When I first learned Knights in the Nightmare is coming to the PSP, I was immediately concerned. How could something that so highly required the touchscreen of the DS transfer to the PSP? I could easily imagine it being ported to the iPod Touch or iPhone. But ported to the PSP? I just could not imagine it. Atlus was kind enough to show us a working demo of the game.
Knights in the Nightmare follows a solitary wisp who is trying to get back to the kingdom. Along the way, it’ll have to battle countless monsters and revive his fallen comrades. The plot is surreal as it goes back and forth in time. Another layer of complexity is added as there are now three different perspectives to the story.
Gameplay is rather simple, or at least it becomes easier to understand as you play it. You have the wisp dodging various attacks while charging (reviving) the knights to attack the demons. You have 60 seconds of charge time each turn, and the number goes down after use and receiving damage. The battle is won by having a completed row, column or diagonal of “defeated” monsters. You have a reel for each column, and it influences which monsters you’ll fight.
If this is still overwhelming, the tutorial has been completely overhauled. No longer do you have to sit for 45 minutes to understand the game. First, there is a mission tutorial that teaches you how to play in an actual mission. Second, the game has the tutorial implemented into the gameplay. So you can, if you so wish, jump in and learn by doing. Veterans of the game will probably attest that is not the best way to learn. With a game as rich and complex as Knights, it is easy to recommend the tutorial.
But how does it all control? And it looks like it works just as well as the DS version. In each corner is a slot for a weapon or an item. A push of a button switches between the law and chaos settings. Controlling the wisp is as simple as pushing the d-pad in the proper direction. Here’s the million wisp question: How does it all feel? The DS version felt perfect, while I have yet to physically get my hands on the PSP game. I have no clue at this time how well it actually controls in practice.
Graphically, the game retains the dark style of the DS version. Attacks are still easy to pinpoint on screen. The resolution seems higher, thus more details can be seen on screen. It seems to be perfectly pitched for the PSP.
Music and sound effects were not heard, unfortunately. However, the atmospheric music is being enhanced to take advantage of the PSP’s hardware. How great it sounds is to be determined.
Overall, Knights in the Nightmare for the PSP seems to hold a lot of promise. If everything moves as well as it looks, then it could be a matter of preference. This is something Atlus strongly believes: It is the same game with a different feel. Look for Knights in the Nightmare this October. It might be perfect for when the ghosts actually come out and play.
