The Knobbly Crook

About

The Knobbly Crook is a single player action game. It was developed by GnarledScar and was released on April 23, 2015. It received very positive reviews from players.

Enter the surreal, disturbing, and ridiculous world of the Knobbly Crook in the first chapter of this old-school point and click adventure. The Knobbly Crook will be released in several chapters, all of them completely free. No ads, no tricks.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+13

Skip User Reviews

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 177 reviews

graphics29 positive mentions

grinding1 negative mentions

Unique and surreal art style with hand-drawn, detailed, and imaginative visuals creating a compelling and bizarre world.
Engaging and witty dialogue paired with a quirky made-up language that adds charm and humor to the game.
Classic point-and-click gameplay with logical puzzles that, while sometimes challenging, are rewarding and fit the unconventional world.

Lack of clear guidance or objective can lead to confusion and require excessive trial and error from players.
Some puzzles and gameplay mechanics feel unintuitive or cumbersome, such as slow movement, unclear item interactions, and occasional difficulty spikes.
Short length and episodic nature leave the experience feeling incomplete, compounded by the long wait or absence of follow-up chapters.

graphics
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
51%
5%
The game features a highly unique and surreal art style blending elements of folklore, steampunk, and ancient cultures, resulting in hand-drawn, intricate visuals that captivate and charm players. While its graphics are widely praised for creativity and detail, the abstract and sometimes garish visuals can occasionally be challenging to navigate and tiring on the eyes. Overall, the distinctive graphics significantly enhance the quirky, darkly humorous atmosphere, making it a memorable and visually striking point-and-click adventure.
- “From its wonderfully weird art style to the witty dialogue and clever puzzles, every moment feels like stepping into a surreal fairy tale.”
- “Visually, we have the best-looking game I have ever seen made with AGS, with incredibly intricate mouse-drawn HD graphics that are part Mayan sculpture, part steampunk, part science textbook, and part hardware store.”
- “The game has an interesting and unusual art style that makes it stand out from more mainstream art direction, great world-building with lots of details, folklore and lore that piques the player's interest, a charming voice over in gibberish made-up languages that emphasizes certain words and syllables in a way that is pleasant to the ear.”
- “Also, it can be tough to tell what you might need to interact with due to the unique art style and abstract visuals.”
- “The garishness of the artwork really gets to you after some time.”
- “The art style is tiring on the eyes.”
humor
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely praised for its clever, quirky, and consistently funny humor that ranges from dark and dry to slapstick and punny, often enhanced by surreal art and unique dialogue. Players find the comedic writing engaging and charming, with memorable characters and witty interactions that keep the humor fresh throughout the experience. Overall, the humor greatly contributes to the game's appeal, making it both enjoyable and memorable.
- “It’s hilarious, charming, and beautifully unique.”
- “Repetitively pestering a certain NPC even gets you some nice, self-referential humor, with the overall humor having just the right mix of slapstick, suggestive, and gross-out humor, keeping the laughs coming at a good pace.”
- “So far of what I've played through mid-chapter 2, it has had me laughing the whole time.”
story
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
55%
6%
The story of "The Knobbly Crook" is a surreal, quirky, and engaging point-and-click adventure filled with dark humor, bizarre characters, and an immersive, mysterious world that evokes classic adventure games. While some find the narrative vague or occasionally dragging, many appreciate its unique, creative lore and cliffhanger ending, eagerly anticipating future chapters. The game's distinctive art style, voice acting, and intriguing plot elements contribute to a compelling experience praised especially by fans of story-rich, puzzle-driven adventures.
- “You genuinely feel like you went on a little adventure (with a cliffhanger ending very reminiscent of how many classic point & click adventures tease the sequel) and the atmosphere is upheld by everything: the sound design, the puzzles, character design, map design, story; it really makes you want to avoid looking up walkthroughs to avoid spoilers!”
- “Excelling in design in multiple areas, notably the visuals and astonishingly creative and original story and characters, plus the free price tag, an open-minded adventure gamer of any persuasion would be crazy not to download The Knobbly Crook.”
- “This indie gem captivates with its surreal art style, dark humor, and mind-bending puzzles, weaving a story that's as unpredictable as it is engaging.”
- “I made it off the ship and to the Knobbly Crook and solved some puzzles there, before coming upon multiple dead ends I would have to overcome, which made me conclude that the opening scene did not in fact hook me with the plot due to its vagueness. Progressing was not fun enough for me to want to keep exploring the main plotline at the expense of my enjoyment.”
- “The clues and quests get a little vague until you finally figure it out and feel stupid.”
- “The storyline is hard to get.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
41%
13%
The music in the game is widely praised for being captivating, high-quality, and fitting perfectly with its unique, fantastical setting and characters. Reviewers highlight its groovy, jazzy, and sometimes country-style tones, which complement the game's art and voice acting to create a fresh and immersive experience. While a minority found the music less appealing, the overall reception is highly positive, especially considering the game is free.
- “Not to mention the Tolkien-scale language invention, breathtaking voice acting, and marvelous music.”
- “Combined with its incredible art, febrile world-building, and jazzy music, this sets the game right up there with the best point-and-click adventures I've played.”
- “With the sound, we have the fully-voiced, or I should say, fully-growled dialogue that's a demonic-sounding version of English matching the deranged and murderous characters perfectly, with an amusingly contrasting jolly folk guitar soundtrack by Pitx.”
- “Trash bad controls bad music complicated game avoid even if its free”
- “The made up voices, the music, the randomness of it all.”
- “-holds the record I think of most clicks on the same item to get a different final response (i.e. asking the bar musician different requests)”
gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
53%
18%
The gameplay is praised for its logical, well-designed puzzles that avoid frustrating "Sierra-style" illogicality, offering a rewarding experience for point-and-click adventure fans. However, slow character movement and occasional obscure puzzle solutions can hinder enjoyment, with some players resorting to guides. Overall, the gameplay delivers nostalgic 90s-style mechanics combined with clever design, though improvements like faster movement or fast travel could enhance playability.
- “The gameplay itself is amazing, especially in the first chapter. There were barely any slowdowns due to confusing solutions. Most solutions make sense and even if you look them up, you'll probably curse yourself for not realizing them.”
- “The made-up language was so clever and well done. I found the story intriguing and gameplay fun, though I did have to revert to a guide in some tough spots.”
- “If you're a point-and-click adventure game fan who remembers not just the puzzle mechanics of the 90's golden age, but also their offbeat black humour, this is the game you've been waiting for.”
- “One major downside the dev hopefully can fix is how slow the movement is. It really harms the gameplay when you are confused about what to do and constantly slowly walk from screen to screen. The game should either give you a way to fast travel to other locations (like how The Land of Crow does it, another free gem P&C adventure), or make your character teleport to the exit screen by double-clicking on it, or make the character move faster by default or by double-clicking. It really can harm the enjoyment of the game (hope the devs see this constructive criticism despite the positive review).”
- “And randomly clicking to find out what's active or not is not my idea of productive gameplay.”
- “Another roadblock you might encounter gameplay-wise is not paying attention to text. At the end of chapter 1 you'll have to find a creative approach to escape the ship. I won't spoil it but the way you do it is so fitting for this game, and it felt rewarding realizing I didn't just inspect stuff for no reason. Near the end of chapter 2 there's one of the totems that requires you to acquire an item and pray you didn't forget the dialogue with a certain paper character.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
57%
The atmosphere is widely praised for its authentic old-school point-and-click adventure feel, immersive sound design, engaging puzzles, and rich lore that unfolds naturally through gameplay. Players appreciate the blend of humor, art, and storytelling, which together create a compelling and memorable adventure that encourages exploration without spoilers. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature that enhances the experience and builds anticipation for future chapters.
- “The atmosphere is just phenomenal; you could tell a friend who played point-and-click adventure games in the past that this is one of those classic old-school ones, and they'd believe you.”
- “You genuinely feel like you went on a little adventure (with a cliffhanger ending very reminiscent of how many classic point-and-click adventures tease the sequel), and the atmosphere is upheld by everything—the sound design, puzzles, character design, map design, and story. It really makes you want to avoid looking up a walkthrough to prevent spoilers!”
- “Lastly, the humor and especially the lore of the game add a lot to the atmosphere. They don't just throw Wikipedia at you; you organically learn more about this world simply by talking with different characters or solving puzzles.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Grinding in the game is present but not overly tedious, with players noting that while additional effort may be needed, the engaging and humorous gameplay keeps the experience interesting throughout.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is immersive and engaging, making players feel like they’re on a meaningful adventure. It is well-integrated with the atmosphere, story, and design elements, creating a compelling experience that encourages players to avoid spoilers.

Skip Game Offers

Buy The Knobbly Crook

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like The Knobbly Crook

87%1.2kreviews

Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure

2019

Puzzle

75%5.6kreviews

Deponia

2012

Arcade Action Adventure

+15

89%1kreviews

The Dream Machine

2012

Casual Puzzle

85%850reviews

TSIOQUE

2018

Casual Puzzle

79%6.7kreviews

Broken Age

2014

Casual Action Adventure

+20

More games like The Knobbly Crook

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The Knobbly Crook is a action game.

The Knobbly Crook is available on PC and Windows.

The Knobbly Crook was released on April 23, 2015.

The Knobbly Crook was developed by GnarledScar.

The Knobbly Crook has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked The Knobbly Crook for its graphics but disliked it for its grinding.

The Knobbly Crook is a single player game.

Similar games include Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure, Deponia, The Dream Machine, TSIOQUE, Broken Age and others.

The Knobbly Crook

Platforms

About

Buy The Knobbly Crook