black knight sword always feels to me like a forgotton grasshopper game, it's one that you just never hear about and i feel like that's kind of unfair to it, though it's also not fully unwarrented. it was a smaller project not directed by suda and mostly worked on by some of the less publicly known names at the studio which is cool! the game feels like such a passion project from these people, something they could really put their all into, the fact it was a download only XBLA/PSN game probably helped them a lot with less expectations. it's a cool game, it's on the far more stylish end, having a super cool looking paper cutout aesthetic, a lot like kamishibai with an audiance and curtains and the game does the aesthetic well, it reminds me of the shmup levels in shadows of the damned mainly, the game has tons of cool creative environments and creative, but also super gross ememies, it has a look that feels all its own. the areas all feel varied too, hotels, cities, deserts and forrests and all of them are all fun to see, the water effects in the underground level especially just makes that level stick out to me. the vibe in general especially with the music gives me rule of rose vibes, which makes sense as the games art was done by kazuyuki kurashima, making this a love de lic-adjacent game! it feels that way too, it feels more to me like an LDL adjacent game than it does a full grasshopper title.

there's more cool stuff to the game than just the visuals. the game has a persistant narrator that gives you info on the story, setting and warns you when you're close to death, it's charming and he has a super nice voice, though him saying "knock on wood" scares me even thinking about because of how often you'll be hearing it in a bad situation. the music is also excellent, you have some shadows of the damned esque boss themes, creepier songs like the menu theme for when the game wants that kind of ambiance and some more orchestral boss themes that i wasn't all that into, but they all fit and go perfectly with the rest of the game to give it a super cool vibe and the vibe really is the reason to play, it's one of a kind and genuinely worth experiancing, though with some caviats, like the gameplay...

the gameplay is sadly where my love for the game ends. i'll be honest and say that i hated actually playing it. it's a mostly standard 2D platformer but it's just not fun to play, it's stiff and the combat is really difficult and unfun, the attack feels very ineffective and it's hard to fully judge distance and especially on the second playthrough, which you will have to do for the true ending i just found myself dying a lot because i just couldnt hit the enemy right, this second playthrough is just not worth it, it ads extra enemies in some areas and a new final boss but you really only get a slightly different ending out of it, and it's a good ending, the story in general is fantastic, its spooky and well told, with cutscenes that look almost like a stitched tapestry and it tells a very nice fairy tale, but the misery of a second playthrough is just not worth it. i absolutely reccomend experiancing this game, but i'd reccomend very few people actually play it, it's just not a good experiance in that way, a youtube video will showcase the games vibes much better to me, though i also know that the game could be like this on purpose, and if that's the case then it absolutely suceeds at that.

the game was worked on, like i said before, mostly by some of the lesser known names at the studio, i feel like too often grasshopper works just get credited to suda, and while he makes fantastic games (though i do believe the guys games can be more than a lil misogynistic at times and i will likely never forgive him for his chapters of the 25th ward) i dont think he deserves all the credit for the studios works, here he only did some co-writing alongside ren yamazaki, who also directed the game, he's been a long time grasshopper worker who's helped on games as old as shining soul 2, but he's also done some writing on michigan, art for a ton of the studios games like shadows of the damned and many no more heroes games and he also directed no more heroes 3 and travis strikes again. also involved is kazuyuki kurashima who had done the games art design, they also worked on games like the live a live remake (as well as the original) many love de lic games like moon (character artist) , UFO (character boy(?) and endonesia (graphics) , as well as patapon 3 and little kings story as well as some things for onion games on black bird and million onion hotel! some other LDL legacy people like shuji ishikawa of chulip and daisuke ichikawa of rule of rose also worked on the game. also working on the game is akira yamaoka as sound director, who i kind of don't need to give an intro for, you should know. sadly the game has never really been ported though, you have those two original ports on xbox 360 and ps3, and it is playable via streaming on ps plus, but thats kind of all, and it doesn't seem likely it'll get the sinemora treatment any time soon, much like ranko and killer is dead it feels stuck on last gen consoles, and it's never really had a sequel either, as far as i'm aware its never even been referenced in later games, which is a shame because it's a unique experiance and one that deserves better.