Developer: Chainawesome Games
Publisher: Chainawesome Games
Platform: PS4, Switch, PC, Xbox One
Tested on: PS4
Knight Squad 2 (PS4) – Review
Once more we are diving into the medieval madness provided by Chainawesome Games in their 8-player party game Knight Squad 2. The first Knight Squad is already a good five years old and the sequel was first released on PC and Xbox One, then on Switch, and now it finally makes its way onto the PlayStation 4 to provide players of all kinds with hours of competitive mini-games to beat their friends in.
Story
As is to be expected from an arcade game such as this, there isn’t any plot to speak of in Knight Squad 2. The various knight characters have a smidge of lore in the form of text you see in the character selection screen, but apart from that, this game is here to provide mindless fun, not a story.
Graphics
One of the biggest improvements, when comparing the first game with this one, is the visuals. It’s clear the devs took all the good things from the original Knight Squad and polished them for an even smoother look, optimizing frame-rate and leaving us with a great-looking game. The character designs are a lot of fun and the game sports an impressive amount of different arenas to battle in. It’s just a bit of a shame that the top-down perspective of the game won’t allow you to appreciate the details.
Sound
The soundtrack consists mainly out of heavy tempo beats that compliment the chaotic feel of the gameplay. Most rounds don’t last that long, so there isn’t a lot of time to get into the music. But what is there, is certainly fun. As is common in any good match-based party game, Knight Squad 2 has a commentator happy to provide funny remarks and other one-liners during the matches.
Gameplay
Knight Squad 2 is a party game consisting of thirteen different mini-games which are meant to be played with friends. Up to eight people can join at the same time, and the game is geared towards couch multiplayer mostly, since the matches are short and chaotic, and all players can share the same screen. Online multiplayer and crossplay are supported, but you’d need to get a third-party program for voice chat since the game really isn’t much fun without being able to communicate with each other. You can play with AI too, but we can’t recommend going on this adventure solo.
The thirteen modes you can enjoy are widely different, though the overall control scheme remains the same. All the classics are present, from the more typical kill-based game types that challenge you to be the last man standing to a Juggernaut game where you need to hold onto the only weapon in the arena. There are also more imaginative modes, such as a football-type game or unicorn racing. One thing that also often comes back is the power-ups, which might differ per mode, but spawn randomly on the map and give a huge advantage to whoever manages to grab them first.
To add some spice, there are over a hundred maps to explore, some of them with environmental hazards that change the gameplay slightly. Knight Squad 2 also has options for you to do your own customizations, such as changing the win conditions of certain mini-games or altering the starting gear of the players. All these things combined mean that no two matches play the same and the game really avoids getting stale – a must when matches are as short as they are here.
For a little extra content, you can try unlocking all the characters and their specific weapons. The characters themselves have varying conditions you need to meet to unlock them, including interesting challenges such as getting a septakill (killing seven opponents in quick succession). Their custom weapons don’t add anything to the game but they do give you bragging rights as they will only be unlocked after you collect a total of 1000 kills with that particular character across all modes.
Conclusion
With Knight Squad 2, Chainawesome Games adds a great little title to the line-up of PlayStation 4 couch multiplayer titles. It’s ideal to play with a group of friends to kill some time, and the myriad of game modes means there’s a lot of replay value. Add in the fairly low price tag, and you have yourself a fun little game on your hands. Even during these odd lockdown times, crossplay compatibility means that if you do dare venture into the strange world of online multiplayer, you’ll always find a stranger to kick ass with.
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