this game compared to the original knytt stories?

[Former US President Barack Obama]

hi, I've been a long time player of Knytt Stories. I've downloaded extra levels from the Internet for Knytt Stories and all-in-all it's one of the best platformers I've ever experienced. My question is: are there places to download more levels for Knytt Underground if I buy it, and how does this game fare in comparison to the original? Thanks.

[kilicool64]

I've got good news and bad news for you.

The bad news is that KU's level editing community is almost non-existent. Because Nifflas ended up adding new features to the level format several times during development, his own editor ended up becoming very difficult and clunky to use. Combined with the fact that a lot of the game's features (including dialogs) are controlled by Python scripts, creating new levels is a real hassle. Only a single custom level has ever been released, and since the game doesn't have proper custom level support (something Nifflas wanted to add if there's enough demand, which there isn't), even installing and playing it is apparently pretty complicated, not to mention one aspect of it only works on Linux. People seem to have sadly given up on creating new levels for KU, so I definitely wouldn't go into it expecting something like KS.

The good news is that in spite of having only one "level," KU is still a really good game and, IMO, the best thing Nifflas ever made. It has a fantastic atmosphere and presentation that utilizes its great visuals (sole exception: the character portraits during dialogs are hideous) and soundtrack really well. And the scale of the world is utterly insane. Combined with the huge amount of secret content, there are over 2000 rooms in this game. The gameplay is also great, combining some of the mechanics of the original Knytt and Within a Deep Forest and expanding on both of them to create a very unique experience that is quite challenging at times, but rarely overly punishing or unfair. One aspect of it that could be rather divisive is that unlike KS, KU isn't really a Metroidvania game because it has no permanent powerups. That doesn't mean that its mechanics are simpler though since it has a lot of mechanisms and temporary powerups that still allow for a large variety of challenges. And because you can reach almost every place on the map immediately after starting Chapter 3 without having to find certain powers first, exporation is a lot less linear that in a lot of KS levels. The most polarizing aspect of this game is the story however. It's much more of a focus here than in Nifflas' previous games and received extremely mixed reception because of how unconventional it is. It tries really hard to be realistic by avoiding all kinds of convenient storytelling techniques, resulting in a story that is deliberately full of anticlimaxes and lacking in closure. This can leave people expecting a more conventional story very confused and disappointed, but once you have gotten used to its approach to storytelling, you'll find a very unique and thought-provoking story with strong world-building and characterization. Do note however that fully understanding it requires knowledge of some of Nifflas' other games, particularly the plot of Within a Deep Forest.

[E Pluribus Unum]

Just jumping in here after what you said about needing to understand KS and WaDF, I'm currently in the early parts of Chapter 3 exploring a lot of the lower portions of the map, and so far there's nothing I haven't understood per se, but now I'm a bit worried about missing references and things. Would you reccomend I take a break to play the previous games, or is it better just to continue and play the others afterwards?

[Former US President Barack Obama]

The previous game, Knytt Stories, did have preinstalled scenarios but they were not really important. I've never thought of Knytt as a story platformer. Granted, some of the custom levels had a story, but that was rare. I don't think it is necessary to play the previous game.

[kilicool64]

Most of the references aren't all that major. The game most heavily connected to this one is WaDF, but most of the relevant information can already be found in the introductory cutscene, so watching that should be enough.

[Former US President Barack Obama]

Should I just get this game on the summer sale? I still havent' bought it lol. How long does it take to beat

[kilicool64]

It's absolutely loaded with content. If you want to get 100% completion, it's going to take you a while.

Just rushing it to completion will probably take less than half as long, but that really isn't how the game is meant to be played.

[E Pluribus Unum]

Steam says I have 11 hours, and I'd say I still have at least a few more to go before completing chapter 3 (the main body of the game), plus I think there's some bonus content though I'm not sure how much that adds time-wise. Overall I'd say it's worth the investment.

[kilicool64]

About one third of the game is secret content. Assuming you missed most of it so far, you still have quite a ways to go.