Knytt Stories

It's taken me far too long to get around to writing about this, but reading a post on TIGsource about a possible new game by Nifflas reminded me to talk about the beautiful Knytt Stories.

You may know Nifflas (Swedish indie dev Nicklas Nygren) from his lovely Within A Deep Forest, which should be incentive enough to check out his latest, Knytt Stories, still only a couple of weeks out. If not, then let the below be your incentive.

Is there any move in all of videogaming more satisfactory than the double jump? As soon as Samus has acquired the ability, any Metroid game comes to life. I've been playing the Scout in the TF2 beta simply because he can double-jump. But neither are nearly as satisfying as the extended leaps in Knytt Stories.

Taking the ideas from Knytt, and pushing them further, Stories is a sweet platform tale about finding an evil machine that is destroying the lands. Your character quickly picks up bonus add-ons that let her, say, speed up, jump higher, climb vertical surfaces or rather importantly, double-jump. Getting each allows you to access previously unattainable areas, until you can eventually shut down the machine and save the day.

It's a beautifully made game, with some spot-on platform design, enhanced considerably by superb aesthetics. The visual design is very simple (although still works when blown up to fullscreen), and the music, some composed by the dev, is wonderful.

Best of all, there's now an official expansion with more Stories for Knytt, along with a pack of levels made by other players.

This is deeply worthy of your attention, and completely free. No excuses.