New King's Quest Footage Still Shows A Platformer, But It Seems It Could Be A More Traditional Adventure
King Graham's jumpy
The return of King's Quest does seem strange. Activision's decision to revive the Sierra name, and then use it as a sort of faux-independent label, was accompanied by the news that the PB Winterbottom devs The Odd Gentlemen would resurrect the King's Quest license [official site]. But look, see, here's the thing: The King's Quest games, with the exception of VI, were pretty bloody awful. Everyone seems to have forgotten that. Anyway, we've some more in-game footage of the new entry that doesn't look anything like an adventure game. But have seen some other footage that shows a very different looking more traditional game.
We already know it has a strong voice cast, and beautiful hand-drawn art, but Activision seem to have gone out of their way to hide how it will actually play. Previous videos have shown platforming, running around, and no pointing nor clicking. The new trailer only further suggests that the nostalgia for the license doesn't extend to a genre. It again looks like a straight platformer in this latest footage.
All information about the game studiously avoids mentioning the genre, while alluding to "humour, puzzles, exploration". But we've seen some B-roll footage that, while unhelpfully silent, shows a very different perspective of the game. In it, King Graham walks calmly around fixed backgrounds, picking up objects, interacting with the scenery, and seeming much more like a chap in an adventure game. Most odd that this is disguised in all the trailers.
It all matters very little, of course. Bearing in mind most adult gamers will have never played a King's Quest game - indeed a huge proportion of adult gamers were born after they stopped making them - and those who did should really remember how crap they were, only very few will care how much it deviates from the series.
It's interesting that it's to be in five chapters, which would of course have been the model Telltale would have gone with if they'd been able to work out a way to make the games. It'll be interesting to see if there's an audience for such a nostalgia-led project.