“Knights of Barnson” revisits the retro charm! Gensheng GeForce RTX 4070, chasing the wind and players through the fog to embrace the absurd!
In recent years, there have been waves of nostalgia in the gaming field, with the aesthetic style of the 64-bit era leading the trend, followed by the 16-bit pixel trend.
However, LCB Game Studio didn’t stop there, it also looked further into the distant past, drawing inspiration from pulp magazines of the early 20th century. The third installment in their distinctive series, Knights of Barnson, is visually inspired by nostalgic 80s home computer graphics and pulp novel storytelling. This is an independent pixel style interactive visual novel developed by LCB Game Studio and published by Chorus Worldwide Games. It will be launched on the Steam platform on December 14, 2023. Players with Gengsheng GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards can use NVIDIA NIS or GeForce Experience’s one-click optimal game settings to optimize and obtain a better gaming experience.
The Cross and True Intentions
Players will play the role of undercover agent Boulder in the game, pursuing the truth behind the disappearance of his friend and colleague Copra while investigating the cult organization “Knights of Barnson.” In this desolate world that is devastated, divided, and ravaged by tornadoes, society is on the verge of collapse, cult organizations are rampant, and people live in fear and insecurity. Boulder will witness cult leader Tony, a former used car salesman, deliver a sermon as he and his band of knights perform “route exorcisms” in a fleet of 1983 Ford Sierras in a cross formation against a sweeping tornado. .
Although the game has a strong religious overtone, the player’s real opponents are not fictional creatures such as angels or demons, but real enemies arising from conflicts of interest and power. The agency that sends the players cares less about their beliefs and doctrines than about their ever-expanding territory and power. In fact, no one is really sure whether these roadside exorcisms and sermons actually protect against tornadoes. But for at least some of them, the veneer of religion serves as a fig leaf that allows them to bully the town’s residents and take whatever they think they deserve.
Clever use of details, mini-games to ease the rhythm
Players will be immersed in a narrative with saturated pixel tones and flashing neon lights, as if embarking on a retro horror journey. Contrasting colors and a synthesized soundtrack create a strong pulp novel atmosphere, while text scrolling at the bottom seamlessly blends with still pixels and animated images, immersing players in a world of dystopia, anxiety, and alarm. Just like Boulder, players will immediately feel a swirl of hostility and suspicion. The player’s behavior determines whether others trust you or not, and may even lead to suspicion and disgust. The game intertwines seemingly absurd but extremely real elements to create an unforgettable Knights of Barnson. The screenwriter skillfully uses details to outline the distinct image and personality of each character, allowing players to quickly feel the style of the Knights.
An interesting aspect of the game is Boulder’s first “Route Exorcism” tour with the Knights. Players will drive a convoy of vehicles, avoiding collisions by clicking “Move Right” or “Move Left,” with flashing skulls marking threats about to enter the lane. Clicking text options, while simple, is a rare pleasure in text-driven narratives. As the plot progresses, players can also regularly relax at Danny’s Bar, which is the gathering place of the Knights and the location of Tony’s office. Here, Boulder can continue his investigations, gather intel, and even relax by playing games. Here players can play darts with the Knights, who have an unlimited number of throws and the goal is to hit the “Glen’s Eye” (hit the bull’s-eye). In addition, Knights members will introduce a fun and deceptively simple card game.
Make decisions to reach different endings, timeless retro charm
As for the decision-making part, because the narrative of the game is branched. Some choices will reveal more mysteries, while others will result in chapter retries, so players are best remembered to save frequently. As an interactive visual novel, the game does a good job of maintaining player engagement and curiosity through features such as the inclusion of quick-time events in time. These sudden events force players to make choices, leading the story to different endings and opening up new paths.
The game’s audio and video are worthy of praise from players. Especially the style that seems to adopt the CGA color palette adds a strong 80s retro feel to the game. The production team put a lot of detail into these retro images, especially in some visually striking scenes. The game’s sound effects also fit the theme well, delivering a sense of oppression and tension while maintaining a lo-fi aesthetic. Overall, the game’s audio and video effects are excellent, adding a lot of charm to the game.
Summarize
Knights of Barnson is a game with a unique charm. It successfully blends the retro aesthetics of early 1980s PC games with the absurd style of pulp novels, giving players an unforgettable adventure. Well-timed interactive elements and mini-games advance the story and keep players in the driver’s seat. By playing through multiple levels and unlocking more mysteries about the cult and Copra’s disappearance, players will delve into the true depth of the game. If you are a fan of retro games, especially PC games from the early 1980s, and the absurd yet realistic charm of pulp novels, then I believe you will also like this game. Players with Gengsheng GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards can also use NVIDIA NIS or GeForce Experience’s one-click optimal game settings to obtain a better gaming experience and experience a smooth customs clearance journey.
Players who pursue an excellent gaming experience can choose to use Gengsheng GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards to obtain the best results. The new NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture provides support for this series of graphics cards, enabling it to implement multiple RTX technologies, including NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 and ray tracing technology, making game graphics more realistic and refined. Moreover, Gengsheng GeForce RTX series graphics cards also provide RTX VSR technology, which can provide higher quality online videos and live broadcasts.
(Left: Native video screen Right: RTX VSR enhanced screen)
It is worth mentioning that RTX VSR technology has also received an update to version 1.5, which further improves the quality of RTX video super-resolution. During the magnification process, the level of detail is improved and image details are preserved, making the overall image clearer. In addition, expanded RTX VSR support also allows users of GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs to enjoy the same benefits of AI enhancements as users of RTX 30 and 40 Series GPUs. By comparing the pictures under different settings, we can clearly observe the improvement in video quality after turning on RTX VSR – the original video resolution is lower and the picture is blurry, but after turning on RTX VSR, the picture lines are smoother, the image is clearer, and the overall picture is smoother. The quality is significantly improved.
Gengsheng GeForce RTX 4070 Zhuifeng is a graphics card targeting 2K resolution, with excellent performance and cost-effectiveness. Through ray tracing and DLSS technology, Gengsheng GeForce RTX 4070 can easily achieve high-quality game images at 2K resolution while achieving high game frame rates. In addition, the excellent price/performance ratio coupled with an acceleration frequency of up to 2535MHz makes it powerful and value-for-money. I believe that with the blessing of this graphics card, players can fully enjoy the joy brought by the game!
[End of this article]If you need to reprint, please be sure to indicate the source: Kuai Technology
Editor in charge: Meng Jia
