Now I must be honest I am not exactly a huge fan of the roguelike genre, playing the same section over and over again to the point of being able to get through one level is a bit overkill for me.

But saying this I must admit Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur took me by complete surprise, I first witnessed the gameplay for this gem at EGX 2023 which PQube was showing amongst other amazing games!

I had the pleasure of meeting the minds behind the game and Richard who I spoke to also walked me through a bit about the game. A few months later here I am writing a review for the same game that was even better than I anticipated, Knight Vs Giant is truly full of surprises and the gameplay truly had me coming back for more.

Knights to arms for we shall conquer the giants and save the world. So, grab your swords and shields and get ready to embark on a journey for this dungeon crawler roguelike adventure this is Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur!

For To Die With Honour Is Far Better Than Live Disgraced!

Story

On a quest to retrieve the legendary Holy Grail for the wizard Merlin, the noble Knights of the Round Table unintentionally unleash a beast that destroys Camelot, the Void Giant.

Although King Arthur tries valiantly to defeat the terrible monster with the help of his knights, one by one they are all met with demise and perish.

Now with the heroes all slain and no one to protect the citizens of Camelot and with the unfortunate destructions of King Arthur’s powerful sword – Excalibur Merlin has no other choice but to send the Void Giant back to the Astral Dimension using a powerful incantation.

Sadly, the spell backfires and brings the entire kingdom of Camelot with the Giants. To make everything even worse all the citizens of the kingdom have become lost in the other realms so awake Sir Arthur, you have been resurrected by the wizard known as Merlin to help save Camelot from the giants who have destroyed your once beloved kingdom!

With the power to only revive one knight. Your mission is to explore the different realms such as the beautiful Brochalant Forest, the hot scorching Sarrache Desert, and the fiery hell that is Suidhe Volcano.

You will find the citizens of Camelot who have been lost in these locations, rescue and bring them home, and rebuild the kingdom of Camelot! In each realm, you must find and defeat the giants who destroyed Camelot and send them back to where they came from.

This will not be an easy task as there are multiple obstacles in your way to make sure you don’t reach your target. Do you have what it takes to complete this mission and retrieve the Holy Grail? Each colossal aspect of the Void Giant’s soul is ready to stamp you out of existence but only you can save the day.

One Day, A King Will Come, And The Sword Will Rise… AGAIN!

Gameplay

Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is very similar to most dungeon-crawler roguelike games, but it has its own take on using coins to rebuild Camelot.

Of course, like most roguelike games you will spend time repeatedly defeating the same enemies over and over to earn coins and XP to build up your power and become stronger.

You have a choice of 6 different powers from the Knights of the Round Table personally I preferred using Bors weapons as I had distance with their throwing blades and using Gawain’s Orchid of Malice, which spawns a toxic flower that fires poison at enemies doing damage!

Once in the realms, you will come across statues of the chosen Knights of which the powers you possess once you have eradicated the foes that are in the room the statue will open. You have a choice of 3 options for your weapon or secondary attack.

This could be 50% more distance, being able to throw an extra knife, or even upping the damage. Pick wisely!

You will also find drops that are dropped by some glowing gold enemies that are more difficult. They can sometimes drop upgrades like extra health or damage. You can also find round tables that will grant you upgrades or even skills that can be used on top of your powers.

You will need to choose what works best for you as each dungeon and room is procedurally generated and changes every playthrough. In some rooms you will find the citizens of Camelot that you must send back home, these characters will grant you things like upgrades, and more.

For example, the blacksmith will let you upgrade your weapons for coins. You will need to level up both the powers and the kingdom. Builders will rebuild the kingdom and the citizen’s shops, using coins and shards.

The hunter will give you coins for completing bounties, and so many more that you will come across that will help you progress.

In certain rooms, you will find the witch Morgana, who will grant you a powerful upgrade such as one hit kill all enemies and 300% mini-bosses and bosses, but with these upgrades also comes a curse which with one means King Arthur can also be one hit killed.

You can choose to take these or decline them. Merchants will grant you upgrades, potions to heal, or even shards you can buy. Of course, this comes with a price, and these are what your soul coins are used for.

You will also come across a piper who will grant you a chest if you defeat his “children”. This could be 30 seconds of survival or 3 waves of enemies. Once this is completed, he will ask you to stand down and will grant you what is in the chest.

You will also come across safe rooms that will hold a fountain that can heal you 100% save this until after the boss or before facing a boss. Trust me you will thank me later!

At the end of the dungeon, you will come face-to-face with a boss fight, these boss fights vary from different variants.

Defeating these bosses will take you to the next level and closer to the colossal giant boss. If you are defeated then you will be resurrected and everything shards, coins, and XP will be shown, and you can then upgrade before trying all over again.

I Must Ride With My Knights To Defend What Was, And The Dream Of What Could Be

Graphics and Audio

Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur has one of the most colourful and vast amounts of detail I have seen in any roguelike I have played, the environments are well designed, with a beautifully used cartoon drawn art style that really brings the world and characters to life!

I love the fact that every character has a unique style and character model, as do all the enemies and bosses.

The music in Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is very soothing and calming, with a few moments of fast-paced beats plus the amazing voice acting for cut scenes and in-game moments.

The game has so much to offer looking and sounding fantastic in every moment you play and explore. I mean the music itself I could happily listen to for hours; it was just a really nice medieval melody and really gave the game its power.

From Nothing Comes A King

Controls, Options and Accessibility

One thing I love about Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur was having the option to remap buttons which I know not many games have so allowing that option truly changed the way I played the game and found it more comfortable using the triggers than the buttons on the controller to attack.

This also helps those who may find it hard to press so many buttons or can’t.

Another thing that helps those with accessibility issues includes being able to remove vibration, camera shake, and even the dialogue speed.

Options you can change in both audio aspects and gameplay.

You can even add God mode on for those who just want to enjoy the game, although this doesn’t stop you from dying it does grant a big increase in damage to enemies and can only be used restarting from the main menu and not in-game.

It is a fairly simple game to control and if you have any trouble the option to change the controls is always available.

Final Thoughts

This game truly caught my eye back in 2023 at EGX and I want to thank Richard again who walked me through the different aspects and story plus allowing me to talk more about the game.

This roguelike was one of the best I have ever played, it was smooth, and although I’m not a fan of this type of genre I couldn’t stop playing, it was just utterly fun, and with a total of 11 hours of gameplay you can see why!

All in all, I had an absolute blast with Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur and although I have still to finish, I can’t wait to see what other games PQube brings out next. Thank you also to the developers at Gambir Studio for all your hard work!

If you enjoy games like Hades or other roguelike types of games then definitely check out this absolute gem of a game, you won’t regret it!

Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is AVAILABLE NOW! on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Steam and Epic Games Store

GAMERHUB RATING: FIVE (Out of FIVE) JOYSTICKS

(Thank you to Keymailer and the teams at PQube and Gambir Studio for providing the code for this review)