On the Subject of Something

Most people reading this will have played Super Mario Bros. or a game like it. Super Mario Bros is almost pure platforming, except that you can still kill enemies. This is were Knytt comes in, created by Nifflas, it is pure platforming at its best: no enemies, no canned plot, just good old platforming. Some may wonder, what then is the point of a game if there are no enemies to kill and no story to discover? For this game, the player must suspend the competitive nature within themselves and just have fun, don't fret over completing a goal or defeating the last boss or collecting every item. This game shines when you are jumping and running without a goal, without a purpose, when your just interacting within and marveling at this beautifully crafted world that is Knytt.



The world within this game is rich in little details, the background at time may seem abstract or minimalistic, but they have their own eerie beauty, from the dead trees in one part of the world to the pouring lava in another. Were this game give you a feeling that you want to explore, even if their is no goal in sight, is to see what it gives you next. Will you see an abstract interpretation of an underwater cavern, or will you see city in the clouds? This game is compelling at times for that singular reason and though in your first playthrough, you might not take notice of the beauty of the landscape. Once you've beat the game or a couple days, maybe weeks later, you think of this game and you remember that small bit of joy at the purity of the landscape, no attempt to dazzle the player with high definition visuals but an attempt to engage the reader on a deeper level, much like Picasso's Guernica.



Then there is the music, the haunting soundtrack will at first invoke feelings of dread, like you expect something bad to happen. But knowing that their is no actual combat to speak of comforts you and you begin to enjoy the eerie nature of the music. The game also makes great use of ambient noise, at time plunging you into total silence as you wander the underground caverns. This creates a great mood, as you go from the bright and somewhat sunny areas of the game into dark and foreboding areas within a short amount of time. The sound in this game is top notch, it would be great to see more games use soundtracks as haughty as this one, though this games soundtrack creates that haughty tone without sounding like it wants to be a grand masterpiece for an Opera.



And finally the game mechanics. This game is as simple as they come, you command a small rodent around the world, running and jumping trying to find piece to rebuild a spaceship and leave this world. The game is pure platforming, your little guy can climb up walls though, which comes in handy. Their are very few enemies, and you can't even attack them, they are usually used to make the platforming more difficult. The game mechanics are timeless, they are the platforming genre distilled to its most basic form, and because of this they are nearly flawless. The one problem for some is that at times the control feel a bit floaty, but it is easy to get used to and once that is done you will be plunged into a world of pure joy that comes with running and jumping without making a misstep.



In the end, this is a game that will probably go unnoticed by the general gaming public or the general public at large. Why? Well because it has no flash, no glitz, no glamour. The game is itself a dream come to life, a world that at first glance makes no sense, but on second thought you realize it need not make sense, that it just exist for your enjoyment. The game is a celebration of the art of gaming, if you want to make an argument over whether games can be art, well this is the game for you. Even if you don't particularly enjoy platformers or videogames in general, you will do yourself a great service and go and download this game. Knytt has it all then, great music, beautiful landscapes to explore and timeless gameplay and that is why I think Knytt is a modern masterpiece.

Get the game here