The indie freeware classic returns! It’s been 20 years since visionary Swedish indie developer Nifflas (Rhythm Doggo, Ynglet) released Knytt, the first title in the atmospheric platforming series. Made with the help of a passionate group of internet forum collaborators, the game was released for free on the web in 2006, and later followed up by Knytt Stories (2007) and Knytt Underground (2012). IGN called Knytt “an extremely soothing and memorable ambient adventure”, while Edge Magazine remarked it was “pure platforming pleasure and a wonderfully soothing soundscape.”

To celebrate the 20th anniversary, Bit Kid (Chasm, WOLFHOUND) is proud to present Knytt Classic, a cross-platform port with full controller support, achievements, bonus modes, display effects, and much more!

Grab it now 100% FREE on Steam and GOG!

Features

• A pixel-perfect port of Nifflas’ indie freeware classic Knytt (2006)
• Over 1,500 screens to explore across the original game and three bonus modes
• Bonus Modes include UltraTough, a brand new challenging mode by Bit Kid, Hempuli’s (Baba Is You, Environment Station Alpha) mod Knytt XH (Extra Hard), and Brutally Unfair Knytt’s remixed world
• Achievements & hidden bonuses
• Full gamepad support and remappable controls
• Multiple aspect ratios & display effects, including retro CRT and handheld LCD styles
• Optional in-game timer and fastest completion time tracking
• Windows, Mac, Linux & Steam Deck support

Flashback

The world was a much different place back in 2006 when Knytt came out. The indie game revolution as we know it hadn’t happened yet. You were just as likely to get gaming news from print magazines as the internet. Information on game development was also much more limited. You had to go buy a book or two, and hope they were relevant to the technology you had at your disposal.

That same year, I was flipping through a magazine and saw an advertisement proclaiming “Make Your Own Games!” The next thing I knew, I had a copy of Torque Game Builder and an itch to make games. But like most everyone else who begins, I didn’t really understand how games were made so I spent a lot of time writing elaborate game design documents full of impossible ideas. It was during that phase of coming up with the next big idea and then quickly abandoning it after realizing how infeasible it was that Knytt came out.

It was a lightbulb moment for me – the perfect example of what a small team with no budget, working remotely on the internet could achieve. It had great controls & platforming, a unique atmosphere with a big world to explore, and of course secrets galore. But it also it showed me that “more” wasn’t necessarily better. The art of game design was just as much in what you don’t include as what you do. That philosophy of minimalism has always stuck with me since.

Mission Start

Jumping forward nearly two decades to 2024, I was excited to check the game out again, but quickly became annoyed. I was nostalgic and in love with it all over again, but also very, very annoyed! Knytt was created with a game creation program called Multimedia Fusion 2, and while it’s a neat program that helped some great games get made, they unfortunately haven’t aged so well.

Right out of the gate I noticed the Fullscreen option was broken and at best left you with a blurry, stretched mess. Then I realized controllers wouldn’t work without setting up a separate keymapper application. Lastly, there was the choppiness. The game is designed for 50hz displays, which is a little odd for 60hz desktops and digital TVs, but there also seems to be performance issues with the old GDI drawing method it uses in modern Windows.

And so the idea naturally hit me: how hard would it be to recreate the game inside Bit Kid’s FNA / SDL3-based game engine? Most of the functionality it would need to play cross-platform on modern systems was already there. The time consuming part would be recreating the world faithfully. It didn’t take long to extract all the graphical assets, music, & sounds from the game, but then the tedious part started: build a tileset out of them and go screen by screen and duplicating it as precisely as possible.

Once the game was playable I knew I had to port Hempuli’s excellent Knytt XH mod, the Brutally Unfair mod, and of course did my own little hard mode as well. Throw in some stats, achievements, and new bonuses and now its an edition worthy of celebration! A huge thanks goes out to Nifflas for giving me this opportunity. It was a seriously fun project to take on and I’m thrilled to have the game available again for new players to experience.

Nifflas Interview – August 2026

• Q: How long were you making games before starting work on Knytt?
• A: Knytt was one of the first games I had made, I had made three small games before and only one of them (Within a Deep Forest) had gained a bit of popularity. It’s a game I primarily wanted to design as a “place” rather than a story or challenge. So, making it was mainly having a very simple set of movements, then spending a lot of time just creating the world.

• Q: Knytt is one of the first titles I remember hearing about that was collaborated on over the internet. What led to that?
• A: I knew musicians from an IRC channel called #modarchive and it came quite naturally that I’d ask them to help me with music.

• Q: How did you approach designing out the world? Did you start with the crash scene and work outwards from there?
• A: I designed Knytt’s world from left to right-ish. It was mostly done by feel without any plan, and if I remember right, this was quite intentional. The world feeling like a place rather than existing as a challenge to the player felt important to me.

• Q: How did you arrive at wall climbing as the primary traversal mechanic?
• A: I don’t remember why I included the wall climbing the way I did, but I imagine it being it was easy to level design a world around without needing lots of small platforms for the player to traverse upwards. It definitely allows for a world that doesn’t look too “player traverse shaped.”

• Q: The minimalist design of the game stands out even more now than it did then. Were other abilities, hazards or collectibles ever considered or cut?
• A: If I remember right, knew nearly from the start I didn’t want the character in Knytt to have extra abilities. It was not the focus on the game, and the minimalism of the game’s design was very intentional. So, I don’t think I cut anything.

• Q: The denizens of the world are all very unique. Did you have them planned out or did others come up with them?
• A: Both me and others designed the little characters who appear in the world. I had a rule that every character must only appear once, tho similar characters can appear if there are some pixels of difference. We came up with them on the fly. The main reason they’re there is to make the world feel lived in, and for it to be rewarding when exploring the game. I hope I get daring enough to return to that kind of design, where just seeing something can be a reward, without it needing an interaction or affecting progression.

• Q: How do you see Knytt fitting into your career now? Your latest title Rhythm Doggo seems to share some of its DNA.
• A: This is an interesting one! Knytt and Rhythm Doggo definitely share a focus on atmosphere and place, and these aspects reflect how I view life back then and now. Knytt’s world is a very serene, bright and summery world and is mostly safe but with small parts of danger. Rhythm Doggo is the inverse of this, a dark world set either at night or in heavy rainfall, where you find pockets of safety in shelters, where dogs and other creatures hang out. These aspects of the games reflect how I view life, and I hope to in the future become a person who has it into me to create a much happier game like Knytt again.

• Q: Is there anything the world doesn’t know about Knytt (or its development) that you think they should?
• A: Originally, Knytt was a little side experiment I made when I was developing WIthin a Deep Forest 2. I’m not even sure I intended to finish the game first. The first WaDF had been fairly popular and I wanted to make a sequel, but I never “connected” to it the same way I connected to Knytt instantly when starting making it. I very rarely abandon games but it was definitely the right choice here.

Grab Knytt Classic now 100% FREE on Steam and GOG!

IGN has wrestled with the dangers of the Jungle, and found that while WOLFHOUND may be tough, it strives to be fun and fair! Check out their hands-on preview now!

Here’s a fresh look at gameplay from WOLFHOUND for PAX West 2025! We hope to see you at the MIX event 8/29 @ 7PM with an exclusive hands-on demo. More details here.

The announcement trailer did a great job of getting across what WOLFHOUND is and how it plays, but I thought I’d take a moment in this update to focus on a few key design decisions and gameplay details that may not have been so obvious.

WORLD

While I’ve been striving to make each area of WOLFHOUND distinct, my goal was for it to feel like one massive, seamless locale. This meant the entire island, from the snowy mountain peaks at the top to the lava-filled chasms at the bottom, needed to fit on a single map. There are some other changes in this game as well to further enhance that feeling of interconnectedness, such as the camera panning smoothly between rooms as you explore, and no transition or loading screens between areas.

GAMEPLAY

“Contravania” was a humorous (yet endearing!) term we often saw used to describe the game when the trailer was released. And while the military themes and weapons do call Contra to mind, the primary influence on everything from the art style to the gameplay was the mother of all Metroidvania games: the original Metroid on NES. Like Metroid, the pacing in WOLFHOUND is much more deliberate than a typical run ‘n gun game. The limited reach of your weapons, the reloading mechanic, and the intentional lack of diagonal firing all require you to carefully approach each encounter.

ARSENAL

You begin your mission with only a standard-issue handgun and your trusty combat knife, but as you explore the island, you will soon build a powerful arsenal. There are three main types of weapons to find: Sidearms, Rifles, and Explosives. Only one of each can be equipped at a time, and each type has its own distinct advantages. For example, Sidearms typically have shorter reach and less punch than Rifles, but have the benefit of unlimited ammo. Also, keep an eye out for the Armory rooms found throughout the world that allow you to change your loadout, refill ammo, and upgrade your arsenal with Weapon Kits you find off the beaten path.

WRAP UP

And that’s it for this year! We’ve gone heads down on developing WOLFHOUND, but will have further updates to share throughout 2025. If you have any more questions or thoughts, please let me know, and I’ll consider them for a future update. And as always, thanks again for all your support. We hope you have a great holiday season, and we’ll see you in 2025!

When a clandestine NAZI BASE is discovered in the otherworldly heart of the BERMUDA TRIANGLE, there’s only one soldier for the job…

Capt. Chuck “WOLFHOUND” Rossetti, a wise-cracking, one-man army who never leaves a pal behind, is no stranger to war but his war is about to get stranger. After an Allied vessel vanishes, Chuck is deployed to infiltrate an uncharted island, discover the enemy’s secrets, and bring our boys home.

Yet this evil, shrouded island has other plans. Pitted against the stuff of nightmares — mutant insects, zombies, and other twisted creations of a mad Axis scientist — Chuck finds himself on an eerie, perilous mission unlike any he’s faced before. 

VENTURE FORTH INTO THE ISLAND, scavenging for weapons and ammo to dispatch the Axis soldiers and monsters that grow more grotesque and dangerous the further WOLFHOUND goes. Unveil the sinister experiments of Dr. Steiner, and turn his tech against him. Feel the unbridled power of the railgun. Reach new heights with the jetpack. Lace up gravity boots to traverse new areas, where castles pierce the sky and crystal caverns veil wicked, fascinating mysteries. . .

After more than 200,000 recruits ventured into the procedurally-generated depths of Chasm, Bit Kid sought to return to the Metroidvania genre, while eschewing procedural generation in favor of a single, intricately-designed world. Bit Kid brought together artistic talent behind the Shantae series, Freedom Planet 2, and Sparklite along with a heroic chiptune soundtrack courtesy of musician RushJet1 (Cave Story+, Alwa’s Legacy, PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator).

“While I’ve always been a big fan of retro games and pixel art, I really wanted to dive deep into the style of NES and 8-bit gaming,” said James Petruzzi, founder and lead developer at Bit Kid. “We’re aiming to be as authentic as possible, stylistically: an 8-bit color palette, 320×180 pixel resolution, and a soundtrack composed in Famitracker which has enabled homebrewers to create authentic NES music for many years.”

WOLFHOUND will release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam for PC and Steam Deck. For more information, follow Bit Kid on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and join the official Bit Kid Discord server.

I can hardly believe it, but Chasm officially turns five years old today! On top of that, it was over 10 years ago now that Chasm’s Kickstarter was successfully funded. Where does the time go? In celebration of the anniversary, we’ll be doing a giveaway today with our last copy of the Switch Deluxe Edition by Limited Run. Please join our Discord if you haven’t already, and get your entry in!

I’d like to once again thank both the team who worked their hardest to make Chasm a reality, as well as all the fans that helped make it such a success. But just how big of a success was it? Well, I’m honored to say that to date Chasm has sold 200,000 copies worldwide! That is a huge achievement for an indie game, and far beyond what we ever thought would be possible for our first major title.

So, what have we been up to since launch? Immediately after launch in the fall of 2018 we focused on the Switch and Xbox ports, while trying to fix all the major issues that were reported by the community. New translations, game modes, content and much more were also released. Then in 2019, Chasm’s engine & tool programmer (and longtime friend) Tim decided to leave the company. It was a major blow for me, but I continued working on Chasm throughout that year fixing bugs, adding content, and generally improving the experience until the last major update was released in the fall. 

Going into 2020, I was back on my own again with no clear path forward. In a lot of ways, it felt like I was starting over from scratch. During that period, I worked on a few different prototypes while I improved the engine with new features and optimizations to speed up content creation. Among the prototypes were a sequel to Chasm that picked up right where the last one left off, a “pick up and play” Spelunky-ish spin-off, and, finally, a hand-designed Metroid-inspired game.

While all the ideas showed promise, I was burned out on both fantasy and procedural generation, so the hand-designed idea seemed the most appealing at the time. All the pieces started to come together as I worked on it, and by the summer of 2021 I had a brand-new team assembled with a 30-minute prototype showcasing the intro and first area (similar to Chasm’s that I used to pitch at GDC and the Kickstarter). After proving to myself the concept was solid and the new team could realize the vision, I decided to commit to it and officially went into pre-production on my next title.

Jumping up to the present, the game is now a good way into development and I’m bursting to finally announce it to the world. However, there is still that pesky little problem of the right timing! Unfortunately, it’s not quite here yet, but we’re getting closer every day now. Thank you again for your continued support over the years, and I’ll be back in touch soon!

-James

I’m not sure how this one snuck up on us, but I’m excited to announce that Bit Kid is officially 10 years old! The company was formed as Discord Games LLC 10 years ago this week for the release of Take Arms on the Xbox Live Indie Games store. My long-time friend Tim Dodd and I worked tirelessly on Take Arms during nights and weekends for two years, hoping that it would be our big break into making video games full-time. While those dreams didn’t quite pan out how we planned, it taught us a lot about making games and was a major achievement to be proud of.

We couldn’t have done it without the amazing community that sprung up around XNA, from all the tutorials and examples that were developed, to the XNA forums where someone was always willing to help, and of course the promotional events like the XBLIG Uprising organized by Dave Voyles and Kris Steele. It was a close knit community where you felt like everyone was rooting for you, and I can’t thank everyone enough for all their help and support throughout the years.

But, there is also a sadder side to this as well. Our two games before Chasm, Take Arms and 48 Chambers, were released exclusively on the Xbox 360 marketplace. Microsoft decided to take the store down a while back, meaning that it’s now impossible to experience the games as originally intended. I had tried to do PC ports back then, but XNA had less than stellar compatibility on PC and Monogame was still in its infancy. But, now we have the miracle of FNA (thanks Ethan Lee!), so I thought what better way to honor the games that got us started than to get them running again?

So, I present to you, two quick and free FNA/SDL2 ports that run on Windows, Mac, and Linux! Please be aware these are very basic ports – no fancy customizable controls, resolutions, etc. I may add more features to them in the future, but my goal for now was just to get them running on PCs so that they weren’t completely lost to time.

TAKE ARMS (2011)

Take Arms was our vision of how 2d gameplay could be modernized for the 21st century. Inspired by childhood classics like Contra while taking equal influence from more modern titles like the Battlefield series, it was designed to be an online multiplayer shooter for fans of 2d games. The overall game design was simple, but the technology needed pushed us to our limits. Not only did the game support online networked matches for up to 8 players, but Tim designed a full-on skeletal animation system and editor to animate the soldiers. The three maps that shipped with the game were painted out by artist Jianran Pan overtop a blocked out template, then painstakingly chopped up and re-assembled in the engine. Unfortunately, this PC port suffers in one major way: online multiplayer isn’t supported. The reason for this is that the game was originally developed for the Xbox 360, which used its own proprietary matchmaking system that worked on PC but was not licensed for distribution. So, until I have time to write a whole new matchmaking system, this ported version will be limited to offline bot matches only. Also worth checking out is the commemorative Art Book with more info and behind the scenes look at the development of the game, as well as the time-lapse video showing how the game evolved over the period of two years.

Download: WIN | OSX | LINUX

48 CHAMBERS (2012)

48 Chambers began its life before Take Arms with the much less subtle name of 36 Chambers. The game was originally developed over a few month span in 2009 as an entry for the DREAM.BUILD.PLAY contest held yearly back then by Microsoft. It was sort of a desperate, last gasp effort to get SOMETHING made after continuously running into walls with game design. When your ambitions exceed your skills it can be very frustrating to spend months and months on an idea that just doesn’t pan out. After several misfires, I ran into the “World’s Hardest Game” – a simple but very difficult game where you play as a square avoiding projectiles – while taking a break at my day job. It finally struck me that the simplest concepts can still captivate if done right, and I decided to do a quick game inspired by it for the contest. After submitting the game to the contest, Tim and I immediately went into development of Take Arms and I just kind of forgot about it. It was only after finishing Take Arms and looking back through my old work that I thought it wasn’t too bad of an effort and decided to add some more levels, new graphics and music and officially release it on the Xbox store for a dollar. This port features the much needed addition of Leaderboards, but is otherwise identical to the XBLIG release.

Download: WIN | OSX | LINUX

LOOKING AHEAD

Now you may be asking yourself, what’s next for Bit Kid? Well, I am happy to say that I’m working away on my 4th title! It is still early in development, but is coming together great and looking to be my biggest and best game yet. I hope to officially announce it in the near future, so please stay tuned. If you haven’t yet, please be sure to join our newsletter to stay up to date with the latest. Thanks again for a great 10 years, and here’s to the next 10!

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re excited to announce that physical pre-orders are now open for Chasm on Nintendo Switch and PS4! We’ve been working with the highly esteemed Limited Run Games on it, and we’re very impressed with the packages they’ve put together. As per usual, Limited Run will only print a limited amount of copies, so it won’t be easily attainable after the pre-order period ends. Pre-orders will be open for the next 4 weeks (closing Nov. 8) with no limit, so be sure to grab yours before it’s too late!

While the standard edition comes with the game and an instruction booklet, the real star of the show is the Classic Edition. It’s jam packed with awesome extras like a plushie of the bird familiar, 4 CD soundtrack, art book, double sided poster, stickers and more!

• Nintendo Switch – Standard Edition
• Nintendo Switch – Classic Edition
• PlayStation 4 – Standard Edition
• PlayStation 4 – Classic Edition

In addition to the physical releases of the game, we also have a limited edition vinyl release of the soundtrack now available for pre-order from Limited Run! It’s a 2 LP set, with the first disc containing the original soundtrack and the second disc containing the chiptune version. This release is exclusive to Limited Run, so if you’ve ever wanted the OST on vinyl now is your chance!

We’re excited to announce that Chasm is now two years old! On July 31, 2018 we flipped the switch and launched the game on Steam and PS4/Vita. It seems like it was just yesterday, but time certainly flies as they say! We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the fans for their continued support over the years. We couldn’t do it without you!

In celebration of the occasion, we have a steep 60% Off sale going on now on Nintendo Switch and Steam, as well as a couple of special announcements.

PS Vita Limited Physical Edition

One of the most common requests we get is for physical editions of Chasm, so we are thrilled to announce that we are finally dipping our toes in the water with our first physical edition for PS Vita! This Limited Edition of 2,500 units by EastAsiaSoft includes a Soundtrack CD, Instruction Booklet, numbered certificate and more. It will be available for pre-order starting August 6th on Playasia, so be sure to mark your calendars!

Chasm Compendium Giveaway

We are also celebrating the anniversary by giving away copies of the Kickstarter-only Chasm Compendium hardback book. It’s filled with over 450 pages of eye popping pixel art, concepts, sketches, design notes, and much more. There were only about 50 copies of this edition printed, so these are pretty rare. We will be giving away 6 copies today with entries being accepted from 10AM to 4PM EDT on our Discord, so join now to participate!

Chasm 1.076 is now available on Nintendo Switch (currently on sale 50% off), PS4/Vita, and Xbox One as well as Steam and GOG! This patch is a follow-up to the big update last fall, and includes a ton of bug fixes and tweaks to polish up the experience even more. See the full change-list after the jump!

1.076 Change-list:

– Added safeguard for flour drops in Innkeeper’s sidequest.

– Increased mana particle acceleration.

– Increased enemy mana and gold drop rates.

– Custom player map markers now pulse to differentiate from others.

– Arcade: fixed consumable chest items being incorrectly added to drop blacklist.

– Arcade: fixed crash if all items of a category have already been dropped by chests.

– Fixed unintended achievement unlocking when playing Arcade then Story mode.

– Fixed buying multiple potions at a time not counting towards Big Spender achievement.

– Fixed equipment items stacking when purchasing multiple at a time.

– Fixed input buffer size growing every room change.

– Fixed Misc category notes allowing paging for translated languages.

– Fixed Backdash and Jump button buffers not being checked when landing on ground in walking state.

– Fixed Bird Hat not appearing on map.

– Fixed animation pooling bug in Bestiary.

– Fixed Flambard special move on thumbstick.

– Fixed Throwing Sword not throwing when holding down on d-pad.

– Fixed Eyebat getting stuck in ground.

– Fixed Secret Detector beeping for elixirs already picked up.

– Fixed Rat aggro when on platform above or below.

– Fixed Executioner walking into oil.

– Fixed Bird Hat icon position.

– Fixed tiling and collision errors in a few rooms.

– Fixed rare glitch with explosion FX.