Fun, a Little Frustrating, but Still Free, One Epic Knight Gives a Good Run for the Money

I was having a fun time hustling through this dungeon, darting left, sliding, slicing up a gelatinous cube, picking up loot, when suddenly I turned splat into the wall. That’s a fitting metaphor for One Epic Knight, too.

For a free game, released last week by Simutronics, whose Tiny Heroes lends its knight character to be the protagonist, the concept is great. One Epic Night is a three-lane endless runner that allows you to make right or left turns, slide under or leap over hazards, or bash through them with a shield, or slice up foes standing in your way. You pick up loot and use it to buy upgrades in the store between runs. There’s also a points total and a distance meter to set other goals for you to reach, but my focus was entirely on loot and seeing how long I could last. The affected bro voice of the narrator lends a smug charm to the game, if the commentary is a little repetitive.

One Epic Knight‘s biggest problem is that it isn’t as responsive as it should be, and its jumps are a little more technical than you’d expect for a casual endless runner like this. Leaping from a higher elevation across a pit to a lower level will usually end in you smashed against the ceiling or archway on the other side. The dungeon also is poorly lit, which I suppose is the point of being a dungeon but it makes it hard to tell what’s up ahead. So some otherwise easy decisions are needlessly last-minute. My point is that you’ll end up flattened into an obstacle, or impaled on spikes, or running straight into a pit, a lot.

When you do, the Bro Narrator will offer up some pithy observation or phony statement of regret (“I hope this doesn’t end up on Twitter,” which, actually, it can if you like). Charging into the dungeon shouting “LEEEEEROY JENKINS,” is probably a played-out joke but it still made me laugh.

One Epic Knight is totally free, though Simutronics offers lots of loot in amounts ranging from $1 to $10, in hopes you’ll want to buff out your knight without all of the nasty trial and error. Still, there’s nothing gimped about the free experience, which will be just as brutal on you if you spent money than if you didn’t.

In the end, it’s worth a look, but just be prepared to have lag or a sudden frame drop completely trash that beautiful run you’d put together.

One Epic Knight [iTunes, free]