I've found a Dark Messiah-inspired action sandbox where you can make banana spike traps and possess enemies to walk off cliffs, and I need it now

A screenshot of The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot, showing the player holding a morningstar while three skeletons move towards them in a dark dungeon. — (Image credit: Stéphane Le Roy)

The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot is a very fitting name for the Dark Messiah of Might and Magic-inspired sandbox action game by solo developer Stéphane Le Roy. You sure do a lot of kicking: punting enemies off cliffs, booting their weapons out of their hands, and even lobbing barrels at them.

But there's a lot more going on than just kicking. After playing the demo for myself, it's got the bones of an immersive sim, letting you interact with just about anything to take out enemies—or avoid them—in a myriad of ways.

There's direction-based melee combat, letting you attack from specific angles, disarm enemies, and block. You can do stealth, which actually takes shadows into account, and you can create distractions or hide in barrels to pass by unseen. Hell, you can relive your Skyrim stealth archer fantasies if you'd like. There's even a magic system where you can blast enemies with different elements, create traps, infuse weapons, or even mind-control guards into walking off cliffs.

Release Date Trailer - The Adventures Of Sir Kicksalot - YouTube

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Grab a net, whack it on an enemy, then pick them up and throw them 'em in the sea. Enemy throws a spear at your leg? Retrieve it and give them a taste of their own medicine. Lure a guard over to you and make them slip on a banana into a pit of spikes. Grab someone's head and chuck it at their friend to bump them into a wall. You can get very creative in your methods of murder and subterfuge.

In the tutorial, I was told to kick an enemy into the spikes behind him. I did as I was told. Just as I was about to read the nearby note and continue, I decided to test the limits of my tools. I then discovered that you could dismember enemies, too, when his leg came flying off. So I yanked the fella up off the spikes and threw him back on, grabbed his leg, and tried to place it next to him, mounted on the wall. In case you're curious, limbs won't stick to the spike walls like enemies do. Only then did I check the nearby note and discover that this enemy was a loving husband named Gary on his final day of the job. Sorry, Gary.

The point is, even in the rudimentary demo, The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot has a pretty robust sandbox to mess around with, and a sense of humour to boot. My only hope is that the melee swings get a bit more oomph behind them in the future, as a massive battle axe feels a bit too similar to a baguette outside of its durability.

There are a few levels to play through in the demo, giving you a chance to level up and unlock more creative skills, but I'm looking forward to the game's full release, which has recently been revealed to be just four weeks away on May 15.

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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