Knights of San Francisco | iOS Review

May 11, 2021 Kevin Honigford

A D&D Player Experience

Developer Filip Hracek brings this “D&D-esque” experience to the palm of your hand, and leads you on a short, albeit epic adventure to find your brother. Mobile and handheld games have always struggled mightily to keep my interest, but I am an avid lover of all things D&D related. So when I read of this little gem, I was very unsure where it would take me. By the time I had finished, I was pleasantly surprised.

O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?

Knights of San Francisco is a text-based game set in the distant dystopian future of San Francisco. You are a young necromancer, venturing through the forest that has taken over what once was a beautiful city. Your brother is here. You know it. And you will find him.

For the short experience this game was, the story was quite grand. I found myself drawn into the conflict the character was facing quite a few times as I progressed. The storytelling is exquisite and crisp, immersing you in the atmosphere as you read.

Death Is Only a Choice Away

The driving aspect of Knights of San Francisco is the decision-influenced narrative. Playing through this experience was closely akin to reading the old “choose your own adventure” books in my youth. You are basically experiencing a story, and making choices when they are presented. Each decision you make has a different outcome, and will lead you down a different path.

There is combat in Knights of San Francisco, and perhaps this was my biggest worry going in. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve struggled to keep interest in handheld games. Now I’m supposed to sit there and roll dice, add numbers, remember abilities, and such? Thankfully, Filip Hracek geniusly simplified all of this – with dials. Instead of keeping track of all of the aforementioned mechanics, when you want to perform a task, Knights of San Francisco simply employs five dials. On each dial is a dark space that spins and each has a sword always pointing to the bottom of the dial. If the dark space stops spinning where the sword points into it, that roll is a success. If the dial stops spinning and the sword is not in the dark space, that roll is a failure. Then simply count successes versus failures to see if you are successful at said task. Different elements such as stance and injuries will increase or decrease the size of the dark space on the dial, hence making you more apt to either succeed or fail on spins.

Final Verdict

For the hour and forty five minute experience I had with Knights of San Francisco, I had an absolute blast. This game is a must play for anyone that enjoys the D&D player atmosphere. The “auto save” feature it uses makes it realistically convenient for the Android and iOS platforms. Simply put it away when you need to, and when you have time to get back into it, it picks up at the last choice you made. I really enjoyed this experience, and I hope Filip Hracek has the means and time to expand upon it.

To hear me talk more about Knights of San Francisco, be sure to listen to Episode 344 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:17:04 time stamp.

This review was based on an iOS copy of Knights fo San Francisco provided by Novy Unlimited for coverage purposes. It is also available on Android via the Google Play Store.