King's Quest Review

"A Knight to Remember"

Campaign

King's Quest is a series of games that I'm far too young to have ever played previously. However, I completely understand the legacy and just how iconic this series was for the adventure genre and that the standard was always King's Quest.

Things have changed over time in the gaming landscape and now King's Quest has returned with the love of adventure and the blessing of the original creators. One thing is completely apparent when playing through this first chapter, that being that this game was a labor of love for a classic franchise. The world beams with life no matter where you adventure about and it all feels so epic.

The story takes us to an old Graham which has had his share of adventures throughout his life and are now sharing them with his granddaughter Gwendolyn. Across these stories you can also see a definite connection of passing information towards youth and I can only imagine that she may continue the tale in the future. King's Quest opens with an action scene of a more confident Graham in his quest to collect the magical mirror.

Things seems to be slightly muffled as well since there are beds lying around everywhere which you use more than once to hide out of sight from the dragon which of course is guarding the mirror. This is a great setup to get a glimpse of the action, charm and comedy that is present throughout the story. After that everyone takes the night off and they continue stories in the morning.

This time we go back further in time to a less confident Graham, or at least one with much less experience as clearly told by his archery skills. The big portion of this first episode begins here as it really becomes an open world adventure game. The goal is to become a knight by winning the local tournament which is what brought Graham here in the first place.

It feels like an origin story in regards to teaching Graham the basics of being a knight while also teaching Gwendolyn about the ethics or adventuring. You also get a stellar replay of the original area in that you're going through the first time and causing the events of which you experience at the start since that was actually your second visit to the dragon.

This portion shows that the story may be muddled or switched around at times so that'll be an interesting thing to see in future episodes if it does happen. Of course being this sort of game you'll be required to solve certain puzzles throughout the world and I had no real issues until getting into the later act. While this is expected I hope others don't run into that problem so that gameplay will be smooth for them, of course guides will be available to those that need help.

By the end of this first episode I was enthralled and captured by the majesty of this already charming tale. It also for me now sets the standard for episodic games by presenting far more playtime than others. I also quite liked the way paths could vary to a degree in options for solving puzzles you came across within the world.

Gameplay

It looks beautiful, it's seriously stunning and just captures you. Whether that be the perfect model for Graham that has an absolutely amazing cape model or the world around you. The floral is beautiful, there's birds fluttering around in the distance and the art style is just perfect.

As far as controls go everything is simple and fluid without any issues throughout my playthrough. The questing portions were mostly well focused though again in the later parts I had missed a simple step which caused confusion for me.

Within the story many aspects carried some dramatic scenes though I felt it had the perfect balance of comedy to balance everything out and it should be known for those playing that this is generally a light hearted game.

The Conclusion

King's Quest off to the proper start that a series with this legacy deserves. It has the right balance of light hearted story while also delivering emotional instances. It's the dream of becoming a knight and this is only completed through the most obscure of tasks.

Watch the story unfold as Graham grows in his first adventures to the point of where he's confident with his work and able to perform flawlessly as he does within the opening scene. There's also great connections between what he does in the past and how he's teaching this to his granddaughter.

I'm particularly interested to see how that develops within the future. We were also left with quite a cliff-hanger as these sort of episodic games usually do and I can't wait to continue the quest. King's Quest was a fantastic adventure and once again sets the standard for story in games.

King's Quest Review on Xbox One
Review Code Provided by Sandbox PR

Rating Overall: 9.5