Knack, SONY's Pixar-esque PlayStation 4 adventure, was designed to offer a launch alternative to the expected action blockbuster titles. That's the word from the game's designer, Mark Cerny, who also happens to be the PS4's lead architect.
"I knew there'd be a lot of core games at launch," he told IGN, "but I just didn't see there being softer titles at launch. So as a core gamer, certainly you're going to buy PlayStation 4 and Killzone, Watch_Dogs, Destiny. But what about the rest of the family? And that was kind of the first thought behind Knack."
The game follows a creature - called Knack - who has the ability to absorb things into his body, transforming his skills and allowing him to vary in size from three-feet tall to a hulking monster. It's a colourful character-driven game, very much in the style of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, both games which - not coincidentally - Cerny helped to develop back in the day.
"Crash Bandicoot was the top-selling brand for PlayStation One," Cerny reminisced, "but the world has changed. I think part of the reason we were creating mascot-type games in those days was that that was what the hardware could support. We made games with characters with big heads because we had pixels the size of your fist, and we just didn't have very many of them as a result."
Knack launches alongside the PlayStation 4 on November 29th.