Portal Knights, or ‘Minecraft Zelda’ as was probably scrawled on a whiteboard somewhere near the start of development, takes that block-filled, resource-gathering focus and mixes in more combat and a new perspective. It was announced yesterday as developed by Keen Games of the less-than-well-received Sacred 3 and published from 505 Games, the folks behind Payday 2 and the upcoming ADR1FT. It’s going into Early Access towards the end of the month.
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Here’s their announcement trailer, showing off their cutesy art style and February 25th release date:
Looks quite fun, with just the right blend of the familiar from a pair of classics creating something weird and new. There’s nothing especially original in there – dragons, magic spells, the odd knight and lots of blocks – but I’m willing to see how it all works in the 4-player co-op. Not something I’d grab before it left Early Access, but one worth keeping an eye on.
The emphasis is definitely on combat, with boss battles and standard RPG classes to fight them with in fights that are about learning AI patterns and out-smarting them. It does have the crafting in there, and from the above you can build a nice house with your mates if you like, but they definitely want you out there getting killy to get the parts.
Steam’s your best bet for more info, where they will be on Early Access for an indefinite period. They say they would like to get a release candidate in 2016, but honestly aren’t sure how long it will take to build the game they want to, or what changes the community will inspire. 25th of February is when it will all kick off.