#interactive game

Welcome to the first official review of interactive fiction games! I told you I would do one!! (,,>ヮ<,,)

I, Kingly, will be giving a spoiler-free review and recommendation of the interactive fiction game One Knight Stand. I’ll be covering what the game is like, what kind of experience you can expect if you decide to play it, and even a few details or bits of information that I think some people may not have noticed before. I recommend reading until the end as this is quite the popular one!!

Ahhh, with an IF this massive, it’s hard not to wonder where to even begin. (⸝⸝๑﹏๑⸝⸝) It’s well over a million words, and honestly, I wondered if I could truly capture everything there is to experience in such a titan of a game. Is it even wise to call this a review when the story is still a work in progress!? (⸝⸝⸝>﹏<⸝⸝⸝) Well… I think I can. So I think it’s best to start with the obvious. After all, it’s probably one of the most repeated things people say when recommending this IF:

THIS GAME IS BIIIIIIIIIG ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

And I don’t just mean “big” as in word count, though yes, the word count is absolutely monstrous. I mean big in scope, big in ambition, big in personality, and big in the sheer number of paths, choices, characters, secrets, and moments it gives you to sink into. In fact, I would say this is the only interactive fiction I have seen on Hosted Games that feels like it fully incorporates everything possible.

PAUSE.

I know that sounds like very large praise.

But my dear reader, I don’t think you understand the implications of what I have just told you.

So let me be clear:

In One Knight Stand, everything matters. When I say everything matters I mean it. I don’t think you will be able to even comprehend how much really matters when you first play this game. If you want a hint taking one look at their discord has people continually code-diving or making theories or Google Docs far larger than this review analyzing the game. This game has the most detailed customization I have ever seen in any interactive fiction. Outfits, physical features, personal tastes, little habits, personality quirks, even whether your character canonically likes anime or Harry Potter — somehow, all of it manages to feel important. Do you understand that? Every choice feels like it has a place. Every detail feels like it can come back around.

And I don’t just mean the obvious choices either. I mean simple decisions. Tiny decisions. Things like what toothbrush you use, when you decide to shower, whether you drink water, what you check, what you ignore, and even what you do in the stat menu can have massive implications.

There is a game inside the game, inside another game, and somehow there is also a game inside the menus.

I HAVEN’T EVEN BEGUN TO MENTION THE CODE ITSELF.

Do you understand what I’m saying here? Even you, the player, have the chance to be acknowledged. Yet instead of breaking immersion, it makes you feel even more like part of the world. It reaches a point where you start wondering if you are trying to outsmart the characters, the game, the narrator, the author, and maybe even the code itself. There are secret messages hidden in the code. The menus are arranged in ways that can mislead you, trick you, or make you second-guess what you thought you understood.

There is no interactive fiction I have discovered in all my time playing that has mastered this level of detail the way One Knight Stand has.

I am serious.

Let me repeat myself:

I think it is safe to say this has the most customization I have ever seen in an interactive fiction, and somehow, all of it finds a way to be important or impactful. Heck, you can get a book in this game that takes you to real articles for more information.

That is insane. This is why when I say “THIS GAME IS BIIIIIIIIIG,” I am not just talking about length. I am talking about a game that feels like it is constantly watching, remembering, reacting, and challenging you to pay attention.

Now, you might be saying, “So what? It’s big.”

And honestly, fair.

The size of a game does not automatically mean it will follow through. Believe me, I know. Many, many interactive fiction games fall into this exact trap. They have a massive idea, a huge scope, a thousand branching possibilities, and then slowly it becomes clear that the story may never be able to contain everything it promised. The ambition becomes too heavy. The game gets too big for itself. And in some ways, I thought One Knight Stand might fall into that path too. One of the things I can honestly say about this game is that I was not casually clicking through it. I was trying to choose what I thought was the right path. I was trying to figure things out. I was second-guessing myself. I was getting stressed — in a good way, mostly, because it meant I was involved. I was immersed. I was thinking about this game outside of the game. It followed me into real life. But that also led to my first real critique. At some point, I started telling myself things like:

“The author is only human.”

“How much work can one person truly put into a game this large?”

“We are only around the second chapter. Have my choices really mattered yet?”

“They get so many asks on Tumblr all the time, and while scrolling through them can pull me right back into the world, is that really the same as the game itself progressing?”

“Is this truly worth my time?”

And you know, in some ways, I want to be harsh here. Very harsh.

Not because this is a bad game.

But because this is a great game.

That is what makes this critique so strange. It is crazy that I even had to think about the author’s limitations as a human being in order to pull myself away from the world they created. I had to remind myself that this was not some endless machine of branching narrative, secrets, customization, Tumblr lore, menu tricks, and apocalyptic Arthurian chaos. It was made by a person. A person with time, energy, limits, and a life outside of the story. SHOCKER I KNOW. Not that I ever forgot the author was human, of course. But engaging with their game already felt like stepping into a complete project — no, a complete world — that I could fully fall into.

And that is both the most exciting and most worrying thing about One Knight Stand. Its ambition is part of what makes it incredible. But its ambition is also the very thing that makes you wonder:

Can it truly land all of this?

Regardless, unlike those large, large games that fall under the pressure of their own ambition, One Knight Stand is surprisingly consistent. LISTEN

I BELIEVE the author is capable of finishing their game.

They can.

And that is something I CAN'T say for most.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THEY ARE CAPABLE. THEY CAN. AND THEY ARE MOVING LIKE THEY WILL.

The author realized some of this too, because they have actually already addressed it. They moved toward working on the game more frequently while lessening how often they answer some of their Tumblr asks. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love when they answer questions. Those asks are fun, interesting, and sometimes scrolling through them pulls me right back into the world. And it is not like they were not working on the game before. But if they were jogging before, keeping a steady pace, now it feels like they are running.

No.

Sprinting.

It feels like an engine that will keep going and going until the train finally reaches its destination. That is why I can confidently say One Knight Stand is not like those other games. Sure, you could say, “Oh, is this area too bloated?” “How is the romance going to work?” “What about the stakes?” “What about the plot?” “What about all these many, many things?”

And those are fair questions.

But I have to give it to them. They are the only one. Yes, the only one I have seen who has successfully managed all fronts. The scale, the customization, the plot, the romance, the stakes, the mystery, the comedy, the consequences, the secrets, the menus, the Tumblr lore, the player involvement, the sheer amount of branching — somehow, all of it is being held together. And that is what makes One Knight Stand different. It is not simply big. It is big, ambitious, chaotic, detailed, and somehow still moving forward. AND THE BEST PART. IT FREAKING WORKS

@infamous-if @fallenhero @Cataphrak (Lords of Infinity by Paul Wang, Twitter) @ThomBaylay (The Evertree Saga Twitter) @kingdoms-and-empiresKINGDOMS @theabyssal These are some of the most popular and respected interactive fiction games out there, and rightfully so. They are fantastic games, they deserve their own reviews, and each one has something it does incredibly well. But that is exactly why I bring them up. Because if games like Infamous, Fallen Hero, Lords of Infinity, The Evertree Saga, Kingdoms and Empires, and The Abyssal can be recognized for what they do well, then I believe One Knight Stand deserves to be acknowledged just as much — if not more — for the sheer scale of what it offers and how successfully it manages everything it dares to carry.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My name is Daniel. You may also call me Kingly. I love to move my body. I love to test my limits. I love the people in this world, and I love the world itself. And… I also love video games. All types. Especially interactive fiction games. I have code-tested them. I have played them. I have bug-tested them. I have code-dived. I have helped write. I have provided feedback. I have seen interactive fiction from the outside, from the inside, from the player’s seat, from the tester’s seat, and from the code itself.

So when I say One Knight Stand is special, I do not say that lightly. When I think about living, I want to give all I can. I want to give the best I can. And this interactive fiction gives all it can. That is why I admire it. And somehow, it has given me the chance to give all I can to it too.

I can read. I can make my character. I can explore the story. I can look at the code. I can use the code. I can pay attention to details that others might completely miss. I can engage with the world not only through choices on the page, but through the menus, the secrets, the systems, the hidden messages, and the way the game seems to invite you to push further. What other IF out there lets you use the world, the story, the game, and even your own computer to this fullest extent? That is why this review is a bit different from normal reviews. You might have thought I would talk more about the story, the characters, or the romances. And believe me, there is plenty to say about all of that. But I wanted to provide something truly unique. I wanted to talk about what One Knight Stand is as an experience. Not just as a story you read, but as something you investigate, test, question, explore, and almost wrestle with. Because to me, that is what makes it unforgettable. One Knight Stand is not just big. It is alive.

And as someone who wants to give everything I can to the things I love, I cannot help but respect a game that seems determined to do the same. If you haven’t played this game I implore you to give it a try. If you have not played in a while check it out. And if you’re an old fan who is lurking or may have given up hope, maybe even just waiting for more content. Don’t give up on it. I’m sure we will one day see it come to fruition.

[DEMO — 14th of June] | Rated 18+

For as long as you knew yourself, you lived as a wandering knight. You rode with your family across the desert, participating in as many tourneys as you could. You searched for a cure for your sister's mysterious ailment as well, visiting sawbones, alchemists and all sorts of odd people along your travels. Your life brought no fame or glory to you, nor did it give you the answers you sought. Wherever you went, very few people cared about you. Such is the life of a wandering knight, after all.

It did not matter much however. Nights passed by around a fire in peace, and mornings always began with laughs and jests. Arguments did always happen, but they faded away as fast as they came. No matter what happened, your family stood strong on its feet.

Yet as they say, no life goes on unbroken.

Today, you ride to Bene Sallo, yet another city where the biggest tourney of the century is being held. It promises more gold than you ever heard in your entire life, more than enough to build your own home and even figure out what is wrong with your sister. You can only hope that it will end well for all of you.

There are already more than 4K of you here!! As a celebration of sorts, I'm making public several POVs I wrote for Patreon, one for each LI from chapter 6.

For Vez: on the tower;

For Os: at the banquet;

For Laz: at the gathering;

For Ash: in the library;

For Az: in the park.

DEMO (tba)

'Protocol: Aurora's Hearth', a mission to find a new home for humanity. After careful selection and dedicated research, a crew is assembled to board the Silent Night and seek a new planet to inhabit.

You however, are given a different task; to ensure these intruders fail.

So you slip in between their ranks, smiling and laughing while planning their demise. With paranoia, with sabotage, with sweet lies; whatever it takes until they can't even trust their own shadows.

But be careful, push too much or laugh too loud and their wary gazes, their suspicion might fall on you. And they might begin seeing through the mask

So smile dear—they're watching.

• Decide what kind of creature are you; a parasite that has grown consciousness or a shapeshifter wearing someone else's skin

• Form relationships with the crew members—are you using them or is the bond true? Or do you simply hope they are?

• Sabotage equipment, steal important items, sow distrust—or go against your initial mission and save the crew

• Hide your identity or drop clues of your origins. Maybe, maybe, they won't kill you once all the cards are laid on the table.

(These may be subject to change—either adding or removing)

This work may contain, implied or directly mentioned:

Death/ murder

Impersonification/ shapeshifter & parasitism

Mind alteration

Weapons/ violence

Blood, gore and body horror/ mutations

Cosmic, psychological and existential horror/ dread

Manipulation

Paranoia and distrust

Awful dad jokes

Red | Ryan Campbell

“I don’t laugh to forget—I laugh to remind the stars I haven't”

The steadfast captain of the Silent Night, Red is a self-assured, if rather prideful man. But his pride is not icy arrogance that thinks himself better, but simply the calm and steadiness in every order and every word. His arrival alone seems to help everyone settle, like realising the way to answer a problem, though not quite the answer yet. There are rumours of course; that under his cheer and confidence, you see the weight of loss and pain in his gaze, the way he stares at the stars, as if awaiting some kind of guidance—or perhaps challenging the very cosmos themselves. They also say he had killed a few people, those who threatened not only the ship but other crewmates. A hard decision, but not one he regrets. Afterall, he's the captain—he won't let harm come to his crew nor ship.

Orange | Judah/ Judith Goldman

“O-oh, you're... like me.”

The ship's technician, Orange often works alongside Pink and Red to help maintain the ship. Despite their achievements and skill, they're incredible shy and jumpy, always nervously tugging at their hair and unbearably twitchy when others draw near. While others assume it's just nerves or anxiety, you know better—they're desperately battling for even a scrap of control. You notice it immediately, two beings recognising themselves in the other. But they think you could save each other, that you're an ally that they can turn to. Will you save them from themselves—or will you give them the final push?

Yellow | Anya Nikolai

"Eh, we can either panic—orrrr I make ya some flan?”

The ship's resident cook and muscle. Nobody is really sure what exactly qualified her to be amongst a space-faring group searching for a new home but everyone has longed accepted her presence. She may not be the smartest but her outgoing yet surprisingly easygoing nature, makes her both endearing and intimidating. She'll call you stupid while making you your favourite dish. Against the silence and eerieness of space, Anya provides a sense of normalcy. She's the first to offer a warm hug—and the first to hold you down if you give her reason to.

Green | Nadia/ Aidan 'Sugar' Shadow

"Hehe, what's the matter? You look like you've seen a corpse!"

The bubbly and sweet medic, Sugar is always happy to see you. They love to tag along with others, constantly talking and chatting gleefully. Apparently, Sugar suffered from head trauma due to an accident that led her to scattered memories and airheaded personality. It's honestly a pretty decent explanation for something merely wearing Sugar's skin. Just like Orange, your instincts immediately clocked her as wrong. Will you reveal her deception—or enjoy the chaos you sow together?

Blue | Eros Alder-Sage

"For your own sake—leave me alone"

The grumpy and prickly scientist of the Silent Night, Blue spends most of his time in the labs, experimenting and testing. Since the mission is to find a liveable planet for humanity, he often has to spends hours even days testing the soil while also observing native plant and animal life. Thus when the ship stops in foreign planets, he is usually the first to explore, clipboard and vials and other equipment to gather samples and intel. It's the only time anyone sees the man wearing something other than a scowl, his usually icy demeanour melting and revealing the inquisitive soul underneath. He knew you—or who you claimed to be—so remember to smile.

Purple | Theodore Hunter

"I like people better when I meet them in bodybags"

An abrasive and temperamental man, many tended to avoid Purple like the plague—and he's all too happy with that arrangement, enjoying his own company. But once you get pass his hostility, Theodore is incredibly professional and passionate, considered a prodigy even—unless you're squeamish that is. Purple would spend hour upon hour breaking something apart just to study it; when that focus shifts to a person though, it can be very intense and destabilising, quite literally like being put under a microscope. Despite all his rough edges, he can also be very loyal, borderline possesive once he considers someone his. Just be careful you don't end up the one under his knife.

Pink | Evangeline Rhodes

"...how interesting"

Pink is the Silent Night's unnervingly calm and seemingly detached engineer, unbothered by anything. Funnily enough, she also loves making jokes—it's just her deadpan delivery makes them hard to be treated as such. She is also scarily... silent; not in the shy sense but simply in the way she carries herself, able to fade into the background. So much so she frequently shocks others. It's hard to tell what she's thinking most of the time—apparently she has a condition that made her like that?—her eyes watching everyone like a camera recording details. You wonder how long she's been watching you—maybe she never stopped.

______

A tale about a young creature, the creature is nameless and feels aimless right now.

What will it be it's name and next action? Send an ask!

So I have been pushing to get these scenes buttoned up and added to/fixed the scenes that existed.

I'm introducing one RO in the update as well as setting up some political and social tension.

It currently has over 5k words overall. I know it isn't a crazy number but it's progress and I believe I've added a lot of meat to the story.

I'm interested to see what you all think! Enjoy!

Something that I've only recently realized is just how stacked this month seems to be when it comes to IF updates. And there might even be more that I don't know about, considering I've been too busy typing to browse the community a lot. So, in the event that any of my followers aren't aware of some of these soon to be released/updated IFs I just wanted to bring it to your attention, so here we go:

@midnighthostifs has mentioned putting out chapter 2 of Cold Mountain. They have more than one IF by the way, so check them out for a lot of content!

@costasul-if recently said that they'd be getting out chapter one of their story, they even already have it out for beta testers!

@fleshrevival also said they aim to have their own demo released before the end of June. They're even already going through the code last I checked.

@spies-if already has a release date for the 21st of this month.

Edit: @thistimeitsdifferent--if, I've just been made aware that this fella also plans to release on the 23rd of this month as well!

Another Edit: @benvee this one is dropping tommorow! Get ready!

And then myself. Even though I don't have a solid date right now. So correct me if I'm wrong but that's six different IFs that will likely release this month (And that's only the ones I know of)! They're blogs that have been pushing me to write as incessantly as I have been because the quality of their own projects made me realize that I need to step my game up.