Speaking with Polygon recently about Knack 2, which is releasing in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Director Mark Cerny talked about why the varied platforming sections and combat of the sequel weren’t in the original Knack:
As a launch title, it’s hard to find the time to put all the things in the game, especially those that only a subset of the audience would see. Also, I didn’t appreciate how may [sic] people liked and expected to see that much platforming.
With Knack 2, you’ll find more checkpoints than in Knack, with Cerny saying, “We’re finding challenges in other places than successfully completing lots of consecutive platform jumps before reaching a checkpoint.”
Cerny says there are no “floating platforms,” and Polygon’s preview adds that there are three different difficulty levels in Knack 2, there’s a palace you must travel through that requires stealth and shifting between Little Knack and Big Knack, and there’s a tank level that can be played solo or co-op.
Elsewhere in Polygon’s preview/interview, as well as Glixel’s, they say Knack 2 enemies stay the same size (even when switching back and forth between little and big); combat includes chain maneuvers, dodges, special moves, grapples, a shield, and weapons; upgrade trees allow you to add more than 30 boosts and special moves; and co-op is a big part of the game this time around.
After noting that “co-op in the first game was kind of an afterthought,” Cerny told Glixel about the improved co-op support in Knack 2:
We heard from a lot of people that they liked to play co-op, and that’s definitely what made it a good family game. We heard a lot of people say that they would play with siblings or friends, or parents would play it with their kids. For this game we built it as a co-op experience from the beginning. There’s no story explanation for the second Knack character on screen, we just made it so both characters are equally important but the second player can drop in and out. There’s not a moment in the new game where the second player isn’t involved.
The story in Knack 2 picks up roughly a year later, and it focuses on the destruction of a city. During the adventure, Lucas will offer tips and advice, and a young woman monk will also join the group.
According to Glixel, the first Knack sold a little over a million copies.
Expect to see more of Knack 2 at E3 2017 next month.
[Source: Polygon, Glixel, VentureBeat]
