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The Knightling is a fantasy adventure game from Twirlbound and Saber Interactive, placing the player in the shoes of an aspiring knight looking for their lost mentor. Despite being a 2025 release, there’s something about this game that emanates nostalgia and warmth.

Suppose you’re wondering whether to pick up The Knightling. In that case, you’ll find The Escapist’s full review below, looking at everything from the combat and the movement fluidity, to the story and overall world design. This review will touch on the story beats slightly, but won’t spoil anything that isn’t in the game’s official description.

The Escapist recaps

• The Knightling was released on 28 August 2025, made by the team at Twirlbound and published by Saber Interactive.
• It’s a semi-open-world adventure with a charming art style, putting the player in the shoes of a Knightling – an aspiring knight who wants to track down and rescue their missing mentor. 
• The game has a detailed storyline and overarching narrative, but still manages to make side quests and exploration feel incredibly rewarding.
• The Knightling performed very nicely during review sessions, running on the highest possible settings with only a very minor hiccup every now and then. 

A delightfully cozy adventure 

The first thing that you’ll get to see when you set foot into the world of The Knightling is a charming cutscene, introducing you to the brave Sir Lionstone and setting the tone for the adventure ahead.

You won’t be playing as Sir Lionstone, though. You’ll be stepping into the much smaller shoes of the Knightling, an assistant to the legendary knight who helps him solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and traverse obstacles.

The introduction to the game is smooth and breezy, walking you through several physics-based puzzles without feeling too forced. There’s a boss fight of sorts, but instead of being right in the fray alongside Sir Lionstone, you’ll be scampering around the top of the room looking for something heavy to drop on the enemy.

After the introductory sequence, shenanigans will ensue and – shock horror – the larger-than-life Lionstone will go missing. The Knightling will then be left to their own devices, which is where the game’s world opens up fully for exploration.

The main gameplay loop focuses on platforming and solving puzzles while completing quests and speaking to key characters. Exploring the world feels rewarding, with hidden treasure chests, pockets of enemies, or shield races to take part in around every corner.

Story-wise, The Knightling was a joy to experience. The world-building was solid, the dialogue was fun, and the narrative flowed nicely. The side quests helped to enhance the main storyline, too, tying into The Knightling’s main mission. 

Playing as the knightling is fun and fast-paced

The Knightling isn’t as powerful as Sir Lionstone by any means, but after a few quests and upgrades, they’ll be able to wield Lionstone’s gigantic shield and use it to surf around or whack enemies on the head with. 

The protagonist isn’t as tanky as the legendary hero by any means, but they’re agile and adaptable, with a wide talent tree to unlock.

Talents are unlocked by gathering a resource called Praise, which is rather sweet. Praise can be obtained by defeating enemies or by simply exploring the world, bouncing around off rooftops, and springing over bridges to hoover up the sparkly golden orbs. 

The Praise resource is thematically accurate, as there’s a real sense of proving yourself and trying to get stronger as the knightling.

The tiny acrobat just wants to help people and rescue their mentor, but they’re evidently viewed as too young and weak by the vast majority of characters in the beginning stages of the game. This changes, though.  

Without spoiling the story too much, the titular Knightling is forced to get stronger as the game progresses, and it’s evident in later battles. The combat felt solid from the start of the game, but the mid-to-late battles felt wickedly fun with punchy talents and acrobatic feats. 

The fight designs for both bosses and regular enemies were fantastic, too. Every enemy was distinct – one might throw a trio of green slime balls, then another might use a sword to send purple shockwaves at the player – and there was a nice difficulty curve as the game unfolded.

One particularly interesting addition was the armor mechanic. When fighting an armored foe, the knightling needed to stun them and then rip off their armor, pulling off a series of quick-time events to do so. It’s a fun addition to combat that helps place an emphasis on timing and positioning. 

Movement feels spectacular when playing as the knightling, particularly once you’ve got the shield slide unlocked. The childlike glee of finding a bouncy mushroom to get extra air or a wooden ramp that sends you careening over the top of a statue cannot be understated – and that’s to say nothing of the waterslide-esque sections dotted throughout the map. 

Smooth sailing for the tiny knight

There aren’t many complaints to raise about The Knightling. In terms of performance, it ran well and looked great, even though it was reviewed on an admittedly old PC – we even tested it on the Ultra settings for a few hours and found it still performed well. 

Other than one cutscene, which had a few small hiccups and the very occasional clipping texture, there were no issues to report. It felt smooth and well-crafted, with a delightful art style to boot. 

In terms of pacing, the game got more difficult as the story progressed, but it never felt unfair or unrewarding. Fights got trickier – particularly one gauntlet match in the late-game – but they rewarded creative uses of the knightling’s tools and abilities, along with various hazards around the battle arena.

Being able to use the game world against enemies is always a joy. In some fights, there’d be the chance to use one enemy’s attack against another, or red barrels of explosives to shoot after baiting a foe near them. 

The sound design and music for The Knightling were particularly lovely. The music felt charming and whimsical, and the audio for elements like clicking through menus or pulling up a turnip from the ground was crisp.

If you’re a fan of open-world adventures with punchy combat and charming stories, The Knightling is a solid pick for your next gaming session. It offers a blend of exploration, combat, and platforming, along with memorable characters and a vibrant game world. It’s available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. 

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