Knights of the Chalice is a turn-based, tactical combat simulator developed single-handedly by Pierre Begue. It is a vast game with tons of dungeons to explore and foes to battle. The game was developed using the Open Game Licence – the “freeware” version of D&D 3.5 – and stays relatively true to the core rules. While you'll only find a small selection of races and classes, casters have a veritable library of spells at their disposal, while fighters can grapple, bull-rush and choose from a wide selection of feats.

In the story department, KotC offers only the most basic of explanations for your adventuring endeavours. The game's art assets are simplistic but incredibly endearing. The flat, top-down perspective was the most immediate turn-off for players when the game was released and remains so to this day, but do not let such details deter you. Within 30 minutes you'll be completely used to the camera, which will perfectly do its job in the fighting to come.

KotC is a dungeon crawler above all else, and as such presents your party of four with a run-of-the-mill adventuring quest, which soon turns into a sprawling epic throughout the land. As you fight Orcs, giants and dragons in increasingly exotic locations, encounters remain handcrafted and take advantage of the strengths of the systems on display here. More often than not, the game forces you to shake up previously solidified tactics to overcome new obstacles.

Combat is fought on tile-based terrain, which will soon imbue you with the sensation of moving miniatures during a pen-and-paper session. Mages must be positioned correctly for Cone of Cold spells, clerics must use their Righteous Might with care so as not to block themselves from proper positioning when they turn Large, and fighters must hurry to grapple the enemy mage before he summons a deadly demon.