“Knytt” is small but oh, so shiny

“Knytt” is a game created by amateur artist, musician, and coder Nifflas where you collect the eleven scattered pieces of a UFO in order to get back home. But that’s not what it’s about.

What “Knytt” is about is exploration. You are a little cat-monkey thing called the Knytt, and in the course of the game you will run, jump, and climb your way through a beautiful and atmospheric little world. The UFO pieces might as well be mystic crystals or golden coins; what matters here is the journey, not the destination.

On the game’s website, Nifflas lists his four inspirations as “Ico,” “Doukutsu Monogatari” (or “Cave Story”), “Seiklus,” and “Shadow of the Colossus.” If you recognize any of those names, you’ll be impressed to know that Nifflas does each of them justice.

The world you explore is detailed and varied, which is impressive considering the “Cave Story”-inspired, pixilated graphics. Your character is under 30 pixels tall, but he animates fluidly as you jump and wall-climb around caves, fields, mountains, and clouds. “Ico”’s influence is clear in the atmosphere as well as an area that you might recognize from that game. “Shadow of the Colossus” lends its beam-of-light guidance system, and “Seiklus” contributes a huge world with bizarre environments. Nifflas takes all these influences and combines them with polish.

Indeed, “polish” is the key word here. Everything in the game is shiny and well-crafted. Movement and navigation is smooth and easy; your little monkey-thing behaved just like I expected, and I found myself racing through the world, having fun just moving. The music and sound is pretty and haunting, and it fades in at just the right times. The world is full of little glowing details and animated inhabitants. The game almost achieves perfection.

Almost. There are a few flaws in this jewel. First, the premise (remember those UFO parts?) is pretty uninspired for a game that’s this gorgeous. It feels out of place, and several times I almost missed a part because I forgot I was even supposed to be finding them.

Second, death is instant when it occurs. There are tons of save points, and few enemies, but I fell into water or lava countless times. For a game that’s this peaceful, I’d expect a kinder attitude toward danger.

Lastly, all you do is run and jump. There’s one (cool) point where you push something, but you can’t do anything else. This especially sticks out in areas with other characters in the background. I wanted to be able to wave, or wag my tail, or do something to communicate with these other creatures. Many of them are mysterious or funny, like the man who stares out over the ocean or the pair fishing in lava. I wanted to acknowledge their presence, but all I could do was run by.

The game is short, but it’s free, and there are lots of secrets and places to explore apart from the main quest. I highly reccommend you go to http://knytt.ni2.se/ and check it out. This is one of the few games that I’ve played that made me smile the whole way through.