Knytt Underground (Now on Steam!)

Mr_Grinch

First up, buy it here on PC: http://store.steampowered.com/app/248190/
and here on PS3/Vita: http://us.playstation.com/games-and-media/games/knytt-underground-ps3.html

Demos also available above.

I've seen so little discussion on this game that it upsets me, so I thought I'd see if anyone else had played it. As I'm usually terribly bad at setting up ops I'm just going to paste a bunch of stuff from wikipedia:

....

Oh, it seems even wikipedia doesn't have much on this game.

Instead I'll post something from Joystiq:

Knytt Underground is the kind of game you can easily get lost in. I mean that in both the metaphorical sense of an engrossing experience, and the literal sense of a game in which I wandered around until I found where I was supposed to be.

Somehow, Nifflas's latest combines discrete chapters and an open, explorable map, and makes that seemingly impossible combination work. And it's pretty funny.

Knytt Underground is a side-scrolling, open adventure set in a subterranean environment in what seems to be the future. Forgive the term, but it's of the "Metroidvania" variety, meaning you can go anywhere you want if you have the right ability. It stars Mi Sprocket, a mysteriously mute sprite accompanied by two fairies, and Bob, a bouncing ball ... thing ... with eyes. Mi can climb walls, and Bob can bounce, as well as grapple from certain enemies. You get the ability to switch between these two characters at will, and their base abilities are enough to get you around most places. Movement is quick, and the platforming physics have a good feel to them, although the ball character can get out of control really quickly. Thanks for that, physics.

I'll own up, I'm one of the few platforming fans that HASN'T played Within a Deep Forest and Knytt/Knytt Stories. This is something I need to rectify quickly. That hasn't stopped me from thoroughly enjoying this game though.

You're introduced gently to the controls/concepts within the game with two very short introductory chapters. The third chapter is where the real meat of the game is.

There's a simple plot, ring the 6 bells of fate to stop the world ending, but there's more to it than that. Doing pretty simple fetch quests for characters and generally chatting to them reveals so much more detail in the world. Your character is mute, which makes conversing a bit on the difficult side. Fortunately you have two fairies by your side: One and optomist, happy, chirpy, ready to believe the best in people and treat them well. The other is harsh, bordering on cruel and violent at times. You choose how you want to approach characters based upon which fairy you want to speak on your behalf.

The plot bounces around the place, from saving the world to religion to sexuality.

I'm close to finishing the game now and am loving all the little secrets and all the little touches hidden around the place. I've one more portal to find and one more bell to ring and I really don't want it to end.

So, has anyone else tried it?

Mr_Grinch

I forgot (and can't edit on IE6), here are some pictures:





And here's a description of the game from it's creator:

Knytt Underground tells a quirky and strange tale that connects to various things in my own life. It’s set in the future, hundreds of years after the humans disappeared from the planet. Sprites, fairies and various other lifeforms roam tunnels underground. They are curious about their origin and the meaning of life, and to find those answers they try to understand the ones who had obviously figured it out: the humans.

One organization is devoted to understanding our science and language. They have successfully decoded that the letter J symbolizes a hook and O the full moon. Another group tries to combine the truths of our different religions. I mean, what if they’re all right — at the same time?

All mixed up in this is our protagonist Mi Sprocket, a sprite chosen to perform a religious ritual that supposedly saves the world. Odds are it’s superstitious nonsense…but you never know, right? Mi is joined by two fairies; Dora (who tries to find some truth in everything) and Cilia (who thinks people are stupid). Together they must travel the underground to complete the ritual, even though it’s very uncertain what they will actually accomplish — if anything at all.

Knytt Underground really tries to make a point, but I’m not sure what that point is.

When I designed Knytt Underground, I wanted to come up with a minimal number of mechanics that would allow lots of complex moves and interesting puzzles. By combining a very accurate platform character with a fast-paced bouncing ball and letting the player morph between the two forms at any time, the game got its very simple, yet deep controls. Each form also have some temporary powers like a grappling hook or the ability to fly a small distance. Chaining these different abilities in a single move feels super sweet.

Following the tradition of the previous Knytt games, a lot of the areas in Knytt Underground do not have enemies or dangers. Most of the world is designed to simply be a beautiful place where I hope the player wants to be. Despite the game’s huge world, each area has its own looks, music and atmosphere (which is why the level design alone took a year).

JAEF

Free on PS+ for what region? PAL? That title is going to disappoint a lot of NA PS+ subscribers. Knytt Stories on PC was super duper but I'm going to have to wait for a sale on this one.

Mr_Grinch

Argh, I keep forgetting it's free on EU only and I can't change it till I get home later.

Sorry all American people, it's not free for you. It's still great though!

cooljammer00

Yeah it's free for EU only, sadly. Oh well.

Frozenzen

How do I access this on PSN? Searching the vita store isn't getting me much.

Mr_Grinch

It was just on the front page for me, are you EU or one of those american folks?

Mr_Grinch

Finished it up and found most of the secrets. There's SO much hidden stuff to discover in this game.

AaronKI

http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt+Underground

Can you plop this in the OP? It's available on PC/Mac too for $15. The link above contains purchase links and demos.

It's not available through Steam yet but it is on Greenlight.

Mr_Grinch

Links added to op, plus a link to buy it on PSN.

AaronKI

Finally purchased this last night after trying the demo a few weeks ago. The ties to Within a Deep Forest are interesting.

Being set five or six hundred years after the war that Dr. Cliche tried to prevent with his planet-freezing bomb. Exploring the ruins of the underwater lab has been fun, too.

It's a shame that it came out the last few weeks of December, making it too late for Best of 2012 lists, and probably too early for Best of 2013 stuff.

AaronKI

Quoting this over here since this thread needs more activity.

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

Did you find:

The hidden figure rooms at the bottom which are insanely difficult? Also the secret ending? And the sandwich recipe?

I loved the dialogue, the controls and the entire sense of discovery I felt throughout the entire game.

But yeah, I get why people didn't vote for it, it's just a shame.

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

Oh also, have you found all 60 save points? If you do you can press triangle on any of them and there are "mini-stories" you can play. They're short, largely unrelated stories. One's about a hero and a princess.

The game fucking rocks.

Regarding some secrets in your spoiler:

I found the secret challenge maps at the bottom, but haven't messed with them much. Which ending is the secret ending and what triggers it? Dora's Dream, or something else? I haven't found the sandwich recipe yet. Can you give some hints about where that is?

Edit: Haha, just found the sandwich while looking for more secrets around the edge of the map. So that's what those puzzle pieces are for. Now the only thing I'm missing is the item between the Automap and the Sandwich recipe.

I've heard that the Playstation version has some exclusive mini-chapters, so those might not be in the PC version that I'm playing. Though the PC version does have some exclusive secrets too.

Post-game spoilers:

In the PC version, there's a secret mini-chapter that basically functions as Chapter 4. It's accessible through a secret passage in the room where you enter chapter 3. The secret passage also contains more secret passages to story-free challenge areas with interesting gimmicks.

There's also a short Knytt Story starring Juni that you can access from the credits, too, but I'm not sure if it's in the Playstation version.

Oh, and Nifflas' next game, The Great Work, is releasing next Monday for free. It's a commissioned game that ties into a documentary about a man who quit his IT job to become a full time alchemist. I've heard it's still set in the WaDF/Knytt/Saira/Night Sky universe.

Since The Great Work was completed before Underground was, I wonder if the Professor Julie quest was inspired by that.

Mr_Grinch

The secret ending involves (spoilers but not flat out telling you what to do):

Doing something with those moon/sun spheres/triangles you have kicking around.

Larger hint

You need to do it in hidden screens in the disorder.

Larger yet hint.

Towards the top of the map at 42,13 will show you a map of the disorder. You need to return here once you've placed the items.

It's also really nothing special, but it got a chuckle from me.

Also regarding the Juni thing, yep, that's in there on the PS3 version, you find it by hunting around

The credits screen.

Regarding the things at the bottom:

Did you find both challenge rooms? There's the figure and then slightly to the right there's the "mini-figure".

The challenge maps are exceptionally difficult but really good, there's also a hidden entrance to

the mysterious forest. It's hidden after the third or fourth challenge I think. You need to use a green power up to get to it. There's no benefit to finding the forest, it's just pretty and hidden, like most things in this game.

I don't know if you need to collect all of the save points within the challenge maps to access the mini-stories. The mini-stories on PS3 are:

Stranger Dream
Anti Figure
RPG

They're all really fun, especially RPG.

.



I haven't really played much of his other stuff, I recognised where some stuff was from but I really need to dig in to them properly.

So many nested spoilers in that post, I hope I got them right.

AaronKI

While poking around the bottom of the map, I found...

A hidden village full of tails beneath the infinite darkness that doesn't show up on the automap. Through another secret passage, I found an odd area containing a button that caused an earthquake.

I didn't notice any changes on the map but I'm wondering if it opened the path to the Mini Figure, because I didn't stumble across it until after pressing the button.

I haven't messed with the disorder much. Guess I should get to that at some point.

Post-Game spoilers that I believe are PC only:

The extra areas beneath the Chapter 3 selection room are pretty cool because a few of them are rhythm-based. The Plants in the background pulse to the beat of electronic song, robots shoot lasers every fourth beat, etc. There's another room where the beat of the song controls Mi's form swapping.

Mr_Grinch

I may have to pick up the pc version now!

And yep, what you think in your spoiler is right, that's what opened it up. It's:

on the screen to the right of the full figure

Raslin

Ohh man, a new knytt game? I fell deep in love with knytt stories, I'll have to check this out.

AaronKI

Nifflas' new game, The Great Work, is out today and completely free.

"Fulcanelli has just produced a philosopher's stone. He gives it to his apprentice (that is you) and now he expects you to return with some gold. Problem is, he didn't provide a manual."

It was commissioned and completed during Knytt Underground's development to promote a documentary of the same name "which is the story about Christer Böke who has taken one year off from his well-paid job as an IT-salesman to become a full-time Alchemist." The documentary will be airing January 31st on Swedish television.


I've played about half an hour so far and it feels like a cross between a metroid-style platformer (in terms of gaining new abilities to explore further) and an inventory-based adventure/puzzle game.

Mr_Grinch

Due to this dropping off the front page I missed this completely.

I now have something I must play this weekend. Huzzah!

AaronKI

Hey, so this was finally greenlit on Steam!

Mr_Grinch

Hurrah! I should probably change the thread title now, but I can't on IE6. If the thread gets any more attention, I will do.

AaronKI

http://store.steampowered.com/app/248190/

And now it's out on Steam. For some reason, the page has an age gate.

Edit: Oh, right. Because of a few swears.

Mr_Grinch

Thanks! Thread updated