During Sony’s PlayStation 4 event last night Mark Cerny announced that his team is currently developing Knack, an all-new action/platformer game headed for the next generation console.
Knack‘s story centers around a massive Goblin army that is threatening the existence of all mankind. To combat the threat the humans send forth a “veteran explorer”, their top military machines, and a cute three-foot tall creature named Knack.
The mysterious and powerful little Knack was created by a “not-so-mad scientist” (referred to only as “The Doctor”) after years of studying ancient relics from a “long lost civilization”. Knack has the ability to incorporate any relics that he finds in the environment into his body, which he can then use to transform himself “into a gigantic wrecking machine”. Over the course of the game he also discovers that he can “incorporate ice, metal and other substances into his body”, and by doing so acquires new abilities based on those substances.
Cerny noted that Knack‘s gameplay is “a little like Crash Bandicoot, and a little bit like Katamari Damacy..[with] a touch of God of War“, due to the title’s “epic feel”. While we certainly didn’t get a God of War-vibe from Knack‘s announcement trailer, it is easy to see Crash’s the action/platformer influence and the Katamari-aspects of the little creatures ability to collect objects and increase his size/power.
It is hard to say at this point how Knack will turn out, but the announcement trailer has certainly caught our attention. The game seems to have a bit of a lighthearted feel to it and wonderfully bright art style that looks a bit like a CGI cartoon. In an industry that almost always opts for a dark brown, gritty, realistic-look, it is refreshing to actually seem some color.
Check out Knack‘s announcement trailer and screenshots below, and let us know what you think of the new IP in the comment section.
