What you need to know
- PlaySide Studios has revealed a new top-down action shooter called Kill Knight during the Triple-I Initiative event on April 10, 2024.
- Kill Knight has the player assume the role of an undead knight fighting their way through an army of demons of the Abyss to kill The Last Angel.
- This game will be released sometime in 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
On April 10, 2024, PlaySide Studios, the creators of the award-winning Real-time strategy Age of Darkness: Final Stand, unveiled their next project at the Triple-I Initiative event called Kill Knight. This game is an isometric action shooter inspired by gritty arcade shooters like DOOM and fast-paced top-down action games like Hades.
Kill Knight is scheduled to be released later this year for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
The premise of Kill Knight follows the dark tale of a knight who has been betrayed and banished to a hellish realm known as the Abyss for all eternity. The knight is then brought back to life as an undead corpse trapped in a suit of demonic armor and unable to pass on to the afterlife.
Now reborn as the titular Kill Knight, our protagonist is compelled by a mysterious calling to fight their way through the five demon-infested layers of the Abyss and kill The Last Angel.
Accomplishing your goal will not be easy as Kill Knight is touting itself up as a difficult title that will require skill and aggression in order to beat. Players will need to collect an arsenal of heavy weapons and armor and master their unique abilities to stand a chance against the foes before them.
In addition, if players can survive for as long as they can, the game will reward them with Kill Power – a passive buff that will increase their speed and damage output to help them overcome the more difficult arenas of the Abyss.
Once players have completed the main story, Kill Knight will offer players new ways to replay the game. They can adjust the difficulty levels to make the game harder, take on Master Mode which combines all five layers of the Abyss into one massive gauntlet arena, or compete with other players by posting their scores on the global leaderboards to see who is the best player in Kill Knight.
The gritty, violent aesthetics of 1990s boomer shooters is strong in Kill Knight
Aside from its insanely violent and fast-paced, arcade gameplay, what's striking about Kill Knight to me personally is its visual presentation. The game has low-poly retro graphics evocative of early 3D games like DOOM or Quake but is polished to modern standards to create a dark, minimalist, and nightmarish atmosphere that matches the game's horrifying setting and violent gameplay.
If you're a fan of ultra-violent boomer shooters or top-down action games like the Ascent (Read our review of Ascent to learn more) and Hades, I would recommend adding this upcoming Xbox game and upcoming PC game to your wishlist.
In the meantime, we'll keep an eye out for the full release date of Kill Knight and let you know when it is time to descend into the Abyss.
