| Knights Contract | |
|---|---|
North American box art |
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| Developer(s) | Game Republic |
| Publisher(s) | Namco Bandai Games |
| Director(s) | Yoshiki Okamoto Yuichi Ueda Yoshinori Takenaka |
| Producer(s) | Ryo Mito |
| Writer(s) | Tadashi Satomi |
| Composer(s) | Kousuke Yamashita |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
Knights Contract (ナイツコントラクト) is an action-adventure video game developed by Game Republic and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game was released on February 22, 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[1] The title was first announced in the May 20th issue of Weekly Famitsu Magazine.[2] A trailer for the game was shown at E3 2010. The game contains characters loosely based on and named after characters in the play Faust along with several other fairytales.
Contents |
The setting of Knights Contract takes place in a fictional Europe during the Middle Ages with dark fantasy characteristics, involving witchcraft, sorcery, and otherworldly monsters. A superstitious hatred for witches is the norm for society. As a result, people are able to employ witch-hunters and witch-executioners. The game follows Heinrich Hofmann, an experienced witch-executioner plagued by a curse, and a young woman named Gretchen, who is the reincarnation of a witch that Heinrich formerly executed under orders of Dr. Faust. In an act of revenge for her execution, Gretchen curses Heinrich with immortality.
At the same time, the world is being afflicted by hordes of monsters created by Dr. Faust, the game's main antagonist and a mad scientist who was responsible for the deaths of Gretchen and Heinrich. Gretchen, who intends to fully live out her life as she could not before, decides to confront the menace directly by joining forces with the cursed executioner, Heinrich. The now-immortal Heinrich is forced to protect the mortal Gretchen from danger, in hopes of undoing the curse and defeating Dr. Faust.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GamePro | 2.5/5 [3] |
| GameSpot | 6.5/10 [4] |
| IGN | 3.5/10 [5] |
| GameFocus | 4.8/10 [6] |
Gamespot gave the game a 6.5, praising the story and art direction, while criticizing the quick-time events. GameFocus, however, gave a completely negative review of the game stating that the levels were poorly designed, the boss battles were frustrating, and that the camera was wonky. IGN's closing comments were "Knights Contract is a miserable game that I hope you do not have the misfortune to play. It completely blows up a cool premise with maddeningly stupid AI (a death sentence in a game that’s a glorified escort mission), a terrible camera that enables its unfair (and un-fun) instant kills, and a boss battle formula that should have never made past the first month of development. If you manage to run the gauntlet and make it to the end of Knights Contract, you will have undoubtedly let loose a string of paint-peeling curse words not only at the screen, but also at your wallet, which is now sixty bucks lighter with nothing remotely fun to show for it."