King Arthur: Knight's Tale

Regardless of your King Arthur fandom, Knights Tale is a feast with meaty tactics, a sumptuous story, and luscious visuals, all fit for a king.

Starting at $12.03Buy now

Get on Steam

"King Arthur: Knight's Tale" is a role-playing tactical game where you play as Sir Mordred, King Arthur's nemesis, brought back to life to finish what you started and kill King Arthur. Experience a unique blend of turn-based tactical combat and RPG character management, as you explore a dark fantasy version of the Arthurian mythology, make moral choices, and rebuild Camelot in a land on the brink of ruin.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,795 reviews

story497 positive mentions

optimization38 negative mentions

Engaging tactical combat with a variety of classes and unique abilities.
Rich atmosphere and dark take on Arthurian legend, with well-designed characters.
Deep character progression and meaningful choices that affect gameplay.

Repetitive missions and lack of enemy variety lead to a dull experience over time.
Poor voice acting and writing quality detract from the overall immersion.
Significant difficulty spikes and unbalanced encounters can frustrate players.

story
1,926 mentions
26 % positive mentions
69 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The story of "King Arthur: Knight's Tale" is generally described as engaging and offers a unique twist on the Arthurian legend, focusing on Mordred as the protagonist. While many players appreciate the dark atmosphere and character development, some criticize the writing quality and repetitiveness of missions, which can detract from the overall experience. The narrative is often seen as linear, with choices that impact gameplay but not necessarily the story's direction, leading to mixed feelings about its depth and replayability.
- “The game offers a rich story, diverse character development, and challenging gameplay.”
- “The story is quite good as well.”
- “The story, the combat, the management of your city is actually quite fun.”
- “Some of the writing is straight garbage and a more experienced writer could have gotten more mileage out of the story.”
- “The story is garbage: you do not rise in any ranks or start from the bottom, you begin your story as a renowned death knight commander of many armies who was slain and rose again.”
- “The story is very linear and the missions are dull and uninspiring.”
gameplay
523 mentions
39 % positive mentions
54 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "King Arthur: Knight's Tale" is characterized by a mix of turn-based tactical combat and RPG mechanics, drawing comparisons to titles like XCOM and Darkest Dungeon. While many players appreciate the depth and strategic elements, including character development and a morality system, there are frequent criticisms regarding repetitive gameplay, simplistic mechanics, and a lack of diverse challenges. Overall, the game offers a solid foundation but may become tedious over time, especially for those seeking more complexity and variety in gameplay.
- “Its unique take on the Arthurian legend, combined with challenging gameplay and a richly detailed world, makes it a standout title in its genre.”
- “The mechanics are engaging and interesting; every choice feels like it matters, whether in dialogue, choosing what to do with your units, or deciding how to manage your gold and resources.”
- “The gameplay nails the satisfying feeling of completing a flawless encounter with full armor remaining, as any damage taken after your armor is off can result in injuries that bench your character for 1-2 missions.”
- “The gameplay loop did get repetitive for me, mostly because there weren't sufficiently diverse challenges within the game to make use of all the awesome tools my characters had earned throughout the main game.”
- “Gameplay becomes rather dull pretty quick, missions are very much alike each other, UI is horrible and - oh god, don't even get me started about the plot.”
- “Gameplay gets repetitive very quickly and this is exacerbated by just how long this game is.”
graphics
379 mentions
48 % positive mentions
45 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the dark, gothic art style and detailed character models, while others criticize the repetitive environments and lack of visual variety. Some players report technical issues, such as crashes and performance problems, particularly on AMD graphics cards, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered good for an indie title, they are often described as dated or lacking polish, with a need for better optimization and more aesthetic customization options.
- “The graphics are beautiful with the gore one expects for this world/era.”
- “The game's graphics are top-notch, with beautifully rendered environments and character models.”
- “Great graphics, design, turn-based combat and dark fantasy atmosphere are here.”
- “The graphics are dull and depressing.”
- “The graphics began to be reused early on (you'll walk the same path, see the same castle).”
- “Every single map is a grey-washed, bland, depressing aesthetic (think Dark Souls aesthetics).”
music
173 mentions
53 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its atmospheric quality and emotional depth, while others find it repetitive and lacking in variety. Many players appreciate the soundtrack's ability to enhance the game's immersive experience, though a significant number express a desire for more diverse tracks. Overall, while the music is generally considered decent, it often fails to leave a lasting impression.
- “The music is really good and relaxing.”
- “The soundtrack is great and really adds to the feel and atmosphere of the game.”
- “Voice acting (though it seems like only 1-2 guys voicing lol) and music are top notch, especially music, it's gorgeous.”
- “Music is repetitive/boring.”
- “The soundtrack is pretty awful.”
- “I hated the music, found it to be boring and the same tracks played way too often during battles, so I turned it off; maybe it was good but I just hate it when games have long battles and the same track plays on and on.”
atmosphere
115 mentions
66 % positive mentions
31 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and dark aesthetic, effectively capturing the essence of Arthurian legend and Gaelic fantasy. Reviewers highlight the combination of atmospheric visuals, fitting soundtracks, and thematic lore, creating a compelling and gritty environment that enhances gameplay. While some note that the atmosphere can feel repetitive in later stages, the overall consensus is that it significantly contributes to the game's appeal and engagement.
- “Excellent thematic lore and atmosphere involving fictional Avalon and Gaelic fantasy.”
- “The game's graphics and sound design are top-notch, creating an immersive and atmospheric experience that really brings the Arthurian legend to life.”
- “The atmosphere and design really capture the dark setting and feel for the time this story takes place.”
- “Cons - the repetitive atmosphere with maps being reused started to get to me in the late game.”
- “I really wish the developers left the blood splatter as it is without it disappearing as it adds to the immersion given the gloomy atmosphere with gore and death.”
- “While your group of four characters runs in kind of diablo-like levels, which range from castle cellar to fey lands but always keep their dark/grim atmosphere, you fight in turn-based combats.”
optimization
109 mentions
11 % positive mentions
54 % neutral mentions
35 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting significant performance issues such as stuttering, frame rate drops, and crashes, even on high-end systems. The large file size and poor graphical performance further exacerbate these problems, leading to a consensus that the game feels unoptimized and often unplayable. While some users have noted improvements following patches, the overall sentiment remains that substantial optimization work is still needed.
- “This severely hampers your skill to build an optimized character as you hover around for long minutes confused by the identical items to see which stats belong to which weapons.”
- “They have now optimized the game in response to community feedback, and it's now roughly 40GB.”
- “Update: the game is much better optimized at this point and they even decreased the file size significantly some time back.”
- “Performance was also quite an issue; I'm not sure why this game seems to have such high requirements; it feels rather unoptimized to me.”
- “The characters and their aptitudes seem nice, but it's just too bad that the game is unplayable because of the bad optimization and those huge FPS drops.”
- “The game is so heavily unoptimized it's unbelievable.”
replayability
95 mentions
35 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability due to its random loot, diverse character alignments, and a morality system that influences gameplay outcomes and unlocks different content. Players can experiment with various strategies, party compositions, and moral choices, enhancing the overall experience. However, some reviewers noted that repetitive missions and linear progression could limit long-term replay value.
- “The treasure that you find on the map and the equipment in the stores are random, which gives the game great replayability.”
- “Great replayability with different morality paths to take, choices to make, and knights to recruit.”
- “The morality system is an interesting mechanic that lends the game depth and replayability.”
- “Turn-based tactics games (lately) have lacked depth and replayability.”
- “In a way, this makes it have some replayability... but it doesn't, unfortunately, because the game becomes a slog when you replay it and have seen the missions before.”
- “Overall a 6/10, definitely not bad but gets stale fast and has almost no replayability worth talking about.”
grinding
62 mentions
2 % positive mentions
3 % neutral mentions
95 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, with many noting that the combat and exploration can become monotonous over time. While some enjoy the side quests and character progression, the lack of variety in missions and enemies, along with slow pacing, leads to a frustrating experience for many. The game is often described as requiring excessive grinding to progress, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “By the end, it was a slog and a bit grindy, and I was glad to end it though.”
- “The game is super slow and grindy across all fronts: the story is obtuse and confusing; characters are uninteresting, don't banter with each other, and have no interaction among themselves; castle meta progression is uninspired and unsatisfying; combat and missions, while having a decent enough system underneath, end up being samey and repetitive.”
- “Grindy missions with no rewarding loot, the frustrating system of healing injuries vs vitality (sometimes over the course of four missions for your only good characters), and the overall repetition makes for a weak experience.”
stability
44 mentions
16 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
84 % negative mentions
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting minor bugs and graphical glitches, while others have experienced significant issues such as crashes and freezes that can affect gameplay. Some users noted that despite these problems, the game runs well overall and is enjoyable, especially after patches. However, a notable number of players expressed frustration with the frequency and severity of the bugs, suggesting that the game is currently in a somewhat unstable state.
- “The game for me has been very stable and bug free.”
- “I have been playing after all patches and now the game runs great.”
- “Runs great for me.”
- “Game crashes mid-stage on certain maps and even scrolling over certain parts freezes your whole rig.”
- “I have crashed 4 times in 33 hours, soft locked twice, lost a save twice (in fact my first campaign was lost because it seemed to have never made a save file in the first place), and encountered many graphical bugs including glitches, frame rate drops, and texture problems.”
- “No communication since launch, would hardly call this a game in the current state - incredibly buggy, shallow gameplay and frankly abysmal scripting and voice acting - which I would forgive if there was even the slightest sign of activity 3 months after purchasing a game that is theoretically in active development.”
character development
29 mentions
31 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
Character development in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its depth and variety, particularly in character design and personality, while others find it shallow or lacking. Many appreciate the integration of a morality system and dialogue choices that enhance the narrative, but some feel disconnected from the characters due to limited development. Overall, the game offers a blend of strong character design and gameplay mechanics, though opinions on the depth of character development vary significantly.
- “The game offers a rich story, diverse character development, and challenging gameplay.”
- “Great game with lots of depth and character development.”
- “Love the character development throughout the game!”
- “No character development.”
- “Shallow character development.”
- “Even with character development and a decent world to play in, I somehow still feel disconnected from the game.”
humor
14 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding moments of unintentional hilarity, particularly in the voice acting and character interactions, while others feel the humor is lacking overall. Notable highlights include a gravelly-voiced zombie knight and amusingly bad voiceovers that can break immersion. While there are funny moments, many reviewers suggest that the game is not primarily focused on humor and may benefit from richer character interactions.
- “I burst out laughing when some zombie knight, with a voice so gravelly it would put Batman to shame, said 'we will drench the earth with your blood.'”
- “The black knight is as hilarious as it is bad; I strongly recommend recruiting him for the amusement, but I can't take him seriously, which I thought was the tone of the game.”
- “Voice acting is great, and the little comments from the party in-game are insightful and at times funny (unintentional, methinks).”
monetization
8 mentions
13 % positive mentions
13 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is generally viewed positively, with no microtransactions or in-game purchases, allowing players to enjoy the experience without distractions. Reviewers appreciate the developers' passion and commitment to creating a genuine gaming experience, contrasting it with other titles perceived as cash grabs. However, some concerns about the game's longevity and developer support suggest a cautious approach for potential buyers.
- “Thankfully, there are no microtransactions or in-game purchases to detract from the experience.”
- “After no updates since February, after they promised monthly updates and basically zero feedback from the devs, don't buy this cash grab scam.”
- “I recommend buying it if only to support the developers; here's to crossing our fingers this isn't just another quick cash grab like most EA games.”
- “Stay away from the 40k titles; they are horrible lately and only getting worse cash grabs. Stay away from those types of studios, and go for games like this one to get a real game made by passionate developers.”
emotional
6 mentions
67 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is largely criticized for its lack of engaging storytelling and meaningful character interactions, leaving players feeling disconnected and unmotivated. While some express a fear of losing invested characters, the overall experience is described as monotonous and devoid of emotional depth, with tactical gameplay compared to a repetitive chess match.
- “The lady of the lake fails to make an appearance to thank you for rectifying her mistake, and there's no heartwarming compilation of your knights celebrating victory.”
- “I haven't lost a champion yet - but I fear the investment into and loss of said champion will be near heartbreaking.”
- “Never have I played a single-player buy-to-play game that made me feel like I was out of 4-7 different resources, currencies, energy, and health packs simultaneously.”
- “Boring story.”
- “No storyline, no reason to keep playing and boring storyline.”