Knack on PS4: Unlockable Characters and Challenge Modes

Knack launched alongside PS4 in every territory, and now that there’s been some time for the players to get up to speed on our game, I wanted to talk a bit more about the unlockable features waiting within. As you probably know, there are hidden treasure chests in secret rooms scattered throughout the story which contain random items.

Some of those items are parts of gadgets that will help Knack in his quest; however the treasure chests also contain more exotic items called Crystal Relics. There are six different types of Crystal Relics, and if you collect enough of one type, you can unlock a special Knack that can be used when replaying the game, or in one of the challenge modes that you unlock upon beating the game.

For example, collecting 15 Ruby Relics unlocks Vampire Knack, who has stronger attacks, but also a weakness — he’s slowly melting, Parts drop off his body and he loses health as he fights. He can replenish that health by defeating enemies, so in a sense he’s sucking their energy into himself! So as soon as you collect the required 15 Ruby Relics, you can start the game from the beginning, playing this time as Vampire Knack. It’s a special challenge — easier in areas where there are lots of enemies, much tougher when the enemies are scarce and Knack has little to feed off of.

Two more characters — Massive Knack and Brittle Knack, which are unlocked respectively by collecting Emerald Relics and Aquamarine Relics — have even stronger attacks than Vampire Knack, but each has a weakness. Massive Knack can only store one super move’s worth of energy, and Brittle Knack is… well… brittle. His punches, kicks, and dash attack are all much more powerful, but he shatters easily when hit — overall, this definitely gives combat a faster feel.

Sunstone Knack — which can be unlocked by collecting Sunstone Relics — is all about the super moves. Not only do the super moves last longer and do more damage, but Sunstone Knack can pick up energy from defeated enemies and fill up the super move gauge much more quickly. He’s tough at any size! Do try to avoid getting hit, though; Sunstone Knack’s defensive power is a touch on the weak side.

If you collect 20 Amethyst Relics, you can unlock Dark Knack. He has the best defense of any character in the game, so he can absorb twice as much damage before dying. Like the other characters, though, he has a weakness. In the case of Dark Knack, he needs to collect twice as many sunstones before unleashing a super move.

And finally, if you pick up 10 Diamond Relics — the rarest of the rare — you can unlock Diamond Knack. He’s strong all around: better attacks, stronger super moves, and he can fill his super move gauge twice as fast as any other character. This is definitely the toughest — and the hardest to unlock — character in the game.

These six characters can be used in replaying the game, and they can also be used in two special challenge modes, playable with one or two players, that are unlocked by completing the game at any difficulty: Time Attack and Coliseum Attack.

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Time Attack is a race against time. The goal is to finish a section of the game as quickly as possible; the faster you are, the higher your score will be. You also pick up bonus points in a number of categories (defeating enemies using super moves, for example), so it’s important to think about strategy. Where and how you use the super moves makes a big difference to your score. There are 13 different Time Attack stages, each taken from a different part of the game.

Coliseum Attack is about survival. You face ten waves of enemies at steadily increasing difficulty. The first challenge is just to finish at all! But once you’ve managed to do that, the challenge becomes to finish as quickly as possible, and to finish without taking any damage. There are three arenas you can choose from in Coliseum Attack, each with its own very different style of enemy setups.

Whichever challenge you choose, the character you choose to play as is vital. These challenges are tough, and the extra damage you can do as Massive Knack, or the all-around strength of Diamond Knack, can make the difference between ending up at the top of the leaderboards, or somewhere far below. It’s also very important to play with the proper gadgets equipped, as something like the combo meter will really cut down on the time it takes to complete these special stages.

So those are all of the unlockable features in Knack. Don’t forget to collect items while you’re on the go with Knack’s Quest, a free downloadable game for iOS and Android devices, where you can unlock gadget parts and rare Relics for use in the full Knack game on PS4.The team and I are really looking forward to seeing the scores at the top of the leaderboards once everyone has had a chance to hone their fighting skills — I’m sure they’ll be most impressive!