Knights and Bikes

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local, Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

Knights and Bikes is a family-friendly Top-Down Action-RPG with a strong co-op element (though players going it alone can opt to just alternate between the characters) where players follow the story of two young girls hunting for treasure and going on an epic quest… that may or may not be entirely in their imaginations. First released on multiple platforms in 2019, this game was ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

The presentation here is one of the game’s strongest points, although it’s also a “love it or hate it” sorta’ thing. The game’s visuals are presented as crude 2D hand-drawn art in a 3D space, with the overall look being extremely stylized. I tend to think this works well for the game’s presentation, since it’s clearly supposed to be ambiguous just how much of what we’re seeing is real and how much is just the girls’ imaginations at work, but I’m sure that for many it will probably come across as unrefined and just plain ugly. This is paired with sound that has characters’ voices represented by plunking noises and a mostly forgettable soundtrack (though the punk-style opening theme is hilarious).

This is a game that, if it works for you, it will likely work primarily through charm. The writing here is delightfully silly and does a great job appealing to the little kid in you, with the two girls viewing the world around them through their own unique lens that’s clearly transforming the mundane into something special, and their personalities really shine through the wonderful writing here.

The gameplay, though? Not so much. The combat here is fairly simple, although the game does try to add some nuance and variety by giving the girls different abilities, as well as ways to combine their skills. However, the game overall is somewhat slow-paced, and despite how restrictive and linear it is, it nevertheless isn’t always clear where you’re meant to be going.

Still, overall I’d argue that Knights and Bikes’ personality shines through the lacking gameplay, and the result is a game that’s still well worth playing to enjoy the delightful story and kid-centric worldview of its characters.

tl;dr – Knights and Bikes is a family-friendly Top-Down Action-RPG with strong co-op that has players hunting for treasure as two imaginative young girls. The gameplay here is a bit lacking, but that’s more than made up for by the delightful characters and story that have you seeing the world through kid’s eyes. If that sort of story sounds appealing to you, you should give this game a try.

Grade: B-

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