Knack 2 Preview - E3 2017

One of the more surprising sequels coming this year is Knack 2. That isn't to say that the original Knack, a PS4 launch title, was a bad game or a poorly received one by the fans. It earned middling reviews, and was seemingly destined to become a one-off new IP. And yet, in December 2016 Knack 2 was revealed at the PlayStation Experience event. Director Mark Cerny is clearly not the one to give up on his new series, and the upcoming sequel promises to be better and offer more. We had a chance to play through a couple of demo levels at E3 2017.

Knack 2 is still an action-platformer game, and players assume control of the titular character Knack. We were told that the sequel is designed to be a co-op focused experience; though you can still play solo. A friend is able to drop in/out at any time throughout the whole campaign. When a friend joins you, the camera will adjust itself to accommodate, and enemies will grow in number. If one of the two players is off-screen for too long, they will automatically teleport to the other player; if you get stuck, you can hold a button and teleport manually to your partner. We played through both demo levels in co-op, and it was a bit disorienting at times during combat and platforming to keep track of your character. Both Knacks look the same except for a red and blue color palette of their body, and during the mayhem of combat that wasn't enough to differentiate which character you are.

Our first demo was focused more on the platforming and light combat. Knack and his family arrive on an island, and go in search of adventure. During cutscenes, it's still just one Knack on screen. When the level kicked off, we took some time to familiarize with the updated controls. The jumping, light and heavy attacks, and body slam all felt responsive and enjoyable to use. But you also now have a shield that can block enemy attacks, and also deflect projectiles if timed correctly. Since the game is focused on teamwork, there are also many different co-op attacks that either character can perform. For example, one player can use the other to quickly shoot debris as if from a stationary machine gun, which is helpful for crowd control. Doing a body slam attack on the other player creates a double effect that causes more damage to enemies surrounding you. This is good two-player combat design that encourages teamwork rather than fighting their own enemies in separate corners of the screen.

In between brief combat sections where we had to defeat goblins of various sizes, we went through a number of platforming sections. Here the design was fairly straightforward, and the static camera presented platforming both from the side and front view. There were plenty of moving platforms, deadly pits, and jumps that required timing to avoid getting crushed. Players have two abilities that help with platforming - you can dash, which lets you bypass electrified obstacles safely, and you can "deconstruct" your Knack to make him into the smallest form possible (as you will recall from the first game) and go under certain objects. Not to worry though, you can then reconstruct yourself into a bigger form right after. The game handily displays the height of your Knack as a sort of health indicator as well. Overall, we made it through the combat and platforming of this level without any issues on medium difficulty. But the game is still adaptable to younger audiences, and on easy difficulty, you can actually bypass entire platforming sections by conveniently placed bridges in the level.

Feeling confident, we decided to tackle the second demo level on Hard difficulty. This level was a Gauntlet challenge, meaning we had to make it through a series of combat arenas, and no platforming sections. During this demo we also got a look at two new abilities - a heavy, charged up punch used to break through enemy shields, and a special over the top attack that can be unleashed when you break a special crystal that appears. When you break this crystal, your Knack becomes temporarily superpowered and gets a big energy sword to use, letting you unleash satisfying havoc on the enemies. There's also the Sunstone gauge, which fills as you succeed in combat, and actually protects you from taking damage while it's not depleted.

Things started off fairly easy - we could make work of the first couple of arenas in the monastery without breaking a sweat or working together. Traveling between the arenas, we'd have to defeat the occasional enemy patrol or break through rolling boulders with the heavy punch. When we got to the final stage however, we hit a bit of a wall. Facing off against a number of powerful enemies, we were defeated and had to adjust our strategy. If one player is defeated, the other must stay alive long enough so that the other can respawn; if both players perish however, you must restart the whole battle. We also had to utilize our co-op attacks more, as well as block with the shield and dodge out of the way of AoE attacks. Following a few failed attempts, we did succeed and beat the final arena, concluding the second demo level. Thus, despite generally accessible nature of the series and having plenty of options to make the game really easy, there's still challenge to be found on higher difficulties.

Knack 2 looks to address the biggest issues of its predecessor. The combat depth has been expanded, a co-operative focus means it will be easier to play together, and discover what the world has to offer. There will be more puzzles, more reasons to explore (we found a few hidden areas in the demo), and a variety of platforming and combat to engage in. From our hands-on time with the game, these improvements are clearly notable, and it seems that the final product will be much closer to delivering on the original vision of the series - to become a modern action/platformer classic in the same vein as Crash Bandicoot and other PlayStation mascots of this genre. Knack 2 is set to release this September, exclusively on PlayStation 4.