Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon
Oct 1, 2011 Demo 0 commentsThe released demo for Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon. Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon is a 3D indie computer RPG for Windows (and...
Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon
Rampant Games | Released Sep 27, 2011
In a world of jaded heroes and veteran adventurers, you play a team of misfits: Arianna, a dainty warrior with an attitude problem; Dirk, an adrenaline-junky rogue who doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘subtle;’ Benjamin, a nature-priest and an ill-suited newcomer to the adventuring lifestyle, and Chloe, a ditsy sorceress with a love of cute, fuzzy animals and setting her enemies on fire.
Adventuring is always a dangerous profession, but recently things have gotten bad. Very bad. Teams of expert fortune-hunters are getting "morted," suffering great losses against enemies that are better prepared than ever. In the taverns and Adventurer's Guildhalls, whispered rumors speak of the return of an evil that once all but destroyed civilization. But as many great and famous adventurers fall to this growing threat, perhaps this bunch of losers - called "The Frayed Knights" (but never to their faces) - might just be the heroes the world really needs:
The wrong people at the wrong time.
Features:
- 30+ hours of gameplay.
- Challenging, turn-based combat in a game that plays at your pace.
- A unique "Drama Star" system that rewards the player for playing through tough situations instead of reloading and replaying.
- A spell named, "Power Word: Defenestrate."
- Over a hundred base spells, most with several upgraded variants.
- An innovative trap-disarming / lockpicking system using character skills and items to disable a device one component at a time.
- Over 80 feats to customize your party as they progress through the game.
- A detailed, "stats-heavy" rules system... which you are free to ignore if you choose.
- Nearly 200 different items to be used and abused by your characters.
- A "Quarterstaff of Nad-Whacking."
- Sixteen "dungeons" (interior adventuring areas), five outdoor areas, one village, an alternate dimension, and some green dude's one-room hovel.
- A THICK (virtually) 69-page PDF manual. For those who want more than just the tutorials...
Latest Screens
Latest News: Frayed Knights Wins Another GOTY Award!
1 comment by RampantCoyote on Jan 31st, 2012
The editors of RPGWatch have selected Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon as the winner of their Indie Game of the Year. In a year with some truly outstanding competition, Frayed Knights managed to marry old-school dungeon-crawling style with bold new ideas and humor, and took home top honors.
From the award page:
"If you are a frequent visitor to RPGWatch then you will definitely know about Frayed Knights. It was one of last year's most anticipated indies of 2011 and for a lot of us it delivered on everything it promised. What Jay Barnson, developer of Frayed Knights, wanted to do with the game is bring back some of the RPGs of old like Wizardry and Might and Magic. He delivered in spades for a lot of us.
"For those of you who are new to RPGWatch, Frayed Knights is a dungeon crawler similar to the Might and Magic series. The combat was turn-based and there were many skills to improve your four characters. Unlike the M&M series, Jay brought his own style of writing and humor to the game. If you are familiar with Monkey Island or Quest for Glory then you'll have a good idea of the style of writing the game offers. The writing is one of the best parts to this game. His humor is just as good, if not better, than some of the professionally developed games out there - especially some of the newer AAA games which attempt to bring humor to a game, but only deliver the most base type of comedy.
"While the game does have its flaws such as the graphics and, to some, the UI, it delivers on all that was promised: a computer RPG of comedy and high fantasy."
You can read about the other award winners here:
Latest Video
Latest Downloads
Post a Comment
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free) and do things you never thought possible.
Profile
Icon
Platform
WindowsDeveloper
Rampant GamesEngine
Torque Game EngineContact
Send MessageOfficial Page
Frayedknights.comRelease Date
Released Sep 27, 2011Game Watch
Track this game
Community Rating
Style
Genre
Role PlayingTheme
FantasyPlayers
Single PlayerProject
IndieBoxshot
Statistics
I certainly liked how you mixed comedy with art and RPG, no doubts about why this game already won the award above mentioned, truly creative. I'm aiming something similar for my project, although my project genre is sci-fi and anime.
What about Linux version?
We haven't committed to a Linux version yet. We've got a developer working on the port to Mac, though, and when that's done we are going to talk about doing a Linux version.
Just a note to indie developers.
I immediately uninstall demos and will not touch a game that refuses to allow me to set the keybindings I wish to. I am a left handed gamer, and using my right hand to WASD is like trying to write an essay with my foot. If I can't rebind keys to the arrow keys, I do not purchase your game. Lazy programming = No money.
The arrow keys are already bound to movement. The WASD keys are a bonus (or, if you prefer, the WASD keys are standard and the arrow keys are the bonus).
Most of the non-movement "hotkeys" are rebindable.
New review at RPGamer. Not as great as some of the others - the reviewer didn't like the slower pace of combats or the amount of variations in attack damage (old-school randomness), but otherwise had some great things to say....
Rpgamer.com
Frayed Knights is a really engaging game for computer RPG dungeon-crawl fans who like an intricate story and fleshed-out fiction in a game world. The writing is of great quality, both when it's funny and when serious. The four characters give varied perspectives on each situation, which really helps with the plot and dynamics of fantasy fiction.
If you like the Might and Magic games, or really any dungeon crawl game, and enjoy using strategy to customize four characters as they level up and explore, then you should definitely check this game out. I regret paying 40-50 bucks for a triple-A game that got boring after a few hours, or had buggy mechanics, or was just boring in its execution than paying ~20 bucks for a really wonderful RPG that is easy enough to get into, but still complex enough to satisfy the statistics-nerd and AD&D enthusiast.
Some people have said the graphics aren't very good, but I think they fit perfectly with the theme of this game. If you aren't obsessed with pixel shaders and bump mapping, then I don't think you will have a problem with the way Frayed Knights looks. It is very well done in artistic theme and motif.
...and it's a hell of a lot of fun! Like I said, if you are an old-school RPG fan, or just like a more complicated RPG game, where you can actually customize your characters to meet varied challenges, then try the demo!
There's a review section, which is where your post could've been put just as easily.
hmm I hope 23.47 isnt your definite price. Being BF3 for an extra $20 as well as Dungeon Defenders (14.99) is coming out in the next week, you'd understand a game with such graphics and a team of 4-10 (even lower?) you should be reducing the price.
No disrespect but when I see a game from a first time indie game developer Im hoping for a $5-$10 (MAX $15) game because its their first time getting into the game industry.
Good luck with the game! I'll try the demo but wont be buying.
@XSnoopie:
Jay Barnson is a veteran of the gaming industry, having worked there since mid90s (probably his most known titles are Twisted Metal and Warhawk). Frayed Knights is a game that he developed mostly by himself (with external contributors for some more intricate graphics, sound and level design that he couldn't do) in the course of several years. This is something that almost no amateur can do, so even from the game's release you can be sure that he is a professional :-).
The graphics aren't very good, indeed, but this is partly because of the very small team and the focus on producing quality gameplay and story. The game is very humorous and has some very interesting innovations for the genre, like the drama star system (that rewards you if you take risks with the game and avoid spamming the save/load system) and the way lock picking is done.
The price is indeed a bit higher than what most indie games usually cost, but it isn't unheard of and is only just a notch higher than what most quality indie games cost ($19.95). And overall, Frayed Knights is a quality game :-).
Don't take my word for it, of course, check the demo. By itself is more than an hour long (it took me more than two actually, but i'm a bit slow in games because i want to explore everything i can :-P). It is a demo of the good kind: it really shows how the full game is and plays, giving you enough information to see if you will like the game or not.
Btw, if you're interested in oldschool RPG games check Jay's blog:
Rampantgames.com
There is lots of interesting content and articles there. Personally i followed JK's development since it the pilot's release from Jay's blog and i was hooked on his site because of the interesting article. In fact thanks to Jay i'm much more interested in RPG games these days and i've bought a few classics that i never thought i would be interested in.
Yeah, i'm a bit of a fan :-)