Knack 2 Reviews: 11 Critical Reactions You Need To Know

5. Knack Is Still A Boring Character

"Knack's real issue for me is that he remains a weirdly charmless creation, and mere competence will not add that much to the basic proposition... Knack is spiky and angular and forgettable. I doubt that there is much in the way of a Knack cosplay community, and not just because it would be so uncomfortable to sit down in character." - Eurogamer

"The baby Knack is mute and cute. The big Knack is aggressive and humorless. His eyes constantly have the quality of a man in a TSA line, absolutely certain he's not going to have time to grab that latte on his way to the gate. It's not that I don't like Knack. He has moments of charm. But he's certainly not a classic character. He’s a bit of a dull fellow, really." - Polygon

"Given how much fun Knack is to control, it’s a real shame that outside of gameplay he’s one of the blandest characters in modern video games. He has almost no discernible personality...Where’s his sense of wonder? Or confusion? Or growing understanding about the world? The absence of any kind of meaningful dialogue, and thus on-screen relationship, with the main human protagonist Lucas is also baffling. Shouldn’t their dynamic be at the heart of the game? There was so much more Japan Studio could have done with this duo." - IGN

"The team also could have toyed with the idea of giving Knack some more emotion. His small, medium, and large formations kind of elicit the nuances of a child, teenager, and adult respectively, but most of that is fleetingly in spurts, and they never really go anywhere with it. I'm not expecting a touching Pixar-quality tale per se, just a little more of a reason to care about Knack." - Destructoid

Much like the story, the title character of this franchise has been a frequent point of derision, simply because he's got so little of the personality that has endeared so many other platforming mascots to millions of players.

Knack 2 doesn't do much to rectify the protagonist's lack of charm or interest, sadly, all the more unfortunate because if he'd shown a little more emotion, it sounds like he could've compensated at least a little for the dreadfully dull narrative.

Every AAA platforming franchise needs its charismatic, plucky, entertaining hero, and Knack is a pretty mild proposition in that regard.