Earlier this year, I wrote an Indie Spotlight on Burning Knight at the time the game was still under development. Now the game is fully released, and so I decided to load it up and see what was updated and what remained the same.
Burning Knight is a rogue-lite game with skill-based mechanics. You start with a fun and silly introduction about how your father, the king, left in search of a lamp. Twenty years pass, and being unable to cope with what fate befell your father, and you set off in search of him—leaving your son with a similar message that your father left you. It is never outright said, but it is implied that you are a goblin, and part of some noble kingdom based goblin society. But you do not have time to dwell on that as you must go out and descend the ruins of castles, battle monsters of varying lethality and try not to explode from a bomb that just landed in the room. The game is an endless runner of sorts that has you searching for awesome loot and upgrade your arsenal in an attempt to take down and survive the boss fights and little slimes that always find a way to hit you. Each run as a screen of the seed, how far you accomplished, and what you were able and unable to achieve.
Now before I go further into the details, I wanted to give out my recommendation on the game. Should you get it? The answer, as is most often the case, it depends. If you like rogue-lite games, skill progression, and want to challenge yourself and your friends on how far you can go before rage quitting after dying to a slime that you did not realize were going to hit you. Burning Knight is not different than Dead Cells, Binding of Isaac, and Hollow Knight. These games can be infuriating fun. Burning Knight has some comedic elements that also make this a unique game that might just be up your alley.
Unfortunately, the developer has taken down the demo, but you can still see a trailer of the actual gameplay on steam. There are things I wish were left out, such as pulling in properties from Zelda and what feels like many other games. These kinds of things can get this game killed fast with Nintendo or other IP owning companies coming after you if the game gets enough visibility. I do think its a game that is worth playing and can be fun if you enjoy the genre. I couldn’t find any bugs that would make this game unplayable I would say this game is exceptionally well polished.
Or on Itch.io at https://egordorichev.itch.io/bk
Replayability
As is the primary mechanic with rogue-likes is replayability. This game has high replayability. You can challenge yourself over and over again to get through the levels and get all the gear you can. Perhaps find that mysterious lamp and where ever your father is. Each time you descend those stairs, it will be a new map, but the core enemies and potential dangers seem to be constant on the first level.
A True Quick Play
Some games like to bore you with a lot of history and lore, get connected deep with a character, and have a lot of dialogue scenes. Burning Knight seems to do away with that and just says, “Hey, I am out, bye.” You then proceed and jump right into the thick of things. Find the loot, kill the monsters, jump around, and try not to get blown up. If you lose not to worry, go down the stairs again and try again. All the loading appears to be done at the loading screen, which allows the player to focus on getting to the next level, not another loading screen.
Endless level Generation
You can beat the game. The game procedurally generates levels for you, and you continue to go down and overcome room bosses and challenges. You are given a chance for endless runs without having to play the same level again. Upgrade your gear and find coins, I always go for the hearts since I am almost dead each time I reach one of those items rooms. But maybe you will pick the formidable weapon.
There are also lovely extras around the map. If you get deep enough, you can start unlocking shortcuts. These shortcuts allow you to go to different starting areas instead of having to descend your way down and have the same kind of grind every time you want to play. There is a limited number of shortcuts, which lets you know how many areas you will need to traverse before you can ultimately play through the run.
Dailies
A nice little touch is the idea of Dailies. These are one time events every twenty-four hours that have you geared in a certain way with a specific I assume that anyone playing the game on the same day can run and challenge each other. But this daily is hardcore, meaning you only have one shot at getting as far as you can before you are locked out until the next daily opens up. The dailies can be a fun way to do challenges or a tournament with a group of friends or events.
Play against your friends runs with their seed
Ever find a map that you just wish you could redo? Well, there is this turnip looking guy in the trophy gear room that lets you specify a seed. I love this incorporation of seeds from something abstract to a little bit merged in-game. Then you can descend the stairs and battle that seed as many times as you want. Maybe its a fight with your friends for who can get the farthest in 30 minutes. These little items of polish help make the game stand on its own.
Play Style
As with many rogue-like games, you can change your style as you play to see what works for you. The same applies to Burning Knight as well. You can decide to be a Tank and use swords to crush your way through the level in head to head combat. Be careful about lining up your swings and a flying slime coming your way to take down your hearts. But your sword is imposing in that it can reflect some projectiles toward enemies. If you find yourself being shot at swing at the ball and it might save your life.
Additionally, you can become a Ranger with a bow or a Mage with Rings and other items to cast magical ranged attacks at your opponent. I prefer this style myself as I feel I can better kite the enemies around the room. It is, unfortunately, effortless to end up on spikes and dye from not paying attention to the surrounding room tiles.
Vanity Items
A sign of the times and maybe just a way we can give bragging rights to others is the idea of vanity items. Show off what you have accomplished instead of just talking about it to your friends. Burning Knight offers Achievements, Trophy room, and a Dressing room
Achievements
Achievements are unlocked as you finish and accomplish certain events by doing specific actions like not taking an item from any room. Or when you finally beat the Burning Knight. The Achievement system is similar to any other game except that it has a beautiful place to show off when you accomplished that achievement.
Trophy Room
In the main starting room, you will a blade and a revolver. I call it a trophy room, but its more of an equipment room allowing you to outfit yourself with the gear you want to traverse the levels. As you go deeper, you get to unlock more and more, and it will appear here. So it is still a way of showing off progress. Anywhere I show off my blade on a pedestal, I would consider a trophy.
Dressing Room
The dressing room allows you to update your hat. Its the cosmetic hat room that you will also have to unlock while traversing the dungeons. There is a total of 28 unlockable hats—nothing like taking down a dungeon with your revolver and with style.
Rescue NPCs
There are 14 unlockable Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that you can rescue from the dungeon levels. Each character has different ways to support you in the game. It is nice that there is some progression that stays around as you go through various levels. How did these characters get stuck in the dungeon and manage to survive is beyond me. At least you are not entirely alone on these runs.
SoundFX and Music
The soundtrack and sound effects used in the game are excellent. It feels well placed and done in a manner that is not over the top. It does not get in the way of the game and helps make the player feel engaged in the run. It transitions well when a boss is mad at you and when you descend those stairs to take on your next challenge.
Built with Monogame
This game was built with Monogame and not Unity3d or Unreal Engine. An Open source game engine based on the original Xbox XNA framework. If this means nothing to you, that is fine. The Xbox XNA era was short-lived but generated beautiful games that have disappeared. If you are an indie game developer and want to make great games like Burning Knight, know that it is at your fingertips, and you just need to start.
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