Knights and Bikes

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Knights and Bikes
Knights and Bikes promo art.png
Developer(s) Foam Sword
Publisher(s) Double Fine Productions
Designer(s) Rex Crowle
Moo Yu
Programmer(s) Moo Yu
Artist(s) Rex Crowle
Writer(s) Rex Crowle
Composer(s) Daniel Pemberton
Engine Unity
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, Mac, Linux, PS4
August 27, 2019
Nintendo Switch
February 6, 2020 [1]
Xbox One
November 5, 2020 [2]
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Knights and Bikes is a cooperative action-adventure game inspired by The Goonies and Secret of Mana . It is created by Foam Sword, a British [3] indie game development company made up of former Media Molecule staff. [4]

Contents

Other media

Three tie-in novels have been written by children's author Gabrielle Kent, and published by indie publisher Knights Of. Knights and Bikes was published in August 2018; Rebel Bicycle Club was published in August 2019; Wheels of Legend was the final installment published in July 2020. [5]

In 2019, Tiger Aspect Productions, then part of the Endemol group before being acquired by Banijay Group the following year, optioned the IP for an animated television series. [6]

Development

The Kickstarter for Knights and Bikes was launched on February 2, 2016, with a funding goal of £100,000. The goal was met and development continued on the game. The game was originally set to launch in April 2017, but was delayed until 2019. The game released for Windows, Mac, Linux and PS4 on August 27, 2019. [7] A Nintendo Switch version was later released on February 6, 2020, and an Xbox One version was released on November 5, 2020. [8] [9]

Reception

Accolades

The game was nominated for "Best Indie Game" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, [15] and won the award for "Game, Original Family" at the NAVGTR Awards; [16] it was also nominated for "Audio Innovation of the Year" at the MCV/Develop Awards, [17] and for the Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award at the SXSW Gaming Awards, [18] and won the award for "Excellence in Visual Art" at the Independent Games Festival Awards, whereas it was nominated for "Excellence in Audio". [19] [20] In addition, it was nominated for "Best Debut" with Foam Sword Games at the Game Developers Choice Awards, [21] and for "Best Sound Design for an Indie Game" at the 18th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards. [22] It was also nominated for "Artistic Achievement", "British Game", "Debut Game", and "Family" at the 16th British Academy Games Awards. [23]

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References

  1. ↑ Wales, Matt (January 25, 2020). "Co-op coming-of-age adventure Knights and Bikes is heading to Switch next month". Eurogamer . Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  2. ↑ Spurr, Megan (October 26, 2020). "Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass for Android, Console, and PC: Celeste, Grim Fandango, PUBG and More". Xbox Wire. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  3. ↑ Alex Wawro (2015-11-15). "Foam Sword is the new studio from a pair of Media Molecule vets". Gamasutra . Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  4. ↑ Keith Stuart (2016-02-02). "Knights and Bikes: a game that combines The Goonies with Cornwall". The Guardian . Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  5. ↑ "Knights And Bikes - Wheels of Legend". Round Table Books. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  6. ↑ "Tiger Aspect adapts video game". C21media. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (2019-08-27). "Knights And Bikes starts its Cornish childhood adventure today". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  8. ↑ "Knights and Bikes". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  9. ↑ "Knights and Bikes". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  10. ↑ "Knights and Bikes for PC Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  11. ↑ "Knights and Bikes for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  12. ↑ "Knights and Bikes for Switch Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  13. ↑ "Knights and Bikes Review – an Adorable Ride". Game Informer . Archived from the original on September 4, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Knights and Bikes Review - Double Trouble".
  15. ↑ "Days Gone Rides off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". 20 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "2019 Winners | NAVGTR".
  17. ↑ Wallace, Chris (17 February 2020). "It's your last chance to vote for the MCV/DEVELOP Awards winners 2020". MCV.
  18. ↑ "2020 SXSW Gaming Awards Nominees Revealed".
  19. ↑ "Mutazione, Eliza, Untitled Goose Game Are Some of the Key Nominees for the 22nd Annual Independent Games Festival" (Press release). 7 January 2020.
  20. ↑ "A SHORT HIKE WINS THE SEUMAS MCNALLY GRAND PRIZE AT THE 22nd ANNUAL INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL AWARDS" (Press release). 19 March 2020.
  21. ↑ "'Death Stranding' Leads Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter . 8 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "Awards Archive". Game Audio Network Guild. 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  23. ↑ "Death Stranding and Control dominate Bafta games awards nominations". TheGuardian.com . 3 March 2020.
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