As someone with the world’s smallest bladder, life can be a whole lot of fun! I book seats at the end row of a movie theater so I can run out and miss the most important scene at the most important moment in the film. Car trips are full of stops that nobody else wants. When I go to a restaurant, I immediately dart my eyes around to the nearest restroom like I’m a mobster watching for potential assassins.
And when playing video games, there’s a lot of pausing and unpausing for the above explained reasons. Which is why, ironically, I know a game is good when I’m ignoring the unhealthy screaming of my body to take just one more turn. And, as you can probably tell from the headline preceding this long stretch of runway, Knights In Tight Spaces is that game for me now.
Yes, the game is called Knights In Tight Spaces. Don’t worry, the name makes sense in context. Although, to be fair, it also sounds like the title of a high-budget, fantasy-themed adult movie. Or, at the very least, a movie in which men in armor keep having to meekly mumble, “Excuse me” while they squeeze past you at a renaissance fair. This is also a game I want and I’m willing to put up my own money to fund it.
Knights In Tights Spaces Makes Tactics Matter More
You probably want actual information rather than ongoing vamping. Great. Here we go. Knights In Tight Spaces is the quasi-sequel to Fights In Tight Spaces. Fights In Tight Spaces was a lowkey favorite of mine for a while, so when I saw that this new game came out yesterday, I immediately threw it in my Steam cart and bought it sight unseen. I have a dozen unfinished games from this year – Avowed, Two Point Museum, Monster Hunter – but I wasn’t going to pass up what’s basically basically Slay the Spire meets John Wick. I know that’s the way everyone describes it, but that’s what it is! Fantasy + Deck building + Stylishly beating the stuffing out of people. Side note, there was also a great turn-based John Wick game called John Wick Hex that none of you played and I resent you for it.
The reason the “Tight Spaces” part is so important here is because, unlike a lot of tactics-style games, there is – and here’s the twist – very, very little space in which to act. Like many deck builders and tactical strategy games, you have the ability to move characters around your enemies, play cards, and use your environment to your advantage. But having to do all of this in tiny closet-sized levels makes it far harder. Literally one battle was on the cliff of a waterfall and couldn’t have been more than a few squares total. It was amazing. All I wanted to do was kick a witch off the side. The whole time you’re pivoting around opponents and trying to get the advantage as they do the same to you – and you know that it would be very easy for them to kill you if you make just one bad decision.
As with Slay the Spire or Into the Breach, you also know what opponents plan on doing the next turn. This gives you the chance to dodge attacks before they come or, if you’re smart about it, move other opponents in the way of those attacks. There’s a lot of grappling and turning and moving and knocking down. Naturally, the more you play, the more powerful the enemies get and they begin to have familiar abilities like counter attacks or taking a shot if you move into their line of sight. You can also give yourself some of these abilities through the cards – as well as create combos with members of your party – so it stays pretty evenly matched.
A Deck Builder Worth Building Decks For
Now, you might be thinking ‘oh God, not another deck builder. I have built all the decks. No more decks’. And I’m with you. There are a lot of deck builders out there. It feels like the indie generation of Metroidvanias died so the new indie generation of deck builders could live. But this one is one of the most compelling games I’ve played in a long time – and it’s good right off the bat. Even if you’re tired of building those decks, these decks? Worth building! Every part feels fun rather than attempting to be fun by copying something more successful. Rather than starting with a grind and talking down to you, the tutorial itself is compelling.
Part of what makes it all click so well is the personality. Fights In Tight Spaces was amazing, but it didn’t really have a lot of pizzazz. And that works for a John Wick-like game. A cold-hearted assassin game works in a cold-hearted environment. Super Hot did it! So can they! But Knights In Tight Spaces adds just a little bit of extra flavor with their fantasy environment. Thankfully, they don’t go all-in and try to make their own big, over-the-top Lord of the Rings knockoff. Instead, the game keeps a wry sense of humor and sticks close to the ground with each run. This comparison dates me, but the conversations almost feel like the old Puzzle Quest games in which the story was goofy, upbeat window dressing.
Importantly, these conversations are almost always just a justification to get you to the next battle. Sometimes they’ll even give you side quests to non-mandatory battles that carry a bonus of some sort, whether it be money, items, or card upgrades. Meanwhile, playing the game unlocks different character classes with the ability to equip different items and use different cards in your desk. And, as I said, you can actually have a full party of these folks, which only makes the space tighter and the dance around enemies more complicated. And God is it good. It’s so, so, so, so great.
Maybe it’s because the battles are so brief and so refined that it almost caused a medical emergency. Despite requiring a lot of thought and strategy, you can move from fight to fight pretty quickly. There are multi-level battles at certain points, but even then we’re talking a handful of minutes for most of them. You analyze, you move, you fight, you react, and you go all over again. The game is more interested in giving you a quick challenge than it is punishing you with wave after wave after wave. And, like Into the Breach, part of the fun is blocking new enemies from entering the stage until you’re ready for them. This slows down the battle, but makes it more manageable. On the flip side, you often get a massive bonus for finishing in a smaller number of turns.
Knights In Tight Spaces is what I’d call a ‘pure’ video game. It does exactly what it intends to do and it does it very, very, very well. It’s just fun. That’s it. You want a good time? You’re looking for a little enjoyment? Right here. I didn’t want to stop playing it. Hell, I didn’t even expect to write a column this week on the game. TThe only reason I took a break today was because I realized that I’d skipped breakfast, forgot lunch, missed a relatively important call related to a job, and my body began to outright hurt from not using the restroom. I had to drag myself away to write this and now I know I’m going to drag myself back.
- Released
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March 4, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Ground Shatter
- Publisher(s)
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Raw Fury