Knights of Pen and Paper 3 review - "Returning to the table!"
- A third try being every player at a tabletop game
- There's charm in tone and visuals with better details
- Lots of strategy variety with more desired in enemies
Here's a challenge for you. Arrange these three things in order from most to least impossible to achieve: world peace, renewable sustainable energy, and getting together a group of people to play a tabletop game on any day of the week.
The answer should be painfully obvious, and that's why we must resort to alternatives like the Knights of Pen and Paper series.
Kyy Games have done well for themselves as they've made it all up to Knights of Pen and Paper 3, maybe completing the trilogy, and maybe not. This 2D pixel RPG based around tabletop gaming makes it home on mobile platforms - let's see if it makes itself comfortable.
What is Knights of Pen and Paper 3?
Anyone who has tried to run a tabletop session knows how much planning goes into creating an entire world with a complex story, and how much of it ends up getting thrown out the window. Knights of Pen and Paper 3 takes the unorthodox but still widely accepted approach of "winging it".
The Game Master has summoned a group of three friends (with enough room for more to join) to set off on an epic quest. They will need to create a diverse party of characters from different backgrounds, species, and vocations to survive whatever the quest has in store for them. Only by proving that they won't die to the occasional odd job can they claim their place as true heroes.
The Chivalrous Knights of Pen and Paper 3
The whole point of a tabletop experience is to simulate some kind of adventure, with you and your friends taking on various roles. Knights of Pen and Paper 3 makes it more accessible just like the previous entries by having you play as yourself and all your friends.
The GM is the only one you're not playing, which makes sense because it's the players versus the game. There's charm in the absurdness of playing by yourself but still not feeling alone, since all of your friends chat among themselves and keep things more social and less serious.
This is further strengthened by the overall presentation. This is certainly the nicest-looking one in the series, with the pixel art being more defined but still fitting well alongside its peers. The most appealing graphics come from the enemies who have all the animation that the GM and your players give them through imagination.
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They walk this weird line of looking somewhat goofy but still being very threatening. You never know whether that cute little blob will turn out to be the toughest thing you've faced so far - and that makes encounters exciting, especially when ambushes are on the table.
When it comes to combat, it includes some of the mechanics that define tabletop gaming like initiative and saving rolls. Even though you don't have direct control over the rolls, it's tense to see the dice animation play and then hope that either your team benefits or the enemy team suffers.
You can also change your stats to affect the rolls directly to get more into the spirit of it all. This is not to mention all the different character combinations you can come up with, each having active and passive abilities while you have five chairs to swap friends whenever you decide to take a break in the town.
Writing up Knights of Pen and Paper 3
What makes tabletop difficult is that it can be time-consuming and messy. Knights of Pen and Paper 3 tries to make things go faster, but the messiness lingers. The most notable is how the enemy dynamic works.
See, we have it in our heads that fodder enemies look a similar way. So, as we level up, we continue to fight the same fodder enemies - only now they're much stronger, which is inconsistent and discouraging. When you have a big loss, it can make you feel better to take out your frustration on weaker enemies for an easy win, but that's not always an option here.
There's also the sharp increase in difficulty that comes with grinding so that you can blast through certain missions. This isn't always the case as some missions can be several levels lower and the enemies will still wreck your friendships. Of course, you'll only learn more about the enemies through fighting, but you'll never know if you're ill-prepared until it's too late.
Even with five different characters, it's still possible for one enemy to hit a sweet spot with an attack that leaves you sad and ruined. The penalties for losing are manageable, but can be draining and can start to snowball after a time.
Join the order of Knights of Pen and Paper 3
Knights of Pen and Paper 3 is a 2D RPG about playing a digital tabletop game with your party of friends against an off-the-cuff GM. It looks and feels good, the charm and humour poke through with the visuals and dialogue, and there's lots of variety in your party makeup with lots of skills and strategies to unleash.
You will be spending a lot of time fighting the same enemies, unsure how tough the same ones will be from one fight to the next with difficulty balancing being all over the place. However, joining these knights of pen and paper for a third time is more reliable than trying to get three people together to throw dice around.
Knights of Pen and Paper 3 review - "Returning to the table!"
Your custom tabletop group returns in Knights of Pen and Paper 3 with better graphics, more custom characters, more quests, and the same charm, but with more desired enemy consistency and challenge.
Will Quick
Will Quick is a travelling writer currently dedicating his time to writing about the games he spends his free time playing. He's always on the lookout for the smaller and stranger of the bunch so he can shine a light on them.