Once upon a time, I would stay up late at night with friends, listening to the local high school playing football, and “playing” visual novels with wonder…  both by being sucked into the story, and at the amazement of modern technology used by state-of-the-art computers of the mid-80’s. 

Technology is funny though. It advances so quickly, and older tech is quickly discarded for the updated and “improved” (debatable). Then as we get older, we think back to the days of yesteryear and develop a strange nostalgia for the way things used to be. Sure, we can look forward and experience the wonders modern gaming, but we can also find those hidden gems that take us back to a different time. 

Bahnsen Knights is made for those of us who dream of days long gone, but it’s simple enough that even modern gamers will have no problem getting into it, provided that they are drawn to the subject matter. 

Just like with many other forms of genre-driven entertainment, the subject matter is really where Bahnsen Knights will hook you (or won’t, for that matter). After playing through the previous games in Chorus Worldwide’s Pixel Pulps series, you can certainly feel the dark tone the developers were going for. 

Bahnsen Knights follows the story of Boulder, a man trying to uncover the secrets of a disturbing group of cultists while attempting to confront the ghosts in his own life. The mood in Bahnsen Knights is definitely the game’s strongest selling point, though if you enjoy stories that surround religious cults and such, then you’d likely find enjoyment with a trip through Bahnsen Knights. If you have played through the previous Pixel Pulps games (Mothmen 1966 and Varney Lake), then you also probably know about what to expect. And if you are in that camp, there are a few Easter Eggs dropped in just for you. If Bahnsen Knights is your first foray into the Pixel Pulps series, no worries; you don’t need to have played through the previous two to fully enjoy what Bahnsen Knights brings to the table. 

You can see from the screenshots what to expect from the game as far as visuals are concerned. If you ever played games on an old computer, then you probably know what to expect from the sound side of things, as well. A few sparse haunting melodies throughout, plus a mix of songs emitting from the jukebox at the bar, paired with a few primitive, but effective sound effects pretty much summarizes the sound department here. 

Like most narrative-driven games of its type, there isn’t much to explain in terms of control. While there are a few basic mini-games thrown in which breaks the pace from what is otherwise a text-heavy game. Some of these mini-games are life and death, such as driving around for the knights and dodging incoming traffic… and others, like darts, are just there for fun. I never did figure out the trick to playing darts, by the way. I felt like the developers were hiding some kind of secret in the darts game, but I  sucked so badly, for so embarrassingly long, that I even tried closing my eyes because I felt like the game was expecting me to do something crazy like that. As it turns out, there were no psychic power tricks. I just sucked at it. At least the darts game was optional. 

The mini-games, however, aren’t really the selling point to the game. Bahnsen Knights is really all about the story, which is fairly gripping given the limitations of the medium. I wouldn’t say it’s better than the previously mentioned Mothmen 1966 and Varney Lake, but it fits in nicely with the series. Some of the imagery used and the overall context of the story may be too much for the faint of heart, but fans of horror or the macabre will find reasons to smile at a few of the crazier scenes. 

Like the other Pixel Pulps games, Bahnsen Knights can be finished in a single evening. You can go back and make a few changes to the way you progressed and see what other paths and achievements were missed. Otherwise, there is not a whole lot in terms of extras. There is an image gallery, and you can replay some of your favorite scenes or mini-games again, but there is not much to come back to unless you simply want to revisit the world again. It’s certainly an enjoyable couple of hours, but not something I foresee playing through much outside of possibly Halloween season. Still, for fans of the genre, I would totally recommend Bahnsen Knights (and the other Pixel Pulps games as well)! 

Bahnsen Knights is now available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam PC.

*Disclosure: A copy of Bahnsen Knights was provided to The Splintering for the purposes of this review. 

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