You look at Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the other visual design giants of the past ten years, and it’s easy to argue that games today look ‘better.’ But it’s not all about details and fidelity. Some of the games that remain most prominent in my memory are, by modern standards, hopelessly graphically outdated, the likes of Half-Life, Fallout 1, and Deus Ex. They have style, though. They have an aesthetic. Capturing the essence of a bygone period in PC history – as well as some of the fundamental mechanics of the FromSoftware canon – a new RPG already has almost perfect Steam reviews. A combination of Old School RuneScape, Elden Ring, Dark Souls, King’s Field, and Elder Scrolls Arena, this is FlyKnight.
Part soulslike and part old-school RPG, FlyKnight has the chunky, simplistic character models of OSRS mixed with the first-person combat of King’s Field and Arena. You play the eponymous insect warrior, in a quest to defeat a witch who has stolen from you and your six-limbed compadres the gift of flight. Developer Waddaboy describes the combat as “limb based.” If you want to prevent an enemy’s attacks, take off their arm (or one of their arms, anyway). If you want to scramble their senses, bash them in the head.
Dungeons are handcrafted and, like any good FromSoftware game, the world of FlyKnight is structured around boss battles. It may look like Old School RuneScape, but don’t let this playful visual tribute fool you: this is a hefty, tough RPG complete with customizable builds, extremely challenging mobs and set pieces, and fully integrated co-op, meaning you can play the entire game with a friend.
Alongside its colorful cast of insectoid NPCs and its visionary fishing-based buff system (instead of Dark Souls’ bonfires, you stop at fishing holes, and whatever you catch can be consumed later to give you stat boosts), FlyKnight is also a steal. You can get it for $5.39 / £4.49. Of the 1,200 reviews players have left so far on Steam, a gigantic 97% are favorable, granting the game a glowing ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating. If you want to try it yourself, just head here.
Otherwise, try some of the best FPS games, or maybe the best games like Skyrim available on your PC.
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