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preface

on a sunny afternoon, when you open that story picture book that you haven’t read for a long time and prepare to enter the familiar fairy tale world of your childhood again, a wonderful thing quietly happens - the characters in the book, especially the heroic little knight choate unexpectedly discovered that there was a three-dimensional space beyond the pages of the book.

an adventure journey across dimensions and to save companions slowly unfolds in front of players. this is the action-adventure game "brave little knight" recently launched on the steam platform. this game gives the protagonist, the cute little knight choate, unprecedented "freedom". he is no longer bound by a linear narrative, but can transcend the text and interact with people in different plots, different scenes, and even two-dimensional pages. travel freely between three-dimensional worlds. the "dimensionality reduction strike" plot that appeared in "the three-body problem" was actually realized in such a game full of childlike innocence.

break the fourth wall

as the debut novel of game developer all possible futures, "the brave little knight" tells a cute and somewhat strange fairy tale: an evil magician accidentally discovers that he is the villain in the picture book, and is destined to be the villain in the entire set of books. defeated again and again by the protagonist. in order to break his fate, this unconventional mage decided to take extreme measures to completely drive his old enemy, the little knight choate, out of the book so that he could not participate in the development of the story.

however, the crazy spell he cast accidentally brought choate to a three-dimensional world outside the picture book, gaining power beyond the narrative. since then, choate can turn the pages at will, experience picture book chapters in any order, and modify the direction of the story; he can even bring props found in the three-dimensional world into the book, adding new variables to the original plot.

as the core mechanism of the game, the gameplay of "fairy tale characters shuttle between the pages of the book and reality" breaks the "fourth wall" inside the game and brings many surprises to the experiencers. the game chooses to use an extremely traditional story of "good triumphs over evil" as an introduction to provide a starting point for comparison for subsequent narrative breakthroughs.

as the plot of this fairy tale drama unfolds, various classic game mechanisms can’t wait to appear one after another: when the player explores the mainland, the game is presented as a standard top-down perspective rpg; when crossing the mountain stream, it is converted into a 2d platform jumping how to play; when fighting the boss, the game switches to an over-the-shoulder perspective fighting action game. turn-based card battles, scrolling shooting, audio games, shooting, catching fish, experiencing jetpacks... there are so many creative ideas in the game that it is difficult to list them all.

these mechanisms are naturally connected through the form of "picture book page turning". in the first two chapters, you will feel that the game should be a 2d game with the form of a "picture book" changed as the main creative point, but the process also hints that there is a three-dimensional world outside the picture book.

for example, when the little knight choate falls into the cave, the picture book originally spread horizontally on the desktop suddenly rotates 90 degrees, bringing the player into a vertical scroll scene similar to "if you are a man, go down the hundred floors". this performance not only surprised players, but also planted a seed of revelation: "picture book" is not an unshakable cornerstone setting, it is also one of the variable elements in the game world.

in the end, the step-by-step fairy tale was completely broken. when choate enters the mountain castle to confront the evil wizard, the wizard uses evil magic to expel the protagonist from the world of the book. choate was shut out of the picture book and unable to return to the original story. the 3d gameplay unfolds reasonably in the player's surprise. this is the first time the game has surprised me.

“solo trip”

the three-dimensional adventure that unfolds outside the picture book exudes a strange sense of déjà vu. this feeling is especially evident when the player finds himself on a desk in a children's room, surrounded by a variety of stationery and toys.

choate, the character who jumped out of the book, is small in size. in contrast, every object around him seems extremely large... this kind of scene design and atmosphere creation are incomparable with "two men". different approaches but similar results.

in this maze made of pencils, erasers, books and lunch boxes, the challenges faced by players are mainly a series of path-finding puzzles based on 3d platforms, and the overall difficulty is not high. the only slightly adrenaline-pumping parts are the occasional stealth sessions, such as dodging some common household arthropods, but the mechanics are nothing new. choate's "cross-dimensional" ability has not fully demonstrated its charm at this stage, but has only begun to appear in the puzzle area——

whenever choate encounters obstacles at the end of the puzzle (such as stacks of books and castle models blocking the way), or is cornered by cockroaches, he can always find and get into a piece of graffiti posted randomly by the little master, and enter a new area in the two-dimensional plane to avoid the dangers of the three-dimensional world.

at this point, this ability is more like a transition between different puzzle spaces, but there are also clever designs: sometimes players can find certain props in the real world, such as items falling out of lunch boxes.fruit radish, and then bring it into the doodle to feed the hungry stick figure rabbit to solve the puzzle, adding more show-level fun to the game.

generally speaking, the three-dimensional real world is more like a "tool man area" that you have to leave after taking the props. when the character jumps out of the plane, the exploration of the new world naturally involves touching here and tapping there. you will look forward to the protagonist’s feedback on the paint box, the effect on the finger flick, and whether there will be a physical reaction when touching building blocks, paper clips, labels, etc.

but as you explore, you will realize that the world you expect is not much better than the feedback in the flat world, and it is not even as vivid as a picture book. most of this world is just a scene, which exposes the limitations of an independent game. it can only make some simple interactions in a three-dimensional world that should seem to be able to do a lot.

in this series of cross-dimensional adventures, the world outside the picture books is gradually unveiled - a mysterious character revealed that it is these picture books that will inspire the little master's creativity in the future and help him grow into a slightly famous... cartoonist. once it is tampered with by the wizard, the future of the little master will become bleak.

as the exploration progresses, choate eventually finds the key item - a pair of magical gloves that allow him, as a character in the book, to turn the pages of the book from the outside. since then, the knight has gained the right to control the narrative world, and players will quickly understand the core gameplay of the game. the previously slightly slow pace and the map full of "useless details" highlight its significance at this moment.

you will suddenly realize that the game will also lead you to rediscover secrets in previously experienced scenes and maps, rearrange structures, meet those weird characters again, and finally embark on the road to redemption. the power of transnarratives is finally beginning to flex its muscles.

word play

in the game, choate's power to transcend narrative is demonstrated through two unique abilities, the first of which is the aforementioned "page turn." this skill allows players to freely backtrack or jump to any story segment, and even borrow props or ask for help between different time and spaces.

the page turning mechanism is like an enhanced version of the portal, allowing players to freely explore between any pages of the current chapter, connecting originally independent maps into a world with a high degree of freedom. this kind of seriality provides a stage for players to check for gaps, carry out side tasks, and actively look for key items that may be useful in the preceding and following pages.

another ability is related to "text". after returning to the fairy tale, the sword in choate's hand can not only be used to chop enemies, but also cut through the text, cutting some key words from the description and replacing them with words found elsewhere. immediately, the picture will change with the change of text, and even the direction of the plot will directly change. for example, if "forest" in "there is a hidden forest here" is changed to "maze", the dense forest that originally blocked the road will immediately become a ruins with hidden shortcuts.

write at the end

to say that "brave little knight" is a perfect independent game in my mind is not necessarily true, but the way this game shapes the world inside and outside can be said to be quite flavorful. as a debut novel, "the brave little knight" deserves praise for both its conceptual innovation and practical presentation.

the game seems to be a breakthrough in traditional fairy tales in form, but after going through a series of complex formal transcendences, its outer story still follows the most classic fairy tale framework - the brave knight goes through many difficulties and finally protects the children. the future defeated the wizard.

of course, from another perspective, we can also say that "the brave little knight" while breaking through the fairy tale, finally returned to the fairy tale itself, completing a deeper closed loop.

the content of this game lasts about ten hours, which is enough for players to immerse themselves in it, especially since the game supports a chinese interface and has excellent chinese voice dubbing throughout. although it does not involve too many avant-garde explorations or in-depth character growth elements, it still successfully maintains the beauty and purity of fairy tales in its uninterrupted freshness.