Dec 9, 2021

Why haven't we gotten a Knight Rider game!?

 I know Europe got a shitty PS2 game, but I mean a Modern Era Knight Rider Game... The Fan Game disappeared from the face of the Earth, probably due to the letters C & D. Now think about it... an Open World Game where you are Michael Knight, voiced by David Hasselhoff... or a VA who can pull off a decent Hoff if Hoff can't/won't do it. Everyone else, Devon, KITT, etc. Should be done by VAs who sound similar to the characters... Think an Open World Game as big as GTA San Andreas in variety, but as big as RDR2 or bigger. Getting the US Southwest right in this 1980s Modern Cowboy game. Arkham Knight and its accursed car mode was partly the inspiration for this rant. Some missions should require the nearly invincible KITT and Michael to cooperate in order to beat them.  

Gameplay should be split in a couple of modes in order to truly capture the essence of Knight Rider.
Obviously the main two modes are Michael on Foot and Michael in KITT.

On Foot, should be like your average aopen World game. You walk about, interact with the environment, have the capacity to fight hand to hand, get into cover, stealthily take out enemies, and basic gunplay (mostly used to cause indirect damage to the enemies by shooting flammable stuff or other background hazards, as you aren't supposed to directly kill bad guys.)

On KITT you're invincible unless you're facing The Goliath, KARR or other ridiculously tough threats. Crashing, gunfire, etc. should cause zero damage. On occasions you must summon the Knight Industries on-the-road repair center to add upgrades to KITT, engage in story or side missions. Aside the driving functions of KITT's Normal Mode, he should have his Surveillance Mode, which could work like Batman's Detective Mode.
Pursuit Mode could easily be a "slow time gimmick" in order to allow the player the "faster reflexes" from KITT.
AUTO CRUISE when manually operated it would be the Fast Travel. This should trigger a small cutscene of Michael activating the mode and "going on a commercial break bumper sequence" to hide the load times. Some missions could have the Auto Cruise option operating as it does on the show where KITT drives on its own. Could be a rail shooting section or have Michael exit through KITT's sunroof to pull off a daring and possibly stupid stunt.

KITT Side missions could be races, demolition derbies, tracking targets, etc. for money and upgrades.

Michael Side Missions could involve shooting galleries to upgrade his aim. Swimming to increase his stamina... (yes, having a 1980s Hoff on a beach is a nod to the 90s... could unlock an achievement) and other actovities to earn money and upgrade stats.
Side Missions 


Quirky ideas: if you select a point on the map and you ignore going into that spot after X amount of time, KITT should engage AUTO CRUISE and attempt to self-drive there. This also would trigger banter between Michael and KITT. If you fail a vehicle side mission multiple times and wish to skip it, KITT should berate the player before skipping it.

The setting is obviously the US Southwest in the mid 80s and it should reflect that. It needs to be a love letter to the 1980s and Knight Rider.

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