Criticisms

I want to start this post by saying that I absolutely love, love, Knytt Underground. I blazed through it in a couple of days and enjoyed every moment. It feels absolutely wonderful to be back in the world of Knytt/WaDF - one of the most beautiful and enthralling worlds I've ever had the pleasure of exploring! Anyhow, onto my criticisms of the game!


Art

KU is an undeniably beautiful and atmospheric game, and it's nice to return to the world that Within a Deep Forest created for us, but I think it's lost a little of the distinct character that each area of WaDF had. It probably helps that WaDF was divided into discrete levels, but even in Knytt and Knytt Stories it was very clear when you were travelling from one area to the next without the transition seeming jarring. Probably the one thing that contributes to this the most, and I know I'm by far not the first to point this out, is the choice to have a completely black tileset for the ground. It worked really well for Night Sky because of the whole silhouette aesthetic, but I'm not sure how I feel about it in KU. It makes the entire world feel quite uniform and the areas, while clearly quite different in terms of atmosphere, blend into each other a lot more and the result is that far fewer of them stick in the memory long after playing. Another contributing factor is the fact that the entire game is set underground, so while there are a number of large caverns you will be looking at tunnels for a large majority of the game which means there's less variety in terms of screen design, which again means the areas lose some of their distinctiveness.

Another point, and this is a personal opinion which is heavily influenced by nostalgia, is that I really miss the pixel art of the earlier Knytt games! I like Nifflas's new photo-based art style and it certainly offers something unique in the sea of pixelly indie titles but part of me (the nostalgic part) hopes he hasn't abandoned pixel art for good!


Writing/plot

This is the first Nifflas game to feature a significant amount of dialogue and anything resembling an actual story, and he's done a pretty good job of it considering. I very much enjoyed the world building and the character development, but simultaneously I was very frustrated by the lack of resolution to any of the plot points raised throughout the game.

Full story spoilers follow

Okay so Nifflas created this wonderful world for us to explore filled with colourful characters to interact with and interesting factions, none of whom are completely agreeable nor completely disagreeable (a triumph in the video game world of good/evil dichotomies!). You're sent on some generic video game quest to ring five bells and save the world from destruction, but of course that's not the point of the story - in fact it's heavily disputed as to whether the world is going to end at all. The point (as Nifflas's in-game avatar points out at the end) is the journey rather than the destination. What bothers me is that you encounter a whole host of conflicts along the way and hardly any of them are resolved in any satisfactory way.

You meet the Family, who are claiming ownership of land and then forcing people to pay them money unfairly. There was an option to poison and kill them which may have offered a resolution but I decided I didn't want to. Turns out there is no other way to deal with them (which honestly is probably quite realistic).

You meet the green blobby people (can't remember their proper names) who are native to the caves. You learn of their history and how they had a war with the sprites that they lost horribly. Your fairies wish that they could find a way to get the sprites and the blobby people to live openly in harmony, but the blobby people object and insist that their location remains a secret, so it just goes unresolved.

You learn of Cilia's broken relationship with her parents but are offered no opportunities to patch it up. You're also introduced to her tragedy of a love life but again, no real resolutions there either. (Note that I had Cilia do almost all of the talking for my playthrough, so I probably missed some of Dora's character development).

You're told about the great artifact, a giant clock which the Myriadists insist is going to end the world unless you complete your quest. Of course they won't let the Internets, or indeed anyone else, take a look at it to see what it actually is (probably just a clock) so you never get to find out. In all fairness I don't mind this one because the ambiguity surrounding truth in religion is one of the themes of the game (as encapsulated in the encounter with the mage who tries to teach you magic - you never get to found out if it actually works because Cilia refuses to try. She thinks it's all hocus, but then she was wrong about the spectral diamond so what does she know?).

I feel like there are so many plot threads like this in the game - an interesting premise or conflict which is never followed up to a satisfying conclusion.



So those are my thoughts on the game's flaws. What do you guys think?


P.S. As an aside I really hope that Nifflas gives us another chapter or revisits the world in some way. I found the hints regarding the ruined surface extremely tantalising, especially when you find the teleporter and realise that you're right below Pinewood Heights!

I'm too sleepy to respond to all this now, but I'll give it a proper response soon enough As for the lack of resolution, this is one of the main points of the game. Knytt Underground in many ways mirrors my view on life, and life doesn't build up to anything. It doesn't offer a plot that is designed for a satisfying resolution. It's just random nonsense that happens that we try to apply meaning to in order to understand - even though there's objectively probably no meaning at all.

It's a big part of our plot-centered culture that we want either a resolution or explanation at the end. There's a well established plot structure with a conflict introduced halfway, a climax at the end, and then the resolution where everything is concluded. However, if I added that, the game would lose most of its meaning to me as the entire story is about the opposite - things that just happens. I have been in two relationships, neither worked out. No resolution. I'm trying to figure what life is about. Is it all just logic and physics, or is there a god and an absolute meaning? I can't find the answer. No resolution yet (if I knew the answer, I'd be able to tell you if ringing the bells of fate was important or not).

life doesn't build up to anything. It doesn't offer a plot that is designed for a satisfying resolution. It's just random nonsense that happens [...]
Even the ending is about this, it keeps iterating on what happens after even though those events are also just fragments of the character's lives.

I really liked that aspect, and without wanting to gloat or anything, it's how I understood the whole thing too from quite early on. it's all simply things that happen when people's lives intersect briefly; most of the time there's not all that much profound to take away from the encounters.

Well that's a very fair response and I haven't much to say in reply to it. Probably the only thing is that it doesn't come across as obviously intentional, which I guess is why the story is getting so much flak from reviewers.

I think these kind of stories aren't everybody's thing, but some people liked it for what it is and that's all I need to be happy

As a follow-up to what Nifflas said, I feel the way the story works in this game is perfect, given its subject matter.  You just can't get a solid resolution to the types of things discussed in this game, and at best, you can learn to get along with other people, despite differences in belief.

There was no great baddie to overcome, and no big fight to be fought.  The game is just an adventure, in a very realistic sense.