20 Years Later, One of the Best Platformers Ever Officially Makes A Comeback

Swedish developer Nifflas released the original Knytt as freeware on Windows PC back in 2006. The charming platformer spawned a series with two sequels, Knytt Stories and Knytt Underground. Now, the game that started it all has been brought back to life to celebrate its 20th anniversary in the form of Knytt Classic.

Announced and released Monday, Knytt Classic is developed by Bit Kid, developer of Chasm and Wolfhound. The anniversary release has fully rebuilt the classic platformer to be pixel-perfect and run on modern hardware. Like the 2006 version, Knytt Classic is available for free. “Knytt was hugely influential on my path as a game developer, so it’s been incredibly rewarding to take tools I made for my games and use them on a modern version,” said James Petruzzi, founder and lead developer of Bit Kid, in a press release. “Nifflas is a super cool guy, too, so this project has been a very joyful and almost meditative experience for me — it sounds weird, but making this has helped me relax, and I hope it’ll have the same effect on players.”

In Knytt, players take on the role of the small titular creature who has been abducted by aliens. Marooned on a distant planet when the UFO he’s in crashes, the player must guide the Knytt across the new environment in search of scattered components to build a ship and return home. The platformer involves leaping and climbing across the planet’s many biomes during the Knytt’s journey, which also brings him into contact with its local inhabitants. Knytt is a self-described “zen-like atmospheric platformer” due to the relatively slow and methodical pace of its gameplay, which can be quite meditative.

Knytt Classic brings some new ways to enjoy the original game as well. It now has an achievement list and full gamepad support. There are also a number of display effects, such as CRT and handheld LCD styles. Bit Kid has introduced two challenging modes called “UltraTough” and “Brutally Unfair Knytt,” the latter of which remixes the game world. Hempuli, the developer behind celebrated indie puzzler Baba Is You, also worked on Knytt Classic to design the Knytt XH (Extra Hard) mode.

Knytt Classic is available now for Linux, macOS, and Windows PC.