Palette Knife – Keyframe Walkthrough

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Palette Knife are a band who recognize that the real world isn't actually too far removed from the fantasy one. The Ohio-based trio have an inherent understanding of the way our chosen form of escapism reflects the conditions and struggles we face.

Across three full-length records, the band has honed an energetic blend of pop-punk, math rock, and emo, sprinkling their lyrics with ultra-nerdy pop culture references that point to something much more profound. Soaring guitar riffs, delicious bass slides, and cascading drumming firmly root their discography as a catchy, melodic, and infectious extremity of the genre.

On their latest album, Keyframe, Palette Knife further expand into all of these territories, this time showcasing their knack for magical realism and worldbuilding. Through different anime, gaming, and techno-fantasy landscapes, the band conveys moments of longing, excitement, danger, anger, suffering, delusion, insecurity, and feeling absolutely lost in an ever-expanding world that seems to be constantly shifting.

To navigate the frantic pace and technical wizardry of Keyframe, we've created this walkthrough to help you advance through each level with ease. We've even got some tips and tricks from one of Keyframe's creators, Alec Licata, who sings and plays guitar throughout the record. For more help, get tips from the pros by calling 1-900-288-0707. Rates of $1.50 per minute apply. Help line not guaranteed to improve your gameplay, solve your problems, or make you happier. 

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---- STAGE 1: PHOENIX DOWN ----
        
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Ok, so the first thing you want to do is crank your sound system as high as it will go, then do some light stretching so you can air-guitar effectively. It can feel a bit challenging at first, but once vocalist Alec Licata begins singing his incantations, you'll want to spam dodge rolls as the rapid-fire riffs start hitting you hard and fast.

SWIM INTO THE SOUND: The RPG imagery is rife throughout your entire discography, and there are more than a few references to different classic series found on the album, my favorite being this opening track. Who is your favorite Final Fantasy character, and how closely do you feel you resemble them?

PALETTE KNIFE: This is so hard. I have a soft spot for Lightning because FFXIII was the first one in the series I played. I also love Noctis because telekinetic crystal swords are all I really want, but I don't think I'm emo enough. Honestly, I feel a little similar to Cloud in Crisis Core: in that game, he has a lot more spark and optimism before the horrors of war turn him into the stoic husk we see in Final Fantasy VII. 

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---- STAGE 2: FAULTSIPHON ----
        
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Figuring out a proper setup is crucial to navigating the world of Keyframe, especially around the time you start hearing debuff / stagger / weakness /shatter. Learning how to avoid each of these status effects is key to assuring your ultimate victory.

SWIM: I've always liked the idea of instruments being reflective of character classes in TTRPG worlds. Which character class feels suited to guitar, vocals, bass, and drums, respectively?

KNIFE: Oh gosh, I might be biased because I love wizards, but I'm going wizard for guitar. Drums definitely tank: like either a paladin or something heavily armored with good damage. Bass is probably a barbarian or berserker. And vocals might be healer or bard; the lyrics are inspiring or buffing the audience. 

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---- STAGE 3: PROTOTYPE V.2 ----
        
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Nothing can prepare you for the iterative, emotional, psychic damage of this level. Crossing the Rubicon is no simple feat, but our next hint reveals the upgrades, armor, and stats you'll need to successfully configure your armored core to peak fighting form.

SWIM: If someone made a game out of Keyframe, what studio or director would you want to make it?

KNIFE: Ooooh, I would KILL for a FromSoftware game that's mech-themed like Armored Core but plays like a Dark Souls game. I realize that's sorta been done already with The Surge, but man, FromSoftware just does everything so right! 

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---- SECRET LEVEL ----
        
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Blink and you may miss it, an easter egg left for the savvy player to find, a marriage of Gundam, Zoids, and Robotech, this secret monument to a forgotten war is a special nugget of lore that most players wind up missing.

SWIM: The cover feels halfway between Zoids and Gundam. How did you wind up with this imagery?

KNIFE: I basically told Aaron [Queener, Palette Knife's drummer] I had a vision of the mech that we all pilot together, The Keyframe, embedded in the side of a studio, a thinking mountain, all post-apocalyptic and overgrown. We both got very into Gundam kits over the past few years and knew we wanted the record to be mech-themed. After many hours and revisions, this is the digital painting I made in Photoshop, and we thought it was mature and powerful enough to display without typography. 

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---- STAGE 5: LIMIT BREAK ----
        
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By now, jamming out to the multiverse of tasty licks, massive drums, and ricocheting bass lines should have your Limit gauge completely maxed out. For that you just gotta hit ↘ + → + X and you'll be tearing through to the final stage with ease.

SWIM: The album title is actually referenced only once on the entire record on “Limit Break,” where you sing: “It always takes so long for me to reframe / The mannequin I pose behind the keyframe.” Could you expand on this line and the meaning behind the album title?

KNIFE: Totally! I find myself caught in these paradigms and frameworks of thought where I base my whole world on a job, relationship, identity, or interest. So there's inevitable trouble in what happens when one of these paradigms is uprooted, and I'm forced to reframe my view of how I thought my life was going versus how it is. I'm basically saying it can take a while to heal from big changes—both good and bad ones—and, to an extent, I'm often frustrated by how long it can take me to adjust to change. 

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---- FINAL LEVEL ----
        
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You've done it! Everything you've learned, the band, the songs, the moves, has prepared you for the wandering expanse of “ISS.” As the final cutscene plays and your fighter drifts off in their damaged Veritech, swallowed by the infinite dark glow of space, the gentle glow of the Keyframe title card is the last thing we see before the end credits roll.

Through healing, through struggle, through glory and through hope, Keyframe builds its loose narrative web into a multiverse of very real themes. It can be a difficult world to make your way through these days, and the band has a firm understanding of this. From the barreling opening of “Phoenix Down” to the calm and serene acoustic closer “ISS,” Palette Knife has built entire realms to explore and exist in, ones that we hope this walkthrough made more navigable for you, weary traveler.

Elias can often be found at the local gig or online advocating for some forgotten band from who knows how long ago. They currently live in the greatest city in the world Los Angeles, California and can be found online on Instagram and Twitter @listentohyakkei.