Knack

About

Knack is a platforming beat-em-up video game developed for the Playstation 4. While generally received as average, the games received an ironic following a running joke about them from YouTuber videogamedunkey.

History

Knack was developed by SIE Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and released on November 13th, 2013.^[1] The game was a launch title for the Playstation 4, meaning it was one of the first games released for the console. In the game, players play as the titular character Knack, a humanoid organism composed of items called "Relics" which Knack can accumulate to grow bigger or drop to shrink. Sony envisioned Knack to be the Playstation 4's equivalent of a Crash Bandicoot-type mascot for the console. Despite mixed critical reception, a sequel to Knack was released on September 5th, 2017.

Reception

Knack received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the game has a mixed-review score of 54/100.^[2] Critics tended to like the concept but found the game lacked in gameplay and story execution. Zero Punctuation criticized the game's ineffectiveness as a launch title advertising the Playstation 4, and coined the phrase "Knack is cack" (shown below, left). He similarly harshly critiqued the game's sequel four years later (shown below, right).

Online Presence

The game became an ironic favorite of popular YouTuber videogamedunkey, who sarcastically referenced the game in several YouTube videos. For example, in his "History of Gaming" video, he jokingly claims that Knack was the first game in years that returned to gaming's "golden age, before saying "sadly, Knack would go on to sell three copies because it was the worst game ever made" (shown below, left). On September 8th, 2017, he went into how he didn't actually like Knack before ironically going into praising Knack II, gaining over 2.9 million views.

Search History

External References

^[1] Wikipedia – Knack

^[2] Metacritic – Knack