This may surprise you, but games might be on my radar! With how many news stories and features you can see me writing here at Siliconera every month, it can come as a shock. (I passed 250 for December 2022; thanks for asking.) But that also means a worthy title could be overlooked. For me, it’s soft knight once the indie strategy game from Rose City arrives on Nintendo Switch. It’s part of the Nintendo House of Indies adventure calendar basically this month, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect “gift”. (Especially since Nintendo decided to be the Grinch and keep Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp from us this year.
soft knight is a strategy game with card-based gimmicks. You follow Phoebe and her robotic arm/friend Carlton. After quite a bit of brainstorming and experimenting, she invented Floppy Knights. These are small units that participate in battles on Phoebe’s behalf to complete missions. However, when they act, you not only get a series of actions, they can automatically perform. Instead, Phoebe possesses a deck of cards, with a number dealt to the hand each turn allowing the character to move, attack, or perform special actions. When a normal commander or unit is played on the field, you also receive a card with its attack or ability at the start of each turn. So you’re relying on the decks you’ve created, with the Phoebe-generated cards, and characters to help get through each location’s bounty goals and objectives. Updates appear throughout 2022, with Phoebe’s Prototypes and Graveyard Shift coming in August and October. As the Switch version of soft knight launch, the third update 2.0 of the year comes with it.
Throwing cards and decks into other genres has been a problem for a while. One could argue (or blame) the game as Mega Man Battle Network and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, To do that. (Well, I might add.) Lately, we’ve seen it pop up with other genres as well. Eg, Signs of temporary residents maybe was a more typical visual novel with dialogues to study, but instead you get decks based on the experience and the playing takes place instead of actual conversations with other people . Rose City is catching up with the trend with soft knight and roll with it in a way that works exceptionally well.
soft knight using the card for all its actions feels perfect, not limited. Especially since the performance means you don’t feel like soft knight are forcing you to sharpen or push yourself unnecessarily. crafting new cards is not too difficult. Making money for it is not too taxing. You don’t need to worry about having unusable cards in your hand, as each character you play will automatically generate at least one viable card each turn. Not to mention with the base game and all the updates, there are tons of cards available right out of the box.
Although, in a way, maybe all is best after all? As I mentioned before, the Switch version of soft knight released with update 2.0. While this is important for those who are new to the game, it does mean that I had a generally fuller experience with it from the start. It took me a while to understand the plot, as it didn’t show up after arriving on the Steelshore Coast with Phoebe and Carlton to ask Rowan for assistance against Felix and his Floppy Knights. It also performs traversal soft knight a bit more interesting, because I did so knowing that I would end up playing Alex and Snarlton in an Extra Side Quest.
In any case, soft knight is an interesting game. It’s one of those tactical treasures. I’d also say it’s pretty timeless, even if the December 2022 update doesn’t add additional content. The themes, character designs, and gameplay are crafted in a unique way, but also return to the staples. So there is always the feeling of wanting to support someone who wants to succeed because of their own values and talents. With strategy games, it will be fascinating to see if using different decks or approaches here can help you win. It is simply a pleasure to play.
soft knight available on Nintendo SwitchXbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.
