Sometimes after playing hardcore titles such as the rage-inducing Bloodborne or gripping games like The Last of Us and Resident Evil 7, you’d probably want to take a break in between your gaming hours to free yourself of the pressure. Well, there’s a whole lot of simple yet fun games currently available on the PlayStation Store to do just that. However, you don’t want them mindless gaming, and you’d want them to challenge your skills and wits. That’s what The Onion Knights did for us.
Sometimes after playing hardcore titles such as the
rage-inducing Bloodborne or gripping games like The Last of Us and Resident
Evil 7, you’d probably want to take a break in between your gaming hours to
free yourself of the pressure. Well, there’s a whole lot of simple yet fun
games currently available on the PlayStation Store to do just that. However,
you don’t want them mindless gaming, and you’d want them to challenge your
skills and wits. That’s what The Onion Knights for the PlayStation 4 did for us.
Plot
In the age of the Great Binge, the Broccoli, Potato and Ginger have all fallen to the enemy empire of Curry and now only the Onion Kingdom is left. But just as curry cannot be complete without onions, the Curry Empire keeps attacking the Onion Kingdom. To guard their kingdom, their greatest army has been sent into battle - the Onion Knights.
The plot is kept fairly simple. During the age of the Great
Binge, the kingdoms of Brocolli, Potato and Ginger have all fallen to the
empire, and yours, the Onion Kingdom, is the only one left standing. Your job
is to defend the Onion Kingdom using your troops and your skills, and that’s
really just about it.
Gameplay
Onion Knights at first glance seems like a tower-defense
title, albeit one where your primary line of attack is a cannoneer that can
only move up and down. The main objective is to halt the advances of the
different types of enemies as they move forward to your castle, which gets a
tad more difficult as you progress.
You’ll get to beef up your cannoneer through upgrades that
can increase your damage and your hit points, and you’ll also be assisted from
your three primary heroes using their skills and an extra hero, plus the items
that can either give you improved stats, replenish the health and mana of your
cannoneer, summon heroes, or eliminate enemies that are currently on the field.
Of course, leveling up your characters through the use of gold is necessary if
you want to further progress. Gold is the form of currency, but there are also
gems that can also aid you in upgrading your stats and heroes. The latter does
come scarce, however, so you may want to save it for endgame.
It’s a different take on a game of tower defense, but it’s
actually much more than that. Sure, it’s probably a no brainer that the
standard difficulty setting is easy enough for the average gamer, and most
times this is where you’d want to perfect your scores. It does pose a challenge
from time to time, but it’s not as frustrating as seeing the “YOU DIED” screen
in Bloodborne or Dark Souls. It’s a fun pick-me-up game that you can play
without the difficulties of getting a 100% completion on certain titles, which
makes it a fun stress relieving title if I do say so myself.
However, if you’re not really in it for leisure and you want
to maximize your time with it, you’re in for a treat. The Onion Knights has two
hardcore game modes that you can attempt, and both of them can really grate on
your nerves if you want to finish them. One is the Hard Mode where, as its name
suggests, will make the game harder exponentially. This mode will pit more
enemy troops against you, with bosses for each levels firing artilleries at you
and it’s bullet hell when they do. It’s a fun and rewarding mode when you get
to complete each level, although there are no merits in beating it save for
bragging rights.
On the other hand, the Extreme Mode is the equivalent of
Survival Mode where you will attempt to withstand all of the enemy waves until
you can no longer fight. What’s fun here is that all of the gold you collect
will carry over to the main game, so it’s also rewarding and fun to go through
it whenever you want to upgrade your skills, heroes, and cannon.
Graphics
In terms of graphics, The Onion Knights isn’t exactly
presented in the most visually exhilarating of ways. The graphics are quirky
fun, and it’s actually a good representation on what the plot and the battle
system are. Character models are also cutesy, and the animations are quite
enjoyable to watch. If there’s one thing to gripe, it’s the different in visual
presentation for some of the models and animations – players and enemy troops
are rendered in 3D, while some of the attack animations from troops and heroes
are animated illustrations that feel off. It’s not exactly a dealbraker, but
it’s one you’ll probably nitpick on.
Customizations
As mentioned, your cannoneer isn’t your only line of defense
against enemy troops. You’ll have the help of your hero skills and another hero
to boot, which you can upgrade accordingly to help you out during large waves
of enemies swarming towards you. Skills are very useful in the battle since
they are AOE attacks, giving you enough breathing time if you are being swarmed
by the enemy troops. There are a lot of skills that are situational, while some
are quite useful for spamming. It’s up to you which you want to upgrade,
although you can opt not to if you want further game challenges that are
self-imposed.
As for your hero selection, you can upgrade the one you
choose through hero cards that you can acquire as you play. However, these
don’t come in pretty often, so do take note that you’ll have to invest in one
hero to achieve the desired effect efficiently.
Items on the other hand are straightforward. There are
descriptions that will give you the lowdown on certain items you can use during
battles. Some actuate as soon as the battle starts, while the majority are
manually activated for situational/emergency cases.
Verdict
There are those who look for games for leisure and for
killing time, and there are also those hardcore enough to make it as a
profession or a passion. And in that note, when gaming is all that can really
satisfy your interests even when gaming is all you’ve been doing, pick-me-up
titles will be your cup of tea to relieve your stress, boredom, or breather
from playing.
THEM Corporations’ The Onion Knights can provide you with a
clean and satisfying break from hardcore gaming – its simple take on a tower
defense is a breath of fresh air, and its competitive modes can fill you in if
you want the challenge. At SGD22, The Onion Knights can last you a while if
you’re looking for a fun-yet-competitive title that you can pick up whenever
you need something fun and fresh.
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