A Deeper Look at the World of Knack on PS4

69 30
A Deeper Look at the World of Knack on PS4

Knack, 02

Hello, everyone. We’re coming to the final stretch before the launch of PS4, as well as Knack, a game I’ve been honored to be a part of. It has been great working with the very talented folks at Japan Studio, not to mention Mark Cerny, a true living legend.

Our goal with Knack was to deliver a different kind of experience for PlayStation fans at launch, outside of the realm of gritty shooters and mature action games. Knack harkens back to the golden days of Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, when controls were simpler, but challenges were large enough that those control schemes had to be mastered by anyone intending to finish the games. So, who better to create a game like that than one of the creative forces that brought Crash and Jak to life, Mark Cerny himself?

Knack has a lot to offer, so I’m excited to be able to share some new details on the story, and some of the cool transformations that Knack takes on during the game.

The Story

The story, of course, revolves around Knack, mankind’s secret weapon against the goblin threat. After an initial invasion by the goblins years prior, the two races have been living together on Earth, in separate societies. However, after the goblins invade a human settlement, Knack sets out to find the goblin hideout and discover how these primitive goblins got their hands on advanced tanks and airships.

Aiding Knack on his expedition: the Doctor (the inventor that brought Knack to life thanks to the mysterious power of the ancient relics), Lucas (the Doctor’s teenage assistant), Ryder (Lucas’s uncle, who is also a world-famous explorer), and Viktor (a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune mining the ancient relics that provide power for electricity, machinery, vehicles, and more).

Very early on in the story, we learn that Viktor has bigger ambitions, placing him at odds with Knack and crew. This means you’ll be facing not only the goblin soldiers, with their tanks, mechs, and airships, but Viktor’s own army of soldiers and robots as well.

The storyline will take players through a wide variety of gorgeous stages and environments, from caves to forests, cities to giant airships, all brought to life by the amazing artists at Japan Studio. And of course, no action platformer would be complete without some challenging boss battles. Don’t let the colorful graphics fool you — there’s plenty of challenge to be found within the world of Knack.

Knack, 03Knack, 08

There’s a lot more to the story, which is told through a feature film’s worth of fully mo-capped cutscenes (featuring some familiar voice acting talent). You’ll learn more about the origins of the mysterious ancient relics that power everything in the world, including Knack. Deeper mysteries abound that — as certain parties try to harness the true power of the relics — could threaten to put the whole world at risk.

The Transformative Powers of Knack

As you may have seen in our other previews, Knack is made of relics, and by absorbing more and more of them he can grow from his original 3-foot tall size to 6 feet tall, 15 feet tall, and even 30 feet tall. On their way to the goblin hideout, Knack makes his way through an ice cave and, thanks to Lucas, discovers the ability to absorb ice, just like relics, to make himself bigger and stronger.

Knack, 06

Knack, 07Knack, 05

This changes up the gameplay in different ways. For example, once Knack makes it out of the cave, the ice starts to melt and he’ll have to defeat tough enemies before he shrinks back down to a smaller size. Throughout the game, Knack will find he can absorb different kinds of materials, such as…

  • Metal Knack: an extremely powerful form, but being made of metal also means you’re magnetic… which can lead to some interesting problems!
  • Wood Knack: one of the biggest versions of Knack in the game. And while wood is easy to find, it does burn easily! That said, if you’re on fire, you can use that to access some extra areas…

We’ll be back soon to talk more about the world of Knack, including how we’re sharing the fun with our local 2-player co-op mode. In the meantime, you can pre-order Knack now via PSN and download it day one.

Comments are closed.

69 Comments

30 Author Replies

  • local co-op?! hmmmm…

  • @49

    Actually Microsoft has a working production facility in Brazil. Which means not only do they not have to pay to import consoles from overseas, they get gigantic tax breaks. End result: lower price.

    Sony’s Brazilian production facility that was announced earlier this year, as near as I can find anywhere online, is not open yet. Which means consoles have to be shipped in from elsewhere. Shipping costs, import taxes, retailer mark-up (which I hear is a big, big, BIG problem down there), and so on, all contribute to the high price of the PS4 in your country.

    It sucks, but, them’s the breaks. On the bright side, even with the 70% import tax you can personally import one from the United States and it will be a LOT cheaper. And it’s a region free console, so you’ll have no problems buying discs locally.

  • Man this looks great I can’t wait

  • I hope this is just a start for Knack and hope to see many more games in the franchise like Crash Bandicoot. Also, I hope the local 2-player co-op stays with it. It is rare to get a local co-op game anymore.

  • @ Catcher_BR “Im getting on digital format! But i have a doubt.
    2 Ps4 with the same account and the same content (knack) can be played on both Ps4 systems @ the same time? Even on different accounts that dont have the game?
    I do this a lot on Ps3”

    PS4 downloadable content will be playable by ALL accounts on your designated “personal” console, and will be playable on a second console only when the account owning the content is logged in. So if you buy the game and someone else wanted to play it on their account, they’d have to play it on your personal system. But you’d be able to buy something digitally, go to a friend’s house, then log into your account to download and play the game. I think whether your account would be able to access the same content on two systems at the same time will vary from game to game, same as on PS3.

    But as for your exact question, it’d be pointless to play this game on two consoles “with a friend”, as the co-op is local only. So you’d both need to be on the same console to play together. No real point to try and play it on two different consoles at the same time.

  • Looks like fun. I love the colors too. Beautiful, colorful game. Hope it plays just as beautifully.

  • @ the Blog post:
    This game just keeps looking better and better. I can’t help but shake my head at the people who say this isn’t worth $60. I mean, they’ve totally played it already and know that hardly any effort was put into it to make it worth that price, right? Right…. >.>

    This was one of the first game’s I pre-ordered back in June along with my PS4, and now that Watch_Dogs has been delayed, it’ll be the first one I play. And hearing that there is local co-op is a huge bonus. Maybe I can get my girlfriend to play the game with me. Also looking forward to trying out the co-op using my Vita, that should be fun. With the companion app coming and the social features of the PS4 allowing spectating with comments, this is going to be a must-have game for all true Sony/platformer fans. Can’t wait!

  • Can anyone tell me if this SSD Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1TB Drive work with the ps4 I really want upgrade the HDD on day one but haven’t seen any info on this yet . Plus what’s with all the Delays First Watchdogs Now Drive Club I mean come on Sony and Ubisoft don’t take my money telling me I’ll have it on one day then a month before it comes out tell me it wont be for another 6 months do I get interest on that 130 bucks?

  • This game look amazing

  • Thanks so much for making the preorder available on PSN. I’ve been looking for some good PS4 titles to buy, and take advantage of the Spend $50, get $10 back promotion.

    This game wasn’t originally on my radar, but the tipping factor for me was your cool local co-op approach that’ll let me play with my (special needs) son. Well done.

  • I wish if Knack was included in the instant game collection instead of Driveclub, or if they could include it at a discounted price :( anyways, game looks great and have it preordered with FIFA 14 and AC IV

  • day 1 disc for me. :) it would be my pleasure to support knack :) mark cearny is the man!

  • “+ Nick Accordino on October 18th, 2013 at 8:26 am said:

    Hey MarinoBrea –

    The game runs very smoothly – between 30 and 60 fps all the way through, even with 2 players and lots of enemies on screen. Can’t wait until you get your hands on it!”

    I figured the PS4 would be capable of 60fps locked on a game with reduced detail like this. And when I say reduced detail I don’t mean anything bad by it. I mean there are more solid surface polys on buildings and other background detail and such.

  • Wow thats some beautiful pics…Knack is already in my must-have list….game looks really fun and its JapanStudio so epicness is guaranteed.This will be for sure one of the 1st games I’ll get when I buy a PS4.

  • You can tell from my screen name that I am excited about this game and have been since Mark Cerny first showed it off. I recently purchased a PS Vita and the PS4 will be my first PlayStation home console. Knack will be my first PS game purchase. I can’t wait!

  • So what’s next gen about this game? This could have been a PS3 title in my opinion, the graphics just aren’t living up to what I expected from the PS4. Having said that, I do look forward to playing it, but will wait for a price reduction.

  • This was my first PS4 game ….! It goes down in history

  • Been playing Knack and really want Online Coop for Knack. Without Online Co-op the cooperative a part of this game is missing for me.

  • I don’t have anyone at home to play coop with me in that nor that I have a second controller. Please bring online co-op with this game with and patch. I look forward to more information coming about this game.

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields