Grinding for loot, leveling up, and fighting monsters is what makes RPGs addictive and fun to play. These type of games are slowly making a space for themselves in the blockchain. Although few, the ones that exist do make an impact for players of blockchain games, and Knight Story is one of those few.

Knight Story is an RPG that revolves around taking out monsters in different areas. You start off with one character, but it doesn’t take long to fill out your party, which is maxed out at 3 characters. With your three characters, you’ll be facing hoards of different monsters, from menacing cats to ugly goblins. As you slay monsters, they’ll drop materials for crafting, which is where the real gameplay begins.

There isn’t much interaction when it comes to battling, since it’s done via auto attacks, so your stats are what matter. The item management from dropped materials is where you’ll really be playing the game. As materials drop often, usually every couple of seconds, you’ll find yourself with a full inventory within minutes. You have a few options to free up your stock by either synthesizing rarer materials, melting them down for Magic Water, or crafting equipment for your party.

The most important of the three are synthesis and crafting, especially the latter as this will aid you in battle. Crafting better equipment will help you survive the waves of monsters longer. During battle you are free to equip new equipment and any old equipment can be given to other party members or melted down for Magic Water.

But, crafting equipment from the same type of materials won’t give you better stats, which is where synthesizing comes in. If you have three of the same material, you can synthesize them to create the next one in the material tree. For example, three dog bones can be synthesized into a bison skull. These materials make better armor thus giving better stats for your characters.

If you feel overwhelmed with how many materials you have, then the other option is melting them down into Magic Water. The amount of Magic Water you get depends on the rarity of the material, but even then it’s not much. Despite the small amount of Magic Water given, it still helps, especially for leveling up your characters.

Each time a character gains enough XP, they are eligible to reach the next level. Before they can, however, you are required to use a small amount of Magic Water. If you run out of Magic Water, melt a couple of materials and then you’ll have more than enough to allow your character to level up.

You can also purchase Magic Water from the in-game shop. Magic Water costs Magic Beans, which are either given through daily rewards or purchased with real-world money. The Magic Beans are fairly expensive, with 25 beans costing just under $1, while 1,800 beans cost around $65.

Knight Story’s economy is a bit convoluted as you need to purchase in-game currency — Magic Red Beans — so you can buy Magic Water, which can be used to level up or buy other materials. It would have been a lot easier and less of a headache if everything was purchasable with real-world money. It’s not much of a hurdle, but perhaps in future updates this can be reworked as quality of life improvements.

As for how Blockchain factors into Knight Story, it does so via the equipment you craft. The equipment your craft can be transferred to your Ethereum wallet and be permanently yours. This feature unlocks after you reach level 7, but even in then you’ll need something called a MyKI Ticket. This ticket is used to transfer items in your inventory to your Ethereum wallet. These tickets are priced the same as Magic Red Beans, but the denomination only goes up to $4, which will get you 15 tickets.

Once an item is transferred over to your Ethereum wallet, you can then opt to sell or trade on OpenSea. Knight Story even has a button that will take you to the platform.

As for presentation, Knight Story is fairly simplistic. Colors are bold and bright, but character design and art are bland and generic. The same goes for the game’s story. You’ll find yourself skipping cutscenes and dialogue, since the story doesn’t really serve any purpose other than to give the characters some background, albeit a shallow one. The music, however, is a highlight of the presentation. The ever present background music is up beat, with synth and orchestral instrumentals.

Overall, Knight Story is an addictive dApp wrapped in a bland bow. It performs well where it counts, which is mainly its gameplay. Item management is quick and addictive, and will have you glued to your screen without realizing the time. It’s a shame, however, that its game can be bogged down due to the convoluted economy. There is just one step too many to purchase in-game items.

If you’re looking for an RPG to pass the time with engaging gameplay, then Knight Story is a great dApp to download on your phone. As for a grand story to go along with the addictive gameplay, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

3.5/5

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