Knighthood Review

Knighthood for Android

In Knighthood for Android, a hack-and-slash RPG developed by King and Midoki, you assume the role of a rookie Rage Knight. Your mentor Sir Drakeson challenges you to prove your worthiness of bearing such a kickass title. Combat is ruthless. Your foes are merciless. Sometimes you’ll want to throw your Android device across the room. Luckily, you wield a giant glove that can summon powerful heroes to aid you in battle. And, like many other free-to-play games, Knighthood offers a myriad of in-app purchases to supplement your arsenal. You can also collect precious metals to upgrade your weapons and armor. Installation requires one gig of memory. Is that gig worth it? Let’s find out.

The Pugilist

Before I began my journey into Knighthood, I was taken aback by the artwork. It’s quirky and charming, sort of like if the minimalist graphics of the strategy card game Reigns was brought to life Fortnite style. The animations are smooth, but there is no voice acting or cutscenes. Sir Drakeson guides you via speech bubbles. I wouldn’t say the game loses anything because of it either. The only time Knighthood crashed on me was when I attempted to net some bonus gold by watching an ad.

So, Sir Drakeson told me the name of the land I was about to save and why, and I quickly forgot all of that because I was not expecting what came next. My new mentor demanded that I don a colossal glove and punch things with it until those things succumbed to my righteous fury and died. When an old hermit-esque figure tells you to punch things with a giant glove to earn gold, the only correct response is, “Say no more, fam.”

Of course, I could do much more with my special glove than punch things. I could use it to summon mythical heroes to engage the enemy. And if I punched stuff enough times, my rage meter would fill and my heroes could perform a special attack. This resulted in the woes of many goblins and miscreants. Then Sir Drakeson said there were other Rage Knights to seek out and that something foul had befallen the land and yadda yadda yadda…and finally I returned to punching things.

The Glove Comes Off (JK, It’s Permanent)

Let’s get to the strategic aspects of Knighthood for Android, specifically as it pertains to all non-glove weaponry and heroes. Every weapon and hero is considered strong against certain types of enemies, such as goblins, undead, outlaws, golems, militia, beasts, and literally who knows how many other types of baddies. I enjoyed matching heroes and weapons to enemies because it necessitated a different kind of strategy. Sure, it sounds easy on paper, but you’re not given access to all the proper resources from the get-go. You may have a sword that is “Strong VS Goblins” (that’s the literal description) and it slays and slays and slays. And then you encounter a group of cultists that are, in fact, not goblins and now your sword does not slay. 

You have the chance to ready yourself before each battle and the preparation screen recommends certain heroes and weapons to use in the forthcoming combat. Heed its advice or bathe in dismay. It took some time to cultivate my crew and amass the right gear. Thankfully, I enjoyed backtracking in Knighthood because of all the leveling up it permits. Plus, there are a lot of heroes to become familiar with. Some may not fit your playstyle as well as others, and some you might ignore completely. I did, despite what the preparation screen sometimes suggested.

The Final Punchline

The only gripe I have with Knighthood is how stamina works, which you need to engage in battle. As you progress through the story, the amount of stamina needed to fight increases. You start off with battles that cost 5 to 9 points of stamina. By mid-game you’re paying 25 to 30 points per fight. Knighthood remedies this by granting you a growing pool of stamina as you level up, and what you use is replenished with time. Or you can purchase gems to refill your tank and keep playing. The problem with this is you may only get 10 or 12 fights out of a full tank. Lost battles waste stamina because you won’t earn experience. You’ll have to wait a couple hours to try again.

Honestly, this game is probably worth one of the subscription packages that supply you with X number of gems per day over the course of a week to a month. I easily sank three to four hours into each session with this game and didn’t even realize it. I regret nothing. A lot of time and polish went into making it and, because of that, Knighthood for Android serves as an example of what a free-to-play mobile game can and should be.