Knights Contract

Knights Contract is an action video game in which players take on the role of Heinrich, an executioner cursed with immortality and escorting the witch Gretchen. The campaign is split into missions where Heinrich and Gretchen explore different environments, fighting enemies in arena-style zones between story cutscenes, with each story chapter ending in a boss fight. Heinrich cannot be killed, with the player mashing a button to revive him should he take enough damage. Should Gretchen die, the game ends and must be restarted from a checkpoint.

Heinrich can call Gretchen into his arms to restore their health, but this leaves them unable to fight. During one section, the two are split up, with the player not having access to the other's abilities. Within levels, players can find collectables including accessories which enhance character abilities and pieces of artwork.

In a fantasy version of Medieval Germany, seven witches safeguard the world with the Anima Del Monde, a mystical power split into seven crystals. The alchemist Dr Faust, seeking the Anima Del Monde's power, creates a disease dubbed the "Black Death" and has the witches blamed for it. The ensuing witch hunts end in their execution, with the last of their number Gretchen cursing her executioner Heinrich with immortality; Heinrich had earlier expressed doubt as to the morality of his actions, but did not defy Faust's orders, with the immortality curse giving him a chance to atone for his actions. Faust failed to claim Gretchen's piece of the Anima Del Monde.

A century later, the six executed witches−necromancer Straegelle, ice witch Trude, fire witch Holda, storm witch Trendule, the seeress Rapunzel, and their leader Vederinde−are resurrected by Faust as monsters driven by vengeance. Heinrich enters a town being attacked by Straeggelle, whom a reborn Gretchen and her human apprentice Minukelsus are hunting. Gretchen persuades Heinrich to help kill Straegelle, afterwards forming a contract with him to be her sworn Knight. Gretchen seeks to both stop the other witches, and seal the Anima Del Monde on the Brocken on Walpurgis Night before Faust can steal her piece and achieve true immortality. In return for his help, Heinrich is promised the return of his mortality.

Production of Knights Contract began in 2008. Following the collapse of Brash Entertainment and consequent issues surrounding the video game Clash of the Titans, developer Game Republic was in financial difficulties. Knights Contract was one of a number of projects pitched to Namco Bandai Games as potential franchises. The game was developed for the Xbox 360 (360) and PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles.

According to company founder Yoshiki Okamoto, Namco Bandai underwent restructuring and cut studio budgets following this, which negatively affected Game Republic's in-development titles. Development was completed in January 2011, with Namco Bandai confirming that the game was declared gold (indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release).

The PlayStation 3 version received "mixed" reviews, while the Xbox 360 version received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

IGN's Levi Buchanan was positive when mentioning the story, feeling invested in the two leads and their narrative. Cody Guinta of PALGN highlighted the premise and story as standing out from other games in its genre, and praised the grim setting. Famitsu similarly praised the unusual setting and characters. Chris Watters of GameSpot felt a lack of chemistry between Heinrich and Gretchen, but was drawn in by the narrative.