Games that focus on the co-op experience have waxed and waned over the past few decades. While the advent of online multiplayer made the possibility more relevant, couch co-op remains something many people pine for from the past. Perhaps one of the sleeper hits from last generation made the best use of this mechanic. Fast forward about a decade and a couple developers from that game release this.

Knights and Bikes comes from a friendship that was built at Media Molecule during the creation of LittleBigPlanet. A game with lots of potential, but seemed to only be a critical darling in the world of retail, at least initially. My friends and I were lucky enough to snag copies on the original release date before the game could be delayed due to the potential offense a song may cause. We fell in love with it; the aesthetic, the characters, the emotion, and the cooperative competition. Of course, user generated content is neat in theory, but most of my enjoyment came from playing what the developers made. So when I saw some alumni working on a game that delved into a range of emotions spanning a friendship, I couldn’t help but get excited.

The story follows two girls over the course of a week, from when they meet to the many adventures they have following. Nessa shows up on a boat (strangely), and Demelza lives on the island with her dad. The girls are fairly opposite in terms of personality, with Demelza oftentimes trying to seem older than she is. The reasons go deeper than just trying to seem cool, as the game takes on some pretty heavy events. If you recall how Sackboy had three different levels of four different emotions, know that Demelza is typically on the highest level in any given image of her. Nessa comes off as a mysterious girl with a hidden agenda, but both want to find the island’s treasure for various reasons and team up with each other to do so.

Childhood has changed quite a bit in the past few decades, depending on where you live. Plenty of people my age and older will be happy to tell you about the adventures they had all day until the sun came down with their parents having no idea where they could be found. Nowadays you’ll see kids six and under on leashes with their parents watching their every move. It’s this disconnect that makes me wonder if younger audiences will truly appreciate the 80s movie-esque adventure, or whether it’ll be viewed in an entirely new light as something they’d dream of doing instead. Either way I suppose it’s a good thing.

Probably one of the biggest parts of childhood that we forget as we grow up is a true sense of imagination. You’ll tell your kids to imagine things, and yes, you will use it for practical purposes such as designing/decorating a house, but when did you last fight a sentient, foam sword on fire? In all likelihood, it didn’t happen last week. Demelza’s imagination spreads in the game to the point that Nessa can see it, and you start to question whether the things happening in the game are real or merely a figment of her imagination. There are plenty of fantastical events that happen that she doesn’t explain, but is it because Nessa just takes them for what they are, or are they reality? The more you play, the more that line blurs.

There is a large amount to appreciate in this game, and I’d be remiss to omit mention of Daniel Pemberton’s score, which is as emotional as any of his work (yeah, he worked on LBP too). The actual gameplay centers on exploration and combat, which evolves as you gain new abilities. Each girl comes equipped with their own gear, so if you’re playing alone, it’s worth switching characters to check out the different play styles, which are largely close quarters versus ranged. Some abilities can even be combined between the two. While the game plays perfectly fine alone, it’s painfully obvious this was developed with two players in mind. The competitive sections, the long bouts between locations, and the fairly slow speed of the characters allows for good discussion time with a buddy. Without one, it becomes a bit tiresome. The AI works almost too well, often heading in a direction to solve a puzzle before I’ve finished exploring an area and am ready to move on. While I know plenty of friends that would do this to me (myself included), as well as most people online, it made me wish I had the time to play locally with someone for a more genuine experience.

If you’ve been looking for a co-op experience that’s not the normal platformer or brawler, Knights and Bikes may be the unique experience you’ve been looking for. The game is very much an adventure, which makes sense as to why Double Fine published it. It’s a lovely experience regardless of if you play with someone else or alone, but understand that you’ll be made well aware throughout that this was meant to be played with a friend.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Abilities for Travel and Combat
• Beautiful Aesthetic
• Child’s Perspective on Fantasy

Cons

• AI Overly Excited by Puzzles

Knights and Bikes was developed by Foam Sword and published by Double Fine Productions. It is available on PC and PS4 as of August 27th, 2019. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Knights and Bikes, check out the developer’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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