◎ Developed by: Carbon Eyed ◎ Genre: Puzzle & Action ◎ Platform: Android, IOS
◎ Released year: 2017

Knights Fall, the newest game by Carbon Eyed, features a massive battlefield and uses a physics engine. Players must attack enemies by adjusting the angle of launch and continuously firing soldiers out every second. A good amount of strategical thinking is need in order to overcome the various obstacles, terrain, and enemies in each stage.

The basic setup of Knights Fall resembles the arcade game Pinball. The game starts with soldiers being launched from the top right, and you can adjust the gauge on the right of the screen to change where the soldiers land. Using this simple mechanic, you are to complete the different objectives given at each stage.

The general objectives are as follows: vanquish the enemy troops, eliminate the boss, destroy terrain or obstacles, and allow a certain amount of ally soldiers to escape, just to name a few. As the game progresses further, a number of objectives are added such as turning a lever by using soldiers, or blasting a blocked terrain with explosives. In order to achieve a high score, it is important to use the least amount of soldiers to clear the mission.

Basic control

The controls in Knights Fall are quite simple. The battle begins when you press the button on the bottom right, and soldiers start to launch from the top right of the screen. The power of the launch can be adjusted with the gauge located on the right of the screen - soldiers will launch more towards the left when the gauge is lifted upwards, and they will weakly fall to the right when the gauge is moved downwards.

Players need to figure out the most suitable gauge placement depending where the obstacles and enemies are located on the map. Soldiers will be killed instantly when they touch a thorn trap or enemies with a thorn shield, so it is crucial to launch soldiers to a location where they will be of use or at the very least not die in vain. It is also necessary to utilize various objects to either change the direction or speed of falling soldiers.

The button used to begin the battle is also used to launch charging soldiers. When the Start button is glowing red, you can launch charging soldiers who are faster and deal more damage than the regular soldiers. However, the amount of charging soldiers is limited in each stage, so you need to use each one wisely.

Main contents

Story mode - Consists of more than 120 chapters

The story mode is one of the main contents of Knights Fall. This mode allows players to clear stages of the main story. Just like any other mobile puzzle game, you are to progress by clearing chapters, and 4 to 5 chapters make up one book.

You can obtain up to 3 stars in each chapter when you score high points, and you can get items for story mode and/or item wheel tickets with the stars you collect. You need one scroll in order to play one chapter of the Story Mode, and a scroll is recharged every 15 minutes.

Defense Challenge - Defend the wall from enemies

There are two types of challenge modes other than Story Mode in Knights Fall. Firstly, Defense Challenge is a mode that requires players to defend the castle gate from incoming enemies, and the objective is to defend the gate for as long as possible. As the stage progresses the enemies become more diverse, offering greater challenge as the player aims for a higher score.

The game mode is made available after completing chapter 18, and you need to form a troop first. You can select a hero, archer, and a gate when forming your troops, and each unit possesses different specs and skills, making strategy a necessary part of creating your troop.

Score Challenge - Rescue prisoners and aim for high points

The objective of Score Challenge is to get the highest score possible with a limited amount of soldiers. Players attack prison camps located in center of the screen in order to rescue prisoners. The recorded score is then used for the purchase of items such as rubies or item wheel tickets.

You need to complete chapter 26 of Story Mode in order to play this challenge, and each run costs 30 rubies, so it is not free to play.

Think you’ve hit a dead end? Use items

One of the main things you can do aside from adjusting the launch angle of soldiers is using items to deal with different challenges or difficult stages. There are 3 types of items available in Knights Fall - Rage, which increases the attack damage of soldiers, Explosion, which literally blows up ally soldiers on the map to damage enemies, and Thunderbolt, which attacks 3 random enemies. They are located on bottom left and are easy to use whenever necessary.

Just like with most puzzle games, the items are introduced as you progress, with each item having a small tutorial in a stage. You are given three of each item after you complete the designated chapter that teaches you the effect of that item. After this, acquiring more of the items can be difficult unless you are lucky enough to stumble upon one of the rare treasure chest that can appear in the stages. Therefore, it is recommended that you save your items for difficult situations.

An opportunity to get items three times a day for free

One way you can acquire items outside of gameplay is through the use of a ticket that you receive every 2 hours (up to 3 times a day), which you spend to spin the item wheel. The wheel also provides units which can be used in Defense Challenge. The item wheel is divided into the normal machine that costs a small amount of rubies and the rare machine that costs a relatively large amount of rubies. The rare machine has a higher probability of providing various units.

New playstyle

The concept of encountering enemies with falling soldiers is a distinguishable playstyle that deserves recognition for its creativity. The similarity it shares with Pinball and the easy controls that just require a quick swipe of a thumb make the game quite appealing to mobile game fans.

Carbon Eyed is also preparing a game called Tiny Fall which implements the same system of Knights Fall, but with classic fairy tales as the driving concept. The difficulty of the game will be adjusted for players who enjoy casual games, and new modes will be added to the game. Will they establish a new genre in the mobile game industry? There are expectations, but only time will tell.