Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur review

Dash a lot to save Camelot

Arthurian legend has provided a foundation for countless films, with its gallant knights, enchanted sword, and battle-ready king. But some of the better adaptations have taken enthusiastic liberties with the source material, whether it’s the boundary-breaking comic Camelot 3000 or the satirization offered by Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Although a contentious retelling, even The Green Knight resisted offering yet another predictable reiteration.

Similarly, releasing a by-the-numbers roguelike probably wouldn’t be prudent. After all, Steam is filled with games where players acquire an inventory of skills, and face a succession of formidable bosses, all while facing the setback of permadeath. At first glance, Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur looks a bit like Hades with English folklore substituting for Greek mythology. Recalling Supergiant Games’ hit title, interactions with rather loquacious NPCs are contrasted against moments of hectic, controller-clenching action.

Your Underworld is Showing

Rambling conversations are hardly the only similarity. Recalling Zagreus’ journey, a resurrected Arthur begins his run with only a few essentials for survival. Depending on which spectral knight of the roundtable you partner with, you’ll begin with either a rapid-slash weapon or one that emits a ranged attack. You’ll also have access to a spell, which is constrained by cooldown meter, but counterbalances with your main weapon quite nicely. Rounding out your starting abilities in an indispensable dash.

As Arthur persists, you’ll unlock more knights and their accompanying weapons. Your selection determines what perks you’ll receive when you clear some of Knight vs Giant’s rooms, which use the same procedural generation technique as most roguelikes. Yes, each floor consists of interconnected connected room tiles, involving a teleportation ability, so you can revisit rooms with health restoration or a vendor. As such, Broken Excalibur habitually adheres to roguelike formula. But it’s the game’s implementation that elevates the experience above most of its peers.

Bullet Purgatory

Much like the throng of Vampire Survivors clones, you’ll be able to select from a trio of upgrades at frequent intervals. This helps accelerate the pace of Knight vs Giant; there’s little joy when you’re stuck with an underpowered arsenal. And while the perks aren’t innovative, extending familiar bonuses like an increased critical frequency, blades that rotate around Arthur, or even a homing attack. Pleasingly, each upgrade usually feels powerful. When confronting bosses on your run, your spell casting will probably do a lot of the work.

Ironically, Broken Excalibur is especially adept at weapon balancing, no matter what the game’s subtitle infers. When those spinning blades are whirling around the protagonist, it could be beneficial to let your passive weapons do the work. Knight vs Giant was a habit of filling a room with enemies, who telegraph their attacks with movement indicators and area-of-effect rings. Often, there’s so much visual commotion, that’s its useful to adopt a defensive approach. Your smallish health pool will thank you.

A Kingdom Restored

On the topic of balance, Knight vs Giant is a roguelike that understands the lure of meta-game progress. When Arthur inevitably falters, he’d forfeit all of his collected perks. But he gets to keep any currency earned during a run. But before being able to augment the protagonist’s basic stats, he’ll need to use the money to help rebuild a ruined Camelot. Not only is that faithful to Arthur’s temperament, but you’re treated with a visual reward of renovated grandeur.

Broken Excalibur’s fall of the Round Table is conveyed by Merlin, who flirts with unreliability during his retelling. Remarkably, there are morsels of humor in a tale of the knights accidentally releasing a Void Giant while perusing the Holy Grail. Some of the bits are subtle, such as the old wizard switching from an old English vernacular to anachronistic slang. But other expositional sections loiter for far too long. An interchange with one NPC stretches out for more than five minutes, without much insight or even a punchline. Undoubtedly, Gambir Studio needs a dialog editor to cut away some of the excesses and let players get a taste of the adept action a bit sooner. And while the game’s mannequin style is usually tender on the eyes, the game’s bosses don’t have much detail.

Conclusion

With its mix of a mythological setting, frenzied action, and the regular reward of perks, Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is poised for comparison with Hades. For some, the approach might be a bit too similar. But give Arthur a chance to revive Camelot and rescue his devoted brethren, and you’ll discover an engaging expedition that offers some interesting variations – especially with your weaponry.

Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur was played on
PC with review code provided by the publisher.