Sony Interactive Entertainment Franchises Codexery

Knack (video game)

A beat 'em up platformer starring a Relic-based hero.

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Knack is a platforming game where players control the title character, Knack, through long, linear levels while battling enemies and solving puzzles.[1] The protagonist is a large Relic that attracts smaller Relics to form a living organism, varying in size from a human child to the size of small skyscrapers.[2] According to the review aggregator Metacritic, critical consensus categorized the game as receiving "mixed or average" reviews.[3]

Making and release

The initial idea for Knack was a character that could find items and add them to his body, but prototyping resulted in "a giant amorphous blob of a character"[4][5] After a year and a half, the team redesigned the character to be made of relics instead.[5] Mark Cerny, who also served as PS4 system architect, directed the game, marking his first time as a director.[6][4] Cerny attempted to target a dual audience of core gamers and players who "never picked up a controller before in their life"[7]

The game was designed to serve as the PlayStation 4's counterpart to the Crash Bandicoot series, and it also marked the initial public unveiling of a PS4 title.[8] This puzzle game, which involved matching tiles, was accessible on iOS and Android platforms and featured integration with PlayStation Network accounts to unlock special Relics in the primary game.[9] During its initial two days of availability in Japan, 322,083 units of Knack were sold as a pack-in title.[10] At the 2016 PlayStation Experience event, Sony announced Knack II in December 2016.[11]

What the cited sources add

Daniel Brooke's PlayStation Blog post explains that the story revolves around Knack as mankind's secret weapon against the goblin threat, with characters including the Doctor (Knack's creator) and Lucas (Knack's best friend).[12] Brooke notes that Knack can absorb different materials throughout the game, such as metal (making him magnetic) and wood (one of the biggest versions).[12] Helgeson also states that many larger enemies can deliver one-hit kills, making dodging and countering crucial.[13] Mark Cerny's PlayStation Blog post details that there are over 60 secret rooms in Knack containing treasure chests with gadget parts.[14]

Cerny explains that the Transmuter gadget uses sunstone energy to heal Knack when he is low on health, while the Harvester causes defeated enemies to release sunstones.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mark Cerny, "Knack – A Brand New Platformer for PlayStation 4", PlayStation Blog, February 20, 2013; Jeremy Parish, "What Does Knack Say About PlayStation 4?", USgamer, July 26, 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jeremy Parish, "What Does Knack Say About PlayStation 4?", USgamer, July 26, 2013; Daniel Brooke, "A deeper look at the world of Knack", PlayStation Blog, October 18, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Knack for PlayStation 4 Reviews", Metacritic (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Dutton, "Meet Mark Cerny: PS4 System Architect, Knack Creator, Busiest Man in Gaming", Playstation Blog, June 26, 2013. facts only, no text reused. blog.playstation.com
  5. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dutton, "Meet Mark Cerny: PS4 System Architect, Knack Creator, Busiest Man in Gaming", Playstation Blog, June 26, 2013; Dutton, "Meet Mark Cerny: PS4 System Architect, Knack Creator, Busiest Man in Gaming", Playstation Blog, June 26, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nutt, "Making Knack: An interview with Mark Cerny", Gamasutra, December 20, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rogueau, "Why a studio decided to make a sequel to a failed game", Mashable, May 12, 2017; Nutt, "Making Knack: An interview with Mark Cerny", Gamasutra, December 20, 2013; Campbell, "Knack 2 is an atonement", Polygon, May 8, 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Griffin McElroy, "Shuhei Yoshida: Knack was pitched as 'Crash Bandicoot for PS4'", Polygon, April 10, 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mark Cerny, "How Knack's unlockable gadgets work", PlayStation Blog, November 29, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brian Ashcraft, "The biggest selling PS4 game during the console's first two days out in Japan?", Kotaku, February 26, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Knack (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Andrew Goldfarb, "PSX 2016: Knack 2 announced", IGN, December 3, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Daniel Brooke, "A deeper look at the world of Knack", PlayStation Blog, October 18, 2013. facts only, no text reused. blog.eu.playstation.com
  13. Matt Helgeson, "Knack: Bringing Old-School Platforming To Next-Gen", GameStop, November 13, 2013. facts only, no text reused. gameinformer.com
  14. Mark Cerny, "How Knack's unlockable gadgets work", PlayStation Blog, November 29, 2013. facts only, no text reused. blog.eu.playstation.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Knack (video game) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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