The masses cry out for more grounded roleplaying games set in medieval times where you can be a guy with a lot of steel in his hands and on his body and developers are set to respond. The gameplay trailer for Knight’s Path, a low fantasy RPG developed by Jan Tichota and Aamn Chahrour, just released today.
One thing I want to point out is the sheer amount of color in the trailer, specifically on what the knights are wearing. The medieval time period might have been depressing to live through but that doesn’t mean the colors have to match: heraldry and clothing were actually quite colorful.
And yes, this isn’t a realistic depiction of a specific time period in real life. It is, still, low “fantasy”, which explains the player character parrying a dragon at the end of the trailer, as well as a giant snail enemy.
No doubt some fantastical elements will be in the game, as the Tweet states though, don’t expect wizards throwing fireballs as the game seems to be priding itself on being relatively grounded.
On the subject of being grounded, the techniques seen in the trailer and for Knight’s Path at large are derived from techniques from an actual HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) advisor. You can see this in a lot of the movements the characters pull off, as well as the player character’s mordschlag (holding a longsword by the blade to use it as a bludgeon) on a downed opponent. Of course, there will be some concessions for the sake of gameplay and the fantasy elements of the setting, but as far as a base for the game’s combat animations this is about as realistic as you can get.
Knight’s Path is available to wishlist on Steam right now, though there’s no release date announced quite yet, and as the gameplay trailer reveals this footage is pre-alpha, so an actual release might be ways off. If you can’t hold out that long, however, there is a concept demo out right now in the form of Knight’s Path: The Tournament, where you can get a taste of what the full game might have to offer.