Knights in Tight Spaces
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Strategy, fantasy, turn-based, roguelike, tactics, card games, indie games, singleplayer
OpenCritic
A tactical turn-based strategy with elements of a roguelike and a card game. Knights in Tight Spaces is a sequel to Fights in Tight Spaces. It offers entertaining battles inspired by beat'em up games, involving Medieval thugs and knights, as well as fantasy creatures.
Knights in Tight Spaces is a turn-based tactical strategy game with cards and roguelike elements, inspired by the beat'em up genre. It's set in the Fights in Tight Spaces universe, but in medieval times with a fantasy twist. Characteristic for both games are spectacular blows and attacks, which we can watch thanks to replays after each skirmish. The game was created by an independent studio from the UK, named Ground Shatter. It was published by the Swedish company Raw Fury.
Plot
A great gang of criminals accustomed to using force to get what they want is increasingly spreading fear in our homeland. We're not entirely sure why (and it has to do with the alcohol we've consumed), but we're one of the people who particularly upset them, and they're trying to eliminate us. While clashing with gangs of thugs, knights and monsters, we meet other people who want to join our team, as well as members of a mysterious group trying to hire us to fight against a gang.
Gameplay
In Knights in Tight Spaces turn-based battles take place in small rooms or alleys, observed in an isometric view with the possibility of rotating the camera by 90 degrees. We control a maximum of three characters, whose skills vary depending on the class and equipment. Each character brings a characteristic starting set of cards to the deck, and others are obtained as mission rewards or purchased in the store. A set of ideal cards can be completed from around 300 of their available variations.
Moves in a given turn depend on the drawn hand from the deck. Unused cards go back to the stack. The cards allow movement or attack, and sometimes both actions at once. Some can be used by any hero, others will only be useful to those equipped with a specific type of weapon or wielding magic. Most cards from the game require Momentum points, the level of which is restored at the beginning of each turn, and can also be replenished during the turn. Effective attacks uninterrupted by movement, on the other hand, provide Combo points, enhancing the damage of certain moves.
The use of the environment, strategic placement of characters, and predicting the opponent's moves also play a significant role in the gameplay. Quickly defeating enemies ensures pushing them through the hole beyond the map area. It's worth knowing that our heroes are equally susceptible to this trick. The advantage can be gained by attacking an opponent who is next to an obstacle or another member of our team, who will support us. It is also possible to move the enemy into the path of their ally's attack.
While performing subsequent missions we move around a procedurally generated map of locations. In addition to battle arenas we also find shops that allow us to buy new cards and improve or discard those already in our deck, as well as blacksmiths selling weapons, armor and other equipment. We may also come across characters offering side missions, or potential members for our team. After losing the battle (death of all heroes), we have to start the adventure from the beginning.
Game modes
The game offers entertainment exclusively for a single player.
Videos and Screens
[2:00] Knights in Tight Spaces - Launch Trailer
[1:21] Knights in Tight Spaces - Date Reveal Trailer
TheSixthAxis: 9 / 10 by Jason Coles
Knights in Tight Spaces is an incredibly follow up to an already amazing game. It fuses a wonderful amount of style with plenty of tactically strategy, and the party mechanics at play and side quests all help to make it almost feel like a solo tabletop role-playing game, which I mean as an incredible compliment. If you like the sound of this game at all, or hanker for more Fights in Tight Spaces, then you'll probably love it.
Worth Playing: 8 / 10 by Chris "Atom" DeAngelus
Knights in Tight Spaces is a very worthy sequel to Fights in Tight Spaces. Not every new gameplay mechanic hits the mark, but there are enough fresh cards, fresh features, and fresh concepts to make it a genuine delight to play. The party opens up a whole new degree of freedom, and creating a Rube Goldberg machine of chained attacks is fun enough that it could be a game all on its own. Besides, who doesn't like hitting evil skeletons with lightning?
MonsterVine: 3 / 5 by James Carr
Knights in Tight Spaces feels like a clash of ideas more than a marriage. The more set in stone campaign style runs at odds with the repetition of a roguelite, resulting in the repetition of the core loop becoming trite faster than you would want. The economy of individual runs feels punishing, even on the normal difficulty, and the need to not only deal damage but avoid it too makes having multiple characters on the board slow down the pace of fights, which aren't quick to start. The strategy involved in getting through each fight is deep and rewarding to engage with, but so many aspects of Knights in Tight Spaces feel designed to prevent you from engaging with that strategy on a deeper level.
Knights in Tight Spaces Summary
Game Series: Tight Spaces
Platforms:
PC / Windows
Developer: Ground Shatter
Publisher: Raw Fury Games
Age restrictions: 16+
Knights in Tight Spaces System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 4 GB RAM, graphic card 3 GB GeForce GTX 1050 / 4 GB Radeon RX 560, 3 GB HDD, Windows 10 64-bit
Recommended: Intel Core i5-4670K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 6 GB GeForce GTX 1060 / 8 GB Radeon RX 480, 3 GB HDD, Windows 10 64-bit