''Knytt Underground'' is a 2D

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

in the exploration subgenre similar to Metroidvania games, with elements of arcade

platformers A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

, combining the mechanics of the developer's previous games, ''

Knytt Nicklas Nygren (born 6 January 1983), better known by the handle Nifflas, is an independent Swedish video game developer. He is known for his freeware ''Knytt'' series and along with another freeware game, ''Within a Deep Forest''. He has lived ...

'' and ''

Within a Deep Forest Nicklas Nygren (born 6 January 1983), better known by the handle Nifflas, is an independent Swedish video game developer. He is known for his freeware ''Knytt'' series and along with another freeware game, ''Within a Deep Forest''. He has lived ...

.'' It was developed by Swedish programmer

Nicklas Nygren Nicklas Nygren (born 6 January 1983), better known by the handle Nifflas, is an Indie game, independent Swedish video game developer. He is known for his freeware ''Knytt'' series and along with another freeware game, ''Within a Deep Forest''. He ...

and released in late 2012, with the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

platforms

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

and

Vita Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vit ...

seeing the first launch. The game offers two

playable characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

, nonlinear gameplay, multiple endings, and a large number of

side-quests A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. ...

and secrets.

Gameplay

''Knytt Underground'' is a side-scrolling open action-adventure, with the exploration of a metroidvania. Its gameplay fuses the mechanics of Nifflas' earlier games. From ''

'' it borrows the freedom to climb vertical walls as well as being able to safely fall from any height (barring hazards like lava and acid, but unlike ''Knytt'' water is not hazardous). From ''

'' it incorporates the ability to transform into a

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

. However, there is only one ball "material" and different abilities must be gained by flowers that bestow temporary power-ups which are only usable in Sprite form, a new feature introduced in ''Underground.'' There are no hostile characters or antagonists in the story except for robots that follow a preset behavior and are confined to the room they spawn in. The player may interact with various

NPCs A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

and receive quests from them. Some characters may become traveling companions and influence certain events. The player also has an inventory system for items which are used for trading, completing tasks or gaining access to certain areas. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the surface has been rendered uninhabitable. Humans no longer exist and the surviving creatures all live underground, although remnants of human technology are commonplace. There are different factions within the subterranean world such as the mystical Myriadists and a group called the Internet dedicated to salvaging human artifacts. The main world is divided into 47 rooms across by 29 rooms down, for a total of at least 1,363 rooms. However, there are many secret areas that exist off the in-game map, leading to over 1,800 total locations in all. Each region of the world has a distinct visual theme and some areas are analogous to the levels in ''

''. Shortcuts for quickly traveling across large distances can be found via an alternative dimension called "the Disorder".

Plot

The player controls Mi Sprocket, a "sprite" who sets out to make a wish at the Fairy Springs, but due to her inability to speak, she is misunderstood by everyone and unwillingly recruited into a mission to save the world. Two of the fairies decide to accompany her; Cilia the Moon Fairy and Dora the Sun Fairy. They provide the majority of the dialogue within the game and each has her individual temperament, often in contrast to each other. Mi has to choose which fairy to send to speak on her behalf when initiating conversations with NPCs, and they can influence which quests the player is able to take and may even affect the outcome of those quests. Mi's primary goal involves ringing the Six Bells of Fate, a task which falls upon a member of the Sprocket family every six hundred years and is required by prophecy to prevent the destruction of the world. There are numerous side quests as well and most may be completed in multiple ways, awarding the player with different achievements and endings. ''Underground'' often breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, with the developer himself making appearances as an NPC and various characters making remarks on common video-game

cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...

s, including the apparent pointlessness of the main quest.

Development

In July 2012, Nifflas announced that he was working on ''Knytt Underground'', and that it is his biggest game yet. It was released on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in late December 2012, and the console versions include extra content."Knytt Happens: Knytt Underground Rolls to PS3, PS Vita Today – PlayStation.Blog"
Blog.us.playstation.com. Retrieved 2013-08-17. The game was released on Steam on October 25, 2013."Knytt Underground on Steam"
Steampowered.com. Retrieved 2013-10-27 A Wii U version of the game was confirmed in August 2013, and was being ported by Nygren's colleague Mathias Kærlev. The game was released on December 19, 2013 in both North America and Europe. ''Underground'' was Nifflas' biggest project at the time of its release, encompassing the biggest world and the most characters, sub-quests and secrets of any of his games thus far.

Soundtrack

Besides Nifflas' own songs, ''Knytt Underground'' includes music by D Fast, David Kanaga, Fredrik Häthén, LPChip, Jonas Mattebo, Stephen Ascher, Void Pointer, and Yann Van Der Cruyssen. The soundtrack is available as a free download.

References

External links

Official website

Official website for PlayStation versions
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