Ever since I played the preview as a part of the Varney Lake release, Bahnsen Knights has been in the back of my mind. The small snippet gave off the impression that this would be a take on the film Collateral or the more recent Sympathy for the Devil, both of which I really loved. In my almost forty years on this planet, I have never felt the need to take an Uber or any other rideshare type of service, largely due to not finding myself in one of those positions, but partially because I am aware there are estimated to be at least 2,000 active serial killers at any given time. I know those chances are slim, but you never know who is behind the wheel when you’re dealing with strangers.

This is yet another retro-styled choose-your-own-adventure game in the Pixel Pulp series and the final entry in the initial trilogy. You take the role of Boulder, an undercover agent from an unnamed government agency as he infiltrates the cult known as The Bahnsen Knights in search of his missing partner who was previously investigating their wrongdoings. Unlike the other games in the trilogy, this one hints at some supernatural beats, but in my single playthrough, it’s never made clear whether this is just a case of happenstance or the leader really does have some sort of otherworldly powers. Another change is the focus on a single protagonist, whereas Varney Lake and Mothmen 1966 focused on multiple main characters.

This is a much more pulp-y narrative that left me wanting a little more – you get a ton of backstory on Boulder’s family, history, and the sacrifices he’s made to go undercover, as well as the mild-mannered origin of the antagonist, a former car salesman named Toni who may or may not have the ability to control tornados. I did appreciate the lack of teenage angst this go around though, so there’s that.

Between the lengthy conversations and internal monologues, there are some decent mini-games this time that break up the monotony of reading long series of texts for extended periods. You’ll be tasked with guiding a convoy of cars through traffic, hijacking a truck, picking locks, and a Kung Fury-esque beat em up sequence. I would’ve preferred a better control scheme since you have to highlight the action you wish to take as opposed to just hitting a directional key essentially requiring you to hit multiple buttons to complete simple actions.

The choose-your-own-adventure aspect of the game is top-notch on this road trip, as there are a staggering amount of ways Boulder can ruin his mission and end up dead prematurely in some uber grisly ways that left me intentionally trying to kill him when there were some clearly defined fail points just to see what form of torture it would bring. Not in an I hate Abby Anderson so much that I let her die every chance I get in The Last of Us 2 way, but in a fun way.

Outside of the potholes in the narrative and speed bumps to the controls, I really don’t have any huge complaints here. I especially loved the retro visuals that are easily LCB Game Studios best to date. The amount of detail showcased in a NES Style package is astounding and I found myself tapping my foot along to the 80’s polyphonic synth tunes that reminded me of the horror films from my formative years.

I would recommend Bahnsen Knights if you enjoyed the other entries in the trilogy. It features a more mature narrative that is a little too lean for its own good, but has just enough action and suspense to keep you engaged for its relatively short trip through Hell.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Great Retro-Style Visuals
• Engaging Mini-Games
• A Catchy Synth-Wave Soundtrack

Cons

• Overly Complex Controls for Simple Actions
• Some of the Narrative Could’ve Been Expanded on More

Bahnsen Knights was developed by LCB Game Studio and published by Chorus Worldwide. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, and Xbox. The game was provided to us for review on X1 and reviewed on an XSX. If you’d like to see more of Bahnsen Knights, check out the publisher’s site.

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