Welcome to the 1900’s. Welcome to the Angelic Empire of Britannia. Welcome to Skautfold: Moonless Knight. And welcome to the end of the world.
If that sounds like a heavy opening, that’s because it is. And that’s because Skautfold, as a whole, is as well. Set during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Skautfold series is a full-on Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraftian, Cosmic Horror action-RPG franchise that, sadly, you probably never heard of. Initially released for PC in 2020, Moonless Knight is now allowing console owners to pit the Knights of the Empire against eldritch horrors with this penultimate chapter that propels the series towards its apocalyptic conclusion.
For this entry, the series switches location from the horror-plagued streets of London to the shores of Japan and its Dawn Empire. As part of a delegation sent to negotiate with the Emperor in response to the looming end of the world, you take on the role of Gray, 2nd Knight of the Empire. Alas, things do not go well, and the negotiations are sabotaged by a group of Eldritch God worshipping Lunatics. Taking shelter in the Imperial Palace, it becomes your job to route the cultists, win the Emperor’s trust and delve into the legends of the Oda clan and what lies hidden beneath the Palace – possibly the only thing capable of saving the remnants of humanity.
Like the Darksiders games, the Skautfold series has played around with different game genres for each instalment. From survival-horror to Metroidvanias, the developer has explored diverse mechanics and perspectives. What has remained true for each instalment is the heavy cosmic horror focus along with RPG and Souls-like elements. And that remains true for Moonless Knight as well.
Moonless Knight ditches the survival-horror mechanics of the original, instead focusing on gameplay mechanics and styles from other games in the series, creating an isometric action RPG with Souls-like mechanics. Unlike most action-RPG’s however, the Skautfold games focus firmly on storytelling while taking a step back to focus on almost hardcore, tactical Souls-like combat. There’s a bit of Metroid and Legend of Zelda mechanics thrown in for good measure to create a melting pot of strangely addictive gameplay.
The story itself is great and paints a pretty, or not so pretty, picture of the stakes here at the end of the world. It’s certainly one of the games highlights, filled with plenty of dialogue and enough creatures to make the Lovecraftian fan in you happy. From Night-Gaunts that operate shops, to the Mi-Go running a smithy, to certain frozen statues highlighting the form of a certain Mighty Messenger, there’s a veritable who’s-who of the Mythos here for the aficionado.
One of the nice things about the Skautfold series is that you can jump into the games at any point. While the story, albeit focusing on different protagonists, is continuous, you don’t have to have played the previous game in the series. And the same goes for Moonless Knight. There’s more than enough exposition for you to figure out what’s going on but I would recommend picking up on this series from the very beginning, if you haven’t already.
The world is a little bit Metroidvania in design, with plenty of locations blocked off by skills you may not have, and alternate routes and paths that need to be unlocked. Exploration is important on your first run through an area as there are upgrade materials, money, and skill increases scattered across the environment or found in chests. There is a level of repetition that does set in as you do travel across the same areas a bit too much. For me, this aspect of the game felt less like a Metroidvania and more like a dungeon-crawler when taking into account the back and forth and room layouts that add to the labyrinthine and maze-like feel of the environments.
Skautfold: Moonless Knight makes use of one of my favourite ways to level up skills in a game and that is, by using them. Blocking, dodging, and your weapon are improved by using them. It’s a really satisfying progression mechanic that does a great job of showcasing your increasing prowess. You can also find skill upgrades in chests and at the games merchant. Your weapons, which range from a standard sword to dual wielded blades, can also be further levelled at the smithy. This not only increases your damage output but, eventually, completely changes the weapons form.
Empowering you further are relics scattered across the environment. These not only add another tool to your arsenal but also help in navigating the environment. These relics also come into their own in boss fights with specific ones working better against some bosses than others. Finally, on the offense scale, you’re saddled with a familiar to help you in combat that also levels up as it does its job.
Where Moonless Knight really shines, and where it got its hooks into me, is in the combat. The various rooms may not be overly populated, but almost every fight is a tactical contest for survival even as you get stronger. This is due to the game favouring positioning, perfect dashes, and perfect blocks to keep you alive, and it’s all driven by the Guard mechanic.
Moonless Knight employs a Guard bar, which is a combination of a stamina bar and a shield. All of your actions drain some of the Guard bar, whether that’s swinging a sword, blocking, or dashing. At the same time, the bar protects you from damage and once it’s empty you start taking damage to your health. Each fight is a taught affair of managing this bar while paying attention to the enemy tells to determine whether or not they’re going to block or attack.
Damaging an enemy means having to chew through their Guard bar before you can rain hell down on their health. While the bar recharges on its own, blocking at the right time will recharge the bar while pulling the same amount out of your opponent’s bar. The Guard bar is also tied to your health: the lower your health, the lower the Guard bar.
The best part about this system is that the enemies, even bosses, are governed by it as well. So, while bosses may have inflated health and guard bars, and you have to learn their attack patterns along with which relic is best for the encounter, the combat system and encounters never feel cheap. Ultimately it comes down to you increasing your strength while reading every encounter carefully because, even as you level up, a string of poor moves can punish you all the same. And if you read the room right, you can walk through it without a scratch.
While I liked Moonless Knight‘s pixel-art visuals, especially the death animations as enemies are cleaved in twain amidst gushes of blood, it does bring me to one of my few issues with the game. And that is that in certain maps, specifically the Imperial Palace, I found it hard to tell the difference between walls, support pillars, and the floor. This is down to everything been constructed from wood and there was more than one moment where I had to stop and wonder whether or not that was a wall or floor before me.
My other issue is the room design becomes more and more labyrinthine the further you delve beneath the Imperial Palace. It’s fun enough for exploration, but once you have to start running through the same area multiple times, especially if you want to get somewhere quickly, navigating it becomes a repetitive chore.
That said, Skautfold: Moonless Knight is a wonderfully fun delve into an alternate, Cthulhu Mythos-infected world that builds upon its earlier instalments. The dungeon-delving nature of the game may get repetitive at times, but it’s made up for with a great story and some truly fun and infectious combat mechanics.
Pros:
- Good Cthulhu Mythos inspired story
- Fun, gripping combat mechanics
- Levelling up abilities through use is always a great mechanic
Cons:
- Some tile-sets make it difficult to discern walls from floors
- The maze-like aspect of later areas gets tiring to navigate
Score: 7/10
Skautfold: Moonless Knight was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by the publisher. It is also available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S|X.
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