The year is 1986. Bob Hawke is Prime Minister, Neighbours debuts, and Hawthorn wins the VFL Grand Final. But we’re not in Australia, instead, we’re in Tornado Valley. In Bahnsen Knights, you play as undercover agent Boulder, who’s assigned to investigate the Bahnsen Knights cult. Your oldest friend Cupra investigated the cult and its leader Toni, an ex-car salesman. But with Cupra gone, it’s up to you to figure out if Toni knows much more than he’s leading on. Bahnsen Knights is the third game in LCB Game Studio’s Pixel Pulps trilogy, inspired by the pulp magazines of yesteryear. Previous titles in LCB’s trilogy are Mothman 1966 and Varney Lake. Bahnsen Knights offers some pretty unsettling moments, wrapped around a big-picture story that doesn’t know what it wants to offer.

Previous games have you playing as more than one character, in Bahnsen Knights, you control one character throughout. He’s a family man, who wants to find out what happened to his oldest friend. LCB breaks the game up into ten chapters. Throughout these chapters, you have to find evidence, talk to fellow cult members, and drive into oncoming traffic. While this game is about a cult, it doesn’t really… elaborate on the cult itself. We’re told that they’re a “notorious religious cult”, but we don’t see their interactions with the towns-folk or non-cult members. Sure, some moments show how messed up Toni can get. But there aren’t the little moments leading up to it to provide context. It could be that this big-picture story is simply told in too short of time.

Bahnsen Knights is a short game, which can be great for those who are time-poor. But, as mentioned in our Varney Lake review, it seems that LCB doesn’t use their two-hour allotment perfectly. While Bahnsen Knights has some fantastic characterisation, a lot of the gameplay involves Boulder talking about how much he misses his kid, or his wife, or his friend. It’s understandable but also gets quickly redundant. LCD could’ve spent better use of their time diving deeper into the reasons behind things. Show us the why in addition to the what.

Like the other entries in the Pixel Pulps series, Bahnsen Knights is a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ game. Because of that, the narration uses a second person point-of-view. Instead of the narration using I, me, my; it’s instead using you, your and yours. Even though you play as someone who isn’t exactly you, it still lends itself to the types of interactive fiction that were popular during the 70s and 80s. With that said, the use of the second person brings me immense joy, as it scratches that itch from the Give Yourself Goosebump novels. However, the point-of-view doesn’t feel fully realised as a narrative device. Sometimes it feels like they’re telling the story, rather than showing. It’s a saying that brings immense pain to writers, but it’s true! The second person is a very difficult narration technique to pull off right. It’s why most stories use the first or third perspective.

There are, unfortunately, very few accessibility settings at all. While you can change the speed of the text, along with the length of the auto delay, that’s pretty much it. This is a real shame. Of course, visual novels don’t need to have a lot of settings, but I found that a lot of the mini-games were difficult and extra options would have been welcome. One mini-game has you driving towards oncoming traffic, and it’s an uncomfortable viewing experience. The graphics and animation style along with clunky controls make this segment a challenge. And if you do decide to skip these events, you’re penalised for it.

The game also has some great uses of chiptunes, whether that’s in the background music or sound effects. Much like the visuals, the sounds can be unsettling, that sense of dread filling your senses. Because Bahnsen Knights harkens back to the 80s, the game doesn’t use voice acting at all. Instead, each word is a beep or a boop. All these touches to the sound design are great as they help LCB create the right atmosphere. You can also change the music coming from the jukebox which is all based on games published by Bahnsen Knight’s publisher, Chorus Worldwide Games. Like the Aremy Jendrew album from Coffee Talk 1 and 2.

Bahnsen Knights feels nostalgic. The game offers a standalone experience that you can enjoy without having to play the previous two. But of course, you do get a better idea of what you’re in for if you have played a Pixel Pulps game before. Whilst Bahnsen Knights can at times feel somewhat surface level, it does hit a niche that few other games manage. It’ll be interesting to see where LCB takes the Pixel Pulps now, or if they simply leave the concept as a trilogy.