While on paper the narratives of KF4 and DaS1 are pretty similar, under the surface there’s not much going on in the former. The story is told through random text strewn around and vague dialogue, but that doesn’t feel as deliberate or thematically appropriate as it does in the more modern games. But, in King’s Field, that doesn’t feel like it was necessarily the intention as much as a byproduct of technological and budgetary constraints. People speak in terse, somewhat nonsensical prose. It has the same disorienting, almost dreamlike tone. I finished King’s Field 4, and it was really good! I think what was most surprising were the ways that it actually seemed to be an inspiration for Dark Souls, which ended up being more surface level than I expected. It’s easier than KF4 from what I’ve played, plus the PS4 version controls like a modern first person game! Also, the menus can be finicky and unintuitive.Īnyways, I hope more of you all have the chance to at least try this game! It’s a treat so far!Īlso, quick rec for people who don’t want to commit to something like King’s Field IV! Eternal Ring, another PS2 first person dungeon crawler by From Software, is on PS4. My brain has been forever warped by my need to play every old survival horror game I can, so the tank controls don’t really bother me, BUT I can see that being a hurdle that will be hard to clear for a lot of people in 2022. The game ends up being much less stressful than a Souls game because you don’t need to worry about frenetic action, but you get the same loop of trying something out, dying, considering how you could do it better, and then trying again. So, I’ve played KF4 for a few hours now, and damn! This game is unforgiving in a way that makes Dark Souls seem extremely generous by comparison! Save points are scarce, and enemies are extremely deadly! Along with the slow animation speeds for combat, these things make for a game that must be played deliberately. There are a number of recent games in that genre, but none of them are very popular. I guess my conclusion from the stuff I said above is that, while I can’t think of many things that are directly inspired by KF, there are a number of things that are inspired by the same things that inspired KF and have a significant amount of the same appeal.Įdit: I should also mention that Games | has a list of real-time, first-person dungeon crawlers, which is probably the more direct answer to your question. I feel like most games with a similar atmosphere are 2D Metroidvanias or roguelikes? They’re 2D instead of 3D for budget reasons and because the games they’re most inspired by are 2D. KF had such a specific vibe that it seems like a league of successors would be inevitable It’s not an intricately designed world, but it has stiff, difficult combat, and a focus on exploration, so I think it’s reasonable to compare it to KF. When I try to think about what has been inspired by Skyrim, the first game that comes to mind is Valheim. I think the answer is that this game is extremely similar to the Elder Scrolls games, just with less dialogue. I also feel like there is a surprisingly lack of games that try to pick up the torch. My big question, I guess, is: Why won’t we get another one of these games? I have my own answers, but I’m curious what others think. If people know of games that kind of pick up this legacy, please tell me! KF had such a specific vibe that it seems like a league of successors would be inevitable, but I can’t seem to think of any. I played a demo, and it was alright, but it didn’t quite scratch the same itch. The only spiritual successor I can think of is a little game called Fiend’s Isle, a roguelite which is very clearly pulling from KF, even copying the font. Having to strafe and manage your turn radius, the slow and clunky sword wacks, and the meter management seem like great fits for a mecha game. Hot take aside: While we might be getting mecha souls very soon, It’s my opinion that a mecha souls would look more like a King’s Field game than a Dark Souls. (I intend to send an e-mail about it to the pod.) At this point, I’d be happy with a just a re-release of these games. But unfortunately we probably won’t ever get another one of these games. I’m under no impression that King’s Field doesn’t feel crunchy and clunky, but that actually lends to such a cool feel that I want to get more of. I’m slowly making my way through KF3 KF1 is a little too crusty for me, and while I think Shadow Tower is maybe a work of absolute genius and might be my favorite one of these, I haven’t finished it because it’s also very, very hard and I’m scared of it. This has high-key been something I’ve been thinking about since I played KF2 a year or two ago.
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