To be honest, I never really cared for Spiral Knights till it came to Steam. When I saw my steam friends popping up with the, now playing Steam Knights box once in a while I began to notice the game. However being a big achievement hog that I am, the only time I really noticed the game was when I saw the tons of achievements I can get from it. So I finally decided to download the game and finally see what’s all the fuzz with Spiral Knights.
I must say upon downloading the game that it’s pretty decent for an F2P game. The gameplay is simple, fast-paced and fun with an emphasis on it’s multiplayer aspect specially if you continue on playing the game. The controls are simple to grasp and it has enough oomp to make you keep on coming back to play. Of course it wouldn’t hurt if you have a lot of friends playing with you as well.
For adventuring, Spiral Knights uses the instanced dungeon system which is separated by levels. As you go drown through the levels of Clockworks you get to take on monsters of varying types. Monsters drop off materials which you can use to craft weapons, armors, trinkets and various equipments your character can use in the game. Parties in-game only allow 4 people to join with you.
I must say I love that Spiral Knights has a robust crafting system. As I mentioned earlier, monster drops will let you craft better weapons, armor, trinkets and the like. It keeps things interesting plus it gives you reason to keep on going back into the dungeons. Of course with this system in place it goes without saying that this is more of a material grindfest. However it’s not just about the materials that require you to keep on going through Clockworks because the game also gives you the option to “strengthen” your weapons and equipment through the Heat system which is basically a weapon/equipment leveling system.
Aside from strengthening your weapons, the game requires you to craft high-tiered weapons before you can even go to the higher level dungeons. Normally I would immediately see this as a liability, however this game system works with Spiral Knights. The crafting and weapon/equipment leveling system keeps you on a focused goal as you play and that’s the game’s biggest strength. There’s always something you still gotta do in Spiral Knights and that’s the one good enough reason to keep on playing the game.
The game though seems to contradict itself because it doesn’t really allow you to keep on playing. This is seen through the game’s constant requirement of energy as one of the things you have to “pay” to go down through Clockworks or even craft. Spiral Knights applies the “energy recovery” system in most FB or browser based text MMOs. If you used up all your energies you can recover them through two ways. Spend money on the energy recovery potion the game sells or you wait till the energy meter is full.
Personally I don’t know if this is a micro transaction tool or a means to indirectly help players not getting too addicted to the game or maybe both but I like it. How so? Because Spiral Knights is also available in facebook (actually it was available first in facebook till Steam started to support it) and we know that people can get to be a little too dedicated with their games.
Overall Spiral Knights is a great game to play specially if you want to get a steam account. Of course it’s not a requirement to have one but the achievements you can get in-game for steam is something you can’t really pass up (achievement hog is talking lol). Also add the fact that you can even get Team Fortress 2 Hats from playing Spiral Knights and I’m already sold to it. However, as a stand alone game, I must say that Spiral Knights is simple but very addicting and even if the game’s customization is lacking it at least makes up with the things you can do in the game.
In the end if you’re looking for something light Spiral Knights is the game for you.
Oh, on another note, if you’re not familiar with TTGL here’s the anime to explain why I used it for the title.
Here are more game screenshots:
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