same problem. There was even an option to tune down the archers in the settings. Even with it enabled they were still OP.
New Early Access Patch Now Live
Knights!
The long awaited update for King Arthur: Knight's Tale's Early Access is now finally live on Steam. Thank you for your patience! This patch is focused on Act 1 of the story, new side mission maps, new playable heroes, all the remaining buildings in Camelot, new character management systems (Loyalty, Traits, an extended Morality Chart), and many various new additions. Some systems and layouts got revamped and further polished, combat and gameplay got further balanced and a lot of bugs got fixed. This is our second and by far the biggest update since King Arthur: Knight's Tale went into Early Access.
Be sure to check the full PATCH NOTES, including all the new features, balance changes, bug fixes here.
The game should update automatically on Steam, but restarting Steam always helps if you do not see the update immediately. Save files will not be compatible this time, but the whole Early Access build changed, so it is strongly suggested to start a whole new game anyway, to experience everything new.
As mentioned in the previous update, we're restructuring the roadmap for the future - this is being done in order to introduce better deadlines and avoid confusion. The new roadmap's coming in the next few days.
As always, don't hesitate to leave feedback, or to drop by on any of our platforms: Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Discord | Instagram | YouTube | Steam store page
Avalon awaits!
