IF Comp Review #4: One Knight Stand
By A. Hazard (SURELY a made-up name?)
This game has plenty of violence, despair, etc… so I’m upping my emotional defenses. But they also have the option to read a detailed list of possible triggers, which is great! So I read through them and I think I’ll be okay. There is violence and mature themes… which I’m hoping means sex and violence, not rape. If there’s rape, this warning isn’t quite cutting it for those with that specific trigger (which is a lot of people).
As usual, I’m more ‘live blogging’ than reviewing.
I’m a fast reader and decisive, so let’s see if it’s possible to actually get through the game under 2 hours despite it saying “Over two hours” in the description. [Edit: not a chance. It’s another monster-sized game.]
Title has a pun but also suggests a desperate last stand. I like desperate last stands and hate puns (but forgive them in titles).
Uh oh. There’s a typo in the first sentence. That is more ominous than any foul prophesied horserider.
The rest seems deliberately verbose, but probably just for a prologue-y quote-y bit (otherwise it’ll be a real slog). Writing seems solid, though, I think.
The first choice happens nice and quick, and it’s instantly intriguing.
Hmm. The following text makes me think it was a fake choice.
Onto Chapter One!
Up to the first choice and yep, I’m sold on both the game and the writing. There is enough clearly going on to intrigue me, the writing is indeed solid and not the overwrought stuff of the opening, and I’m pleased to see King Arthur is apparently involved (you may want more originality in your tales, but he and his knights are old friends and I like familiarity).
I LOVE a choice of weakness! And there are several here.
There is a LOT of customisation here, which is great. Except the writer made an error. When they described the hand-shaped bruise on my arm it is said to be a sharp contrast to my light skin. Which means the player character must be white.
Okay! My two hours is up and I feel like I’ve barely started this game. I’d guess the full game takes at least six hours to play. There is enough to keep me interested, but the pacing is fairly relaxed at first (giving plenty of space to ramp it up later), with some action scenes. The horror elements are certainly horror, but they’re more disturbing to the characters than to me, so I’m fine reading along.
My feeling is that there’s a little too much customisation, but I’m sure some readers will love it. It was only in the last half hour that I actually had much idea of what was going on, so a lot of my choices felt largely meaningless (although I don’t think they were actually as meaningless as they felt like they were, eg they were measuring my investigation skills) and a little repetitive.
There are a few very minor errors of spelling or grammar.
It’s extremely hard to judge a game without an ending, but I’ll do my best. There are some really cool plot beats, and a nice sense of ominous things coming closer.
The action ramps up considerably at a certain point, but I can certainly tell this game is just getting started.
Felicity Banks 
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