14 DAY TRIAL // Knack for the PlayStation 4 received a few more details straight from Designer Mark Cerny, who oversaw its creation at the Sony Japan studio, and confirmed that it borrows heavily from games like Katamari, Crash Bandicoot, or even God of War.
The PlayStation 4 will have quite a few launch day games, and one of the most interesting family-oriented experiences is Knack, coming from Sony Japan and the mind of Mark Cerny, who's also the system architect for the PS4.
Cerny talked with PS blog and revealed a few more details about Knack, its story, and the basic concept of the experience.
"The seed of the idea was that we have a character who could pick up items from the environment and incorporate them into his body, but that turns out to be very hard to make a game around," he said.
"It took a year and a half to figure out that the secret was to design the character more intensively. The character is made from ‘relics’ – these are left over from some long lost civilisation, if you dig down deep into the earth you find them.
"They’re a power source, and the doctor has managed to imbue them with consciousness. With that storyline we were able to then design relics in specific shapes and build various versions of Knack out of them."
What's more, the game will feel fresh in each level, as stages will change the way Knack can absorb elements and what he can do once they're within his so-called body.
"Each level is a different variation on the theme of “Here’s this character who has this ‘knack’ that lets him grow and transform.” In some levels he’ll slowly grow, and in other levels he get big really fast – by picking up icicles for example — but then if he goes out into the sun he’ll melt down quickly."
Cerny highlights that the game will deliver an interesting experience and borrows from quite a few other titles, like Crash Bandicoot, Katamari Damacy, or even God of War.
"The way I look at it – there’s a bit of Crash Bandicoot in there, a bit of Katamari Damacy, which is a game I love and must have bought three of four times over the years. And there’s a bit of God of War too. You can see that game’s influence on Knack – especially in the control set, where the right stick is the dodge."
Cerny, before creating Knack and masterminding the PS4, also helped shape God of War 3 at Sony Santa Monica.