Pull a Sword From a Stone? This Game Gets Harder Each Time Someone Wins
A new game entitled The one who pulls out the sword will be crowned king has just appeared on Steam, offering gamers a unique challenge that increases with each victory. The King Arthur homage is just one of countless experimental, low-budget indie titles that have been made available on Valve's influential games marketplace over the years, with one independent developer even reverse-engineering games like Batman: Arkham City for the purpose of creating unique, focused experiences.
While the market for indie games has grown significantly over the past few years, it has been matched or perhaps even surpassed by the demand for challenging video games. Viral sensations like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy rose to prominence thanks to their simple mechanics yet intentionally frustrating design. This philosophy can apply to a number of different types of games, with titles like Hotline: Miami combining simple mechanics with twitch-reaction combat encounters to create brutal, heart-pounding gameplay. Other indie darlings like Celeste have taken less violent approaches to this style of game design, with players often making use of just two or three different buttons to overcome a series of difficult obstacles. While beloved indies like Risk of Rain 2 get more complex with new content and features, this King Arthur-inspired game appears to be taking after these more straightforward titles.
According to the game's Steam page (which was first noticed by GamesRadar), it is a "short experimental game" based upon Arthurian legend. The premise of the game is simple: players must use their mouse to pull the sword out of the stone. However, each time another player successfully removes the sword from the stone, it will become heavier and longer for all other participants. As such, those playing this Arthurian-style game need to be both dedicated and swift when attempting to remove the sword if they want to be as efficient as possible.
While this King Arthur-inspired title is significantly more straightforward than other indies like the beautiful Submerged: Hidden Depths, it seems that gamers are still getting some enjoyment out of it. The game is currently rated as "Very Positive" on Steam, and although many reviews seem to be tongue-in-cheek, it's clear that there is a degree of pleasure being derived from the experience.
This could be surprising to some gamers, as the sword-pulling indie game may sound more frustrating than fun at first glance. While it might not be as addicting as Elden Ring or as moving as The Last of Us, successfully pulling the sword from the stone does seem satisfying. The game is free, so anyone interested in trying something new may as well give it a fair shake.
The one who pulls out the sword will be crowned king is currently free to download for macOS and Windows devices.
Source: Steam (via GamesRadar)