Knytt Underground starts off as a very dark game, reminiscent of something like Limbo. The title screen is dark and shadowy, and from there you control your character with a combination of Arrow keys and Enter to choose one of three chapters or to see Extras.
You begin the game as a girl who lost her voice- though a character tells you initially that you’ve lost your memory, which the player character is quick to deny in their own parenthesised text box. Within the first few moments of gameplay, you encounter a glowing flower that gives you a burst of power used by pressing the S key.
There are three powers available to you with these gems. One rockets you straight upward, another launches you forward, and another allows you to move in whatever direction for a limited amount of time. These powers are color-coded by flower and allow your character- a girl fittingly named Mi- more exploration than the walking, jumping and climbing she’s already capable of.
The gameplay, while initially quite simple, does more than enough for the sake of exploration throughout the game’s world in Chapter 1.
Don’t let go.
The game’s plot is vague and mysterious, but over time things start to come together.
Combined with art in some areas are large objects in the background, photographs of things like melons that are several times the size of your character. The Internet exists, according to a certain line of dialogue, but there’s no computers to be seen…the setting is post-apocalyptic, and you discover that the world around you is tiny and magical, set after the rule of humans.
Mi seeks to wish the local fairies for her voice back. These fairies are only accessible after many lengthy quests in the world of Chapter 1, and even after you find them they turn you down, since they’re magical but not that magical.
Bits of humor like this are seen all over the game.
They do, however, offer you a way through a tunnel, accompanied by a few of their number.
However, um…the world explodes.
Then Chapter 2 starts and you’re playing as a rubber ball.
This ball is even simpler to control than Mi- up arrow makes it bounce higher, down arrow makes it steady. The ball goes on a short quest of its own, rapidly bouncing through its own puzzles with a grappling mechanic and lots of crazy bouncing, until you end up in the same tunnel and everything explodes.
But not exactly, since it takes place at just around the same time.
Chapter 3 starts you off here.
After a strange interlude in what the game calls “The Sky”, Chapter 3 opens with you controlling Mi once more…except now, pressing S doesn’t conjure flower power…it transforms you into your rubber ball friend.
The tunnel apparently fused the two together, and this expands the gameplay dramatically. The world expands to account, and you run, leap and bounce through fields of fruit, flower, ancient reservoirs, ruined factories…
Don’t be afraid.
Knytt, while seemingly a dark game, is ultimately more about light. The world is strange, the graphics are beautiful, the plot is vague and the gameplay is ultimately very simple…but that’s okay.
The fetch quests can get tedious, especially in Chapter 3, but your way to each of these items is an entertaining, beautiful joy ride all on its own merits.
Give Knytt Underground a shot.
It won’t disappoint you.
- Simple, but effective gameplay.
- Interesting story.
- Beautiful art style.
- Chapter 3 is too long.
- The game is basically one fetch quest after another and can become quite dull and repetitive.
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