Knack -PS4- 3

April 10, 2025

Knack was a launch title for the PlayStation 4 back in late 2013, and was one of many failed attempts at creating a mascot platformer to represent the PlayStation brand before Sony eventually found success with the marvelous Astro Bot many years later. Knack received mixed reviews from critics upon release, but I wanted to play it for myself and see how I felt about the game’s quality or lack thereof. After spending the last week playing through Knack to the end credits on easy mode, I can say that I personally did not like this game. I rather loathed it, in fact.

Knack himself is an amalgamation of ancient artifacts held together by a gravity or electricity of some kind to form a jumping, fighting unit. I think he looks stupid, and is probably the lamest mascot in any platformer I have ever played. His voice also does not fit his appearance at all.

The story follows a group of scientists using Knack to defend themselves against an invading race of Orcs, while searching for more ancient relics that Knack is derived from. It all feels reminiscent of an old Saturday morning cartoon, but one that you don’t remember because it was so generic and forgettable. The characters are also quite ugly.

Once you have played the first 15 minutes of Knack, you have pretty much seen what the next ten hours are going to be like. The levels are exceedingly linear, with the occasional breakable wall to find secret keepsakes and energy refills. You will be doing some jumping over obstacles, but the focus is more on brawling with the enemies. Knack will throw a three punch combination when the timing is right, but he can also unleash one of three different super moves after collecting enough yellow sun stones. This all gets old really fast. The fighting quickly becomes stale and repetitive with all the encounters feeling the same, and the levels feel like they go on forever.

Knack grows bigger when he collects more artifact pieces, and can even outfit himself with different materials such as wood, ice, and metal. These upgrades and increases in size do just about nothing to mix up the gameplay. You simply hit harder while battling bigger foes, and that’s pretty much it. You might run into a small passage that requires you to shrink down or use one of the materials to pass through, but that is all. Knack’s gameplay is utterly rudimentary, and running through hallway after hallway while doing the same simple moves in fight after fight is woefully tedious.

I found Knack to be a decidedly banal and lackluster experience, to the point of me not having much enjoyment with it at all. On the bright side, Knack’s controls feel tight and responsive with the ability to dash and double jump, the backdrops throughout the levels are colorful, and the overall package is polished, with no bugs or glitches in sight. But the gameplay itself has almost no variety, and is just plain boring. The title character is also downright unlikable. I am rating Knack a 3 out of ten. This game sucks.