Knights Contract

 Xbox 360
Knights Contract Image
Metascore
49

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

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  • Summary: Set in the days when a healthy paranoia about witches was considered normal, Knights Contract follows the twisted tale of Heinrich, an immortal executioner, and Gretchen, a resurrected witch. Once the victim of Heinrich's blade by the order of the game's antagonist, Dr. Faust, Gretchen nowSet in the days when a healthy paranoia about witches was considered normal, Knights Contract follows the twisted tale of Heinrich, an immortal executioner, and Gretchen, a resurrected witch. Once the victim of Heinrich's blade by the order of the game's antagonist, Dr. Faust, Gretchen now has him under her control as the two must work together to rid the land of the supernatural foes who are cursing its people with the black spell of death.

    Armed with a razor sharp scythe and explosive witchcraft, players will use these tools with spectacular effects in order to return civility to the land. As players succeed in their journey, they can deal tremendous damage to their on-comers or unleash a gruesome finisher by coordinating the efforts of Heinrich and Gretchen. However, players must also keep a close eye on Gretchen as her mortality is the key to the duo's survival as Heinrich can never be vanquished. It's time to let the combos fly and lay waste to the hordes of darkness with a liberal dose of medieval panache.    … Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 41
  3. Negative: 14 out of 41
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Mar 14, 2011
    81
    Knights Contract is simply a solid adventure game with many flaws, an awkward charm, and often pure fun.
  2. Machinima
    Mar 23, 2011
    65
    Unforgiving quick-time events, unintelligent AI, frustrating cheap deaths, and confusing level design are just a few problems.
  3. Official Xbox Magazine
    Mar 2, 2011
    60
    You'll find some bloody good times scattered throughout the journey, but not nearly as many as we'd hoped. [April 2011, p.78]
  4. SpazioGames
    Feb 24, 2011
    50
    Even if it didn't want to become a new milestone in the action genre, Knights Contract had all the chances to be an entertaining game. Unfortunately many technical flaws kill the good gameplay and the enjoyable story.
  5. X-ONE Magazine UK
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    Frustration and grind are the most prominent attributes. [Issue#69, p.84]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. XboxAddict
    Apr 25, 2011
    40
    Knights Contract has a cool premise by design but an abysmal AI completely defeats the purpose and chance at having any fun within.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Mar 7, 2011
    16
    Technical excellence does not a great game make. By the same token, a game can be great in spite of mechanical and thematic problems. Games with broken parts can still succeed. Knights Contract does not.

See all 41 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. mbeacom
    Jan 24, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. In general, I think this game gets a bit of a bad rap. Is it a great game? Not really, but it's certainly not terrible. It's biggest problem is probably the swingy difficulty combined with some poorly implemented Quick Time Events. The combat system is actually pretty good and the magic system is downright fun. The story is good and keeps you interested. The graphics are hit or miss. Some of the cutscenes look pretty rough but the gameplay looks fine. I would like to respond to the reviewer names razil. He mentions the boss at the end of level 7 and he's right. It's really really REALLY hard and pretty cheap to boot. You're fighting this giant fiery sword carrying witch. You're standing on a large square platform. When you run around, the platform tilts. The fiery witch will occasionally jump away and then shoot arrows at you. If you get hit by an arrow it can throw you off the platform.Instakill. You MUST stay in the center of the platform when she shoots. Also, when she glows and is about to stab the ground, do NOT attack her or you will be thrown back and may fall off the platform, same for gretchen. Hold her in your arms when she is about to stab the ground. The burning craters always appear in a T formation under her body so you know where to stand. You have to attack the witch immediately and do as much damage as possible before she starts glowing. Then just avoid her attacks and stay near the middle when she shoots. Also, there is a quick time event after you kill her. If you fail, you'll have to kill her AGAIN! Every time you fail the QTE, its starts over, OMG its frustrating. I finally beat her. The game tells you how many restarts you have on a level. I had 44. Thats right it took me 44 tries to beat her. If you don't want to fight the same boss 44 times, I would not play this game. Otherwise, give it a try. It will challenge you!… Expand
  2. DaneSaga
    Mar 8, 2011
    6
    First off if you have played and enjoyed the best Action titles available such as Bayonetta, the Devil May Cry series and Ninja Gaiden seriesFirst off if you have played and enjoyed the best Action titles available such as Bayonetta, the Devil May Cry series and Ninja Gaiden series then you should definitely lower your expectations, as Knights Contract is of a completely different calibre to those games.

    Knights Contract is mostly a linear adventure with past chapters opening once completed to go back to at any time for collecting items.
    Combat, while not containing a tremendous amount of depth is extremely fun when combining both Heinrichâ    … Expand
  4. kaim_07
    Oct 28, 2015
    5
    Alberga un universo y unas mecánicas (desaprovechadas) más interesantes de lo que pudiese parecer. Quizá se equivocaron de género. AunqueAlberga un universo y unas mecánicas (desaprovechadas) más interesantes de lo que pudiese parecer. Quizá se equivocaron de género. Aunque mucha gente no lo recuerde, probablemente 'Knight's Contract' sirvió para dar forma a lo que hoy día es 'Dark Souls'.… Expand
  5. SILENT_harrison
    Aug 14, 2012
    4
    my feelings towards this game have been mixed very mixed it had a ton of potential but in the end it was let down by crappy AI harsh QTE's andmy feelings towards this game have been mixed very mixed it had a ton of potential but in the end it was let down by crappy AI harsh QTE's and tedium as its the same thin slightly diffrent area find the witch kill it and keep gretchen alive the thing is i am not a fan of escorting and protecting people like RE4 you protect the presidents daughter even though this is annoying you could hide her command her etc the AI wasnt the best but it was bearable on the other hand gretchens AI is so bad you it will make most people hate the game she falls down alsot she is easily killed she dosent protect herself its just not fun if this thing was fixed i would give the game a 6 but alas this it to broken to enjoy much and i think most people will agree with me… Expand
  6. razil
    Mar 13, 2011
    4
    Before I begin, full disclosure: There is a boss fight, Chapter 7, which is the cheapest fight I have ever encountered. I have not finishedBefore I begin, full disclosure: There is a boss fight, Chapter 7, which is the cheapest fight I have ever encountered. I have not finished the game, nor will I, as this boss is absurd. The basic idea of this game is actually not bad, and the story is unique at least. You play as Heinrich, an immortal executioner looking to be mortal, and protecting a witch named Gretchen. Heinrich is basically the ultimate warrior, heavy armor, uses a giant scythe. Gretchen is your typical caster, squishy, yet capable of screen filling attacks that simply shred enemies. While playing, you mix and match these abilities to decimate enemies. And when you are doing that, the game is quite fun. The difficulty is a little uneven, as some monsters are absolute pushovers while other (non-boss) monsters are actually tougher than bosses. The game's take on life and death is pretty unique as well. As stated above, Heinrich is an immortal and thus cannot die. He can, however, be horrifically dismembered. This then prompts the player to mash the A button to regenerate him. Alone, its a rather neat idea, but the problem comes in the form of Gretchen and her terrible AI. Yes, she can destroy enemies with ease... As long as Heinrich is alive and the player is babysitting her. As soon as Heinrich is down, Gretchen shuts down, her brain turns off and she becomes a damage sponge. So you better mash that A button as fast as humanly possible, because she'll just stand there, taking a beating. It also seems like she takes more damage when Heinrich is down. The healing mechanic is unique as well, as to heal Gretchen quickly, you must scoop her up and carry her. It works rather well, though it can be irritating to try to get her when the screen is filled with death.

    And here we come to the major issue this game faces: cheap, ridiculous difficulty and cheap deaths. I say this having played Bayonetta on the hardest setting, wearing out two controllers in the process. I've beaten Ninja Gaiden Black on Hard, and all the God of Wars on their hardest settings, and this is easily the second most cheaply frustrating game i have ever played. If you get hacked apart as Heinrich, expect Gretchen to die, which means you reload the checkpoint and have to face the same enemies, loosing any experience you may have gained so you can't power up your spells. So you die again... and again... and again. Or Gretchen, being the moron she is, stands in lava, or gets knocked off a cliff, or you get knocked off a cliff, ad nauseum. The entire game is filled with cheap deaths like these, highlighted by that boss fight i mentioned at the very beginning. You get surrounded by lava, the boss likes to charge across the arena, and likes to jump and create shockwaves that knock you over..And Gretchen into the lava where she is content to burn to death. After two hours of playing this one boss battle, I have thrown in the towel. Which is unfortunate, as the story had potential and the gameplay could be fun, the game just didn't receive the proper tuning.

    I can't honestly recommend this game unless you either like frustration or breezed through Ninja Gaiden 2 (which is the number one cheapest game) on the hardest setting. And I wish i could recommend the game, because does have those unique elements that made it worth looking into. Its just sad the developers couldn't make the unique aspects shine, instead contenting themselves with creating an unforgiving gauntlet of frustration.    … Expand

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