If I was rating this game entirely on how it makes me feel in a nostalgic manner, this would get all the points. Its a wonderful little piece of time from my childhood where my family didnt have a ton of money so instead of going abroad or to big holiday villas, we would go to a variety of small family owned places full of walking paths, deserted beaches, cliffy walks and awkward 'landmarks', half of which were natural and falling the pieces, the other half full of barely maintained minigolf courses, kids playgrounds and pretend fantasy.

Unfortunately when it comes to gameplay, it falls apart. Combat feels spammy and clumsy and you get the feeling its mostly there to pad things out otherwise there wouldnt be as much of a game here. Its also a game that isnt very good when playing single-player thanks to the clumsy AI getting in the way more often than not. Maybe I should play through this more with somebody else but theres too much nonsense in the combat to really make me want to persevere.

Es muy bonito y lleno de personalidad y feelings. Cae en algunos de los tropos que aborrezco cuando se escriben niños: que a veces construyen ideas como adultos (los adultos que los escriben) y en la idea de que los niños son principalmente buenos e imaginativos, lo cual es profundamente falso, pero se lo perdono porque entiendo que es mucho más difícil partir de la premisa de un niño ramplón sin mundo interior, por mucho que existan. La música, diseño de sonido, dirección artística y demás, son preciosos. Y esencialmente debes estar aquí para apreciar eso. Debes poder encontrar diversión en animaciones, diálogos, sonidos e interacciones inconsecuentes, donde está lleno de atención y detalle, puesto que jugablemente es simple, básico y claramente pensado después.

This game is very cute. It nails the style it's going for. The sounds the kids make when they're running around or biking really fast are fantastic. The music and incredible art style bolster the style which permeates all facets of the game.
The story is fine, but way too slow. The game is much too long. It feels like a 3-4 hour cute little indie game but it lasts 8 hours.
The gameplay is fine, but not nearly good enough to justify how repetitive it is. The combat is fine, but not great. There are some interesting ideas incorporating co-op mechanics such as high-fiving to heal and the two character's abilities interacting. It kind of falls flat, though. We usually just separately beat the shit out of the enemies except when a boss required us to combine our powers. It Takes Two, one of my favorite games, does a much better job at co-op combat. The puzzles are fine, but nothing to write home about. They rarely made me feel smart, and a few times made me feel annoyed. At one point, we couldn't figure out what to do, and then I somehow walked through the fence we were trying to get through, as though there were a gap in the fence that we couldn't see, but then neither of us find the hole or figure out how it happened. I still don't know if it was a glitch or what. There's too much walking/biking around. I wish biking were more interesting.
All of the gameplay mechanics feel like they would do a good enough job at supporting a story driven game, and the story feels like it would be good enough for a gameplay driven game. This combination results in a game that is frequently slow and boring.

Games about childhood are a dime a dozen but they tend to be focused on approaching childhood from a distinctly adult perspective. They're often ponderous, melancholic affairs about looking back at ages lost to time. It's a valid perspective and one I like to indulge in myself as a reasonably aged raisin.

Knights and Bikes takes a different approach and instead portrays growing up from the ground floor. Because when you're there, which is rarely ponderous or sombre, even in the darkest times. It's a game truly about play in a sense that feels oddly uncommon in video games. Not about playing to win or reach a conclusion, but play as a purely social activity.

You know when you were little and with your friends and someone suddenly shouts "first one to that lamp post wins!" and you all instinctly dart towards it like your life depended on it. That's the kind of play Knights and Bikes is built on.

I'm having a hard time thinking of any game that has managed to capture that exact friendship dynamic as well. Nor any game that so accurately portrays how enormous every aspect of life seems when you're that young, and how isolated you are from the adult world and the many terrifying unadventures it contains. At least we can always look back, remember, and relive.

Media often tries to capture the nostalgia of our childhoods but many don’t also incorporate what it’s like to actually be a kid. The imagination and innocence sometimes fall by the wayside in favor of neon, frizzy hair, and a glam rock or synth soundtrack. Knights and Bikes focuses more on the emotional side of nostalgia with the more material ‘80s items being used primarily as peripheral set dressing to establish the tone. This decision helps Knights and Bikes in telling a more universal, heartwarming story with matching gameplay, despite the occasionally sluggish pacing.

Read the full review here:
https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/587345-knights-and-bikes-review