I love Arthurian legends, and whenever a game comes out centered around these kinds of things, I’ll jump right on them. Camelot is a silly place, and Knight vs Giant – The Broken Excalibur proves this once again. Step into the greaves of King Arthur in this fantasy action rogue-lite and wield the Broken Excalibur in a quest to rescue the scattered citizens of Camelot, vanquish the calamitous Void Giant, and escape from the Astral Dimension once and for all.

Story

Gather your coconuts, make some horse sounds, and dive into the story behind the broken sword.

During their quest to retrieve the Holy Grail for the venerable wizard Merlin, the noble Knights of the Round Table inadvertently unleash the calamitous Void Giant upon Camelot! King Arthur valiantly leads his Knights into battle, but the terrible creature swiftly dispatches them. With the realm’s protectors slain and the legendary sword Excalibur broken, Merlin weaves a powerful magic to transport the Void Giant back to the Astral Dimension from whence it came. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t quite go to plan, and the entire kingdom is brought along for the ride…

With the power to revive just one Knight, Merlin resurrects the heroic monarch and promptly tasks him with defeating three colossal aspects of the Void Giant’s soul, each more powerful than the last! To complicate matters, the kingdom’s citizens have been scattered across the dimension, and Arthur must rescue them before Merlin can safely transport everyone home.

Gameplay

In this fantasy action rogue-lite, you’ll play as King Arthur and utilize the Broken Excalibur to channel the unique powers of your fallen Knights as you battle through hordes of dire foes and face off against challenging giant bosses. Explore vibrant, procedurally generated dungeons, receive blessings, and customize your skills. Rescue the kingdom’s loyal citizens and call upon their unique talents to restore your seat at Castle Camelot to glory! For players who have played through games like Hades or even Binding of Isaac, the gameplay elements will feel right at home.

The combat is fast and smooth, with enough challenge that the mid-boss fights and chapter-boss fights feel epic & unique. You can combine various weapons and builds to challenge them, and they all feel viable. It was more a thing of ‘what style of gameplay do I want?’, then let’s go with ‘this knight.’ With each chapter boss beaten, you get to upgrade a viable part of your castle. However, it feels a bit steep (in the way of ‘challenge’) to unlock the more vital parts of the castle when compared to Hades. I’ll explain in the next paragraph.

Cons

Consider this: the game is all about trying out different knight combos. However! You get to unlock new knights through the Mason, which isn’t guaranteed to open after the Blacksmith. It’s kinda frustrating that it takes so long to unlock new knights, considering that the game is about trying out different knight combos. Another point of irritation, compared with Hades, is the Blacksmith himself. The upgrade system is fueled by the Blacksmith, which focuses on the upgrades for your weapons. However, the enhancements that only increase speed and crit chance by .01 don’t feel meaningful. It would be better to have fewer upgrades for each weapon, but each one should actually make a difference. Like how Hades’s weapons change form. The same can be said for the level design. It could use more variety. Each area within a zone feels the same, and it would be great to have some variety. For example, adding pits to fall and knock enemies into, more elevation, and interactable objects like explosive plant bulbs/TNT kegs would add more excitement to the game.

Conclusion