Knight’s Pride

Knight’s Pride is a fantasy RPG made with RPG Maker, where protagonist Robert seeks revenge against Golias, leader of the Dark Wolf army who burned down his village. Using the town of Arteros as a hub for purchasing weapons, armor, potions, and resting at the inn, Robert fights solo through grasslands and four progressively tougher tower floors, each featuring a turn-based encounter with three enemies, to unlock the path to the final throne room.

Knight’s Pride: Review

Introduction

In an era dominated by sprawling open-world epics and narrative-driven masterpieces, Knight’s Pride emerges as a defiant relic—a minimalist RPG Maker gem that strips the genre to its barest bones, daring players to find joy in the grind. Released in 2020 by solo developer Renan Miguelote Vianna under the PixeLabor (and occasionally Kadragon) banner, this unassuming title thrusts players into the role of Robert, a lone villager consumed by vengeance after the Dark Wolf army’s leader, Golias, razes his home. What follows is no grand saga but a deliberate meditation on repetition, progression, and the quiet satisfaction of incremental mastery. As a game historian, I see Knight’s Pride not as a revolutionary force but as a pure distillation of RPG Maker’s ethos: accessible tools yielding hyper-focused experiences for those who crave the dopamine of unlocking “just one more” upgrade. Its thesis? In a sea of excess, true pride lies in the humble loop of grind, fight, repeat—making it a cult curio for grind enthusiasts amid 2020’s indie deluge.

Development History & Context

Knight’s Pride was crafted by Renan Miguelote Vianna, a Brazilian developer operating as PixeLabor, with graphics courtesy of DEGICA (RPG Maker’s default asset provider) and plugins from the prolific Yanfly, whose tools appear in over 120 titles. Released on September 17, 2020 (Steam lists September 26), via Steam (App ID 1415870) and itch.io for around $2.99, it arrived during a pandemic-fueled boom in solo-dev RPG Maker projects. The engine’s low barrier to entry—turn-based combat, tile-based worlds, event scripting—allowed Vianna to prototype a “cozy small game” emphasizing repeatability over polish.

The 2020 gaming landscape was chaotic: AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 stumbled amid crunch scandals, while itch.io exploded with micro-RPGs and jams. Knight’s Pride fit snugly into the latter, echoing Vianna’s prior work like Knights and Dungeons—another grind-heavy outing. Technological constraints? RPG Maker MV’s limits shone here: diagonal-down perspective, anime/manga sprites, and direct control suited a single-protagonist revenge tale. Vianna’s vision, per Steam discussions, was explicit: “This game is about grinding and unlocking new features… actively doing repeatable tasks to unlock new content such as new gear and new enemies.” No idle automation, no party recruitment—just raw, job-like progression. In an industry chasing live-service retention, this was a punk-rock rejection, built for a “niche audience” who treat gaming like “a real job… but unlike in a real job in this game you are always getting promoted.”

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Knight’s Pride wears its narrative sparsity as a badge of honor, a deliberate counterpoint to RPG bloat. The plot unfolds in a “cool little intro”: Golias, Dark Wolf army leader, incinerates Robert’s village, igniting a vow of revenge. Golias lurks atop a nearby tower, with Arteros town as Robert’s hub. That’s it—no branching quests, no moral quandaries, no deep lore dumps. Vianna admits upfront: “This game isn’t rich storywise!” Dialogue is functional—shopkeeps hawk wares, the inn offers rest—serving progression over pathos.

Thematically, it’s a fable of prideful perseverance. Robert embodies the solitary grind: no allies, just escalating foes across tower grasslands and four stories (each a trio of tougher enemies), culminating in the throne room. Themes of revenge fuel the loop, but the real undercurrent is labor as catharsis. Vianna likens it to “a JOB?? Yeah.. but… you are always getting promoted,” critiquing idle games while celebrating active toil. Fantasy trappings (Dark Wolves, evil tower) are window dressing for existential grind: each floor cleared unlocks stairs, mirroring real-world promotion via repetition. Characters? Robert’s a silent avatar; Golias, a faceless tyrant. No arcs, just thematic purity—pride earned through sweat, not spectacle. In RPG history, it echoes * Rogue‘s procedural rigor over *Final Fantasy‘s melodrama, a minimalist revenge tale for the post-story era.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, Knight’s Pride is a turn-based RPG loop refined to surgical precision, flawed yet innovative in its unapologetic focus. From Arteros, players shop: weapons/armor for offense/defense scaling, potions for sustain, inn for HP/MP recovery (gold from battles funds all). The tower—grasslands entry to four escalating floors (3 enemies each), then throne—forms the sole dungeon. Combat: direct-control, turn-based against trios; win to progress, die to retry from town.

Progression shines via grinding: repeatable runs yield gold/exp for gear unlocks, spawning “new enemies” and “features.” No party, no skills trees—just stat bumps via equipment, emphasizing resource loops. UI is RPG Maker basic: menus for shop/battle/inventory, diagonal-down view for exploration (minimal, linear tower navigation). Innovatives: pure repeatability—no RNG bosses, fixed encounters scaling predictably—rewards pattern mastery. Flaws abound: single-character limits depth (no synergies), grind risks monotony without variety (e.g., enemy types teased but sparse). Battle tempo suits “active” play—no autos—but lacks flair (standard attacks/defend). Overall, it’s a deconstructed RPG: loops as systems, grinding as endgame. Like Diablo‘s early acts compressed into a tower, it innovates by admitting “this is the whole game,” perfect for short bursts or masochistic marathons.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Knight’s Pride‘s world is a diorama of fantasy minimalism: Arteros, a quaint hub with four shops/inn; the tower, a vertical slog of grasslands (open fields?) to four floors/throne. No overworld—teleport via town—prioritizing function over immersion. Atmosphere evokes cozy isolation: revenge as solitary pilgrimage, tower as Sisyphean ladder. Visuals: anime/manga sprites (DEGICA assets), pixel art evoking early RPG Maker (think Ib or Yume Nikki vibes). Diagonal-down aids tactical sightlines; colors pop (fantasy greens, enemy reds), but repetition dulls sheen. No promos/screenshots detail flair, implying Yanfly plugins enhance menus/battles.

Sound design? Unspecified, but RPG Maker defaults suggest chiptune loops, turn-based jingles, enemy grunts—serviceable for grind. No OST highlights, aligning with “simple and super easy to learn!” Contribution: elements amplify coziness—town respite vs. tower tension—fostering “work-like” flow. Not immersive like Breath of the Wild, but evocative of Maker’s golden age: small worlds, big feelings via constraint. For grinders, it’s atmospheric ASMR; for others, sparse.

Reception & Legacy

Launch reception? Muted. MobyGames lists no critic/player reviews (added 2025, collected by 1); SteamSpy estimates 0-20k owners, Steambase 65/100 user score. Vianna’s pinned post warns off story-seekers, priming niche appeal: “If you are into this kind of thing… give it a shot.” No patches noted, modest sales ($2.99 price). Reputation evolved minimally—itch.io/GOG Dreamlist nods, but obscurity reigns. Influence? Subtle: embodies RPG Maker’s grind subgenre, akin to Vianna’s Knights and Dungeons. Prefigures 2020s incrementals (Vampire Survivors lite), sans idle. Industry-wide? Negligible—no citations, no clones—but preserves Maker’s DIY spirit amid Unity/Unreal dominance. Legacy: artifact for historians, cult hit for grind purists. In 2025’s Top 100s (PC Gamer), it whispers: not all classics roar.

Conclusion

Knight’s Pride is no pantheon-dweller like Dark Souls or Disco Elysium—it’s a niche chisel, carving joy from repetition in RPG Maker’s sandbox. Vianna’s vision—grind as promotion, story as hook—delivers cozy catharsis for its audience, flaws (monotony, sparsity) be damned. Historically, it bookmarks 2020’s indie surge: accessible tools birthing focused defiance. Verdict: Essential for RPG Maker completists and grind masochists (8/10 niche); skippable for story chasers. In video game history, it claims a quiet pedestal: proof pride blooms in the tower’s shadow, one floor at a time. Play if you dare the loop—your inner worker awaits promotion.