Kingdom: New Lands

Review

Shipwrecked on a group of 6 islands, you play either a Lordship or a Highness depending on your gender choice. You will be working to gather resources for survival and repair your ship before being overrun by monsters on each of the islands. The difficulty level increases with each island (level), until you succeed on each of the islands and can sail the open seas once again.

The islands' inhabitants are not merely native people, they are otherworldly beings that use portals to merge with our world. There are various types, with different powers against which you will need to protect yourself. Hire survivors using gold, assign them a class by spawning the tool you wish them to use, and they will go about doing their work. Build defenses as you expand your territory and work through the day to fortify your camp in preparation for the night attacks by the monsters. Get caught away from camp at night and bandits will steal your coins and then proceed to steal your crown should your gold be depleted. Lose your crown and its game over. There are special structures and NPC's on each of the islands that will aid your progress; learning to utilize them can mean the difference between losing your crown or escaping from that island.

Released on Aug 9, 2016, by the developer Noio, and published by Raw Fury, this title is the sequel to Kingdom: Classic and the 2nd of 3 titles in the series (the third title being Kingdom Two Crowns). It is a genre blend that is quite unique; I have tagged it as Indie, 2D, Pixel Graphics, Survival, Tower Defence, Strategy, Difficult. I would not rate it as casual as it is quite challenging. It has a lot of features: procedurally generated levels, sensational pixel graphics, incredible soundtrack, new mechanics and improvements from the Classic game, and unlockable NPC's & structures (13 in total, being composed of a mix of shrines, mounts, and special upgrades for towers). Each island can contain from 1-4 different unlocks, which can only be found one at time. Unlike the original kingdom that had one world, this title is broken into 6 islands to explore. Seasons have also been added, so you’ll experience seasonal weather changes that will impact the difficulty level in the harsher conditions. There is a built-in tutorial that you may skip if desired (I would recommend new players utilize it).

What a sensational game! I was instantly hooked (although I have been since the first release).  As I had wish-listed this title, when given the opportunity to review it, I did not hesitate. Its creative mechanics are fun to discover & learn, though it is a challenging title. I have been having a riot learning the core mechanics that drive the title; much has changed from the original classic release. My first couple of games were not my best moments, and short-lived due to my traveling outside my encampment at night. I will not discuss much of the mechanics, as these are best discovered on your own terms. You can use sites like wiki or fandom to learn more if desired, but personally, I like to discover these things on my own. The graphics are nothing short of superb; exceptional work for a pixel graphic title. The soundtrack is lovely and a joy to listen to as you play. So far I have only made it to the second island in over 9 hours of gameplay. I have no regrets besides the fact that I get too brazen at times venturing away from camp. Even now I am still learning more every time I play and advance a little further. The replayability I would say is good as the world is procedurally generated, resulting in a game that is never the same twice. The price is fair for the many hours of gameplay you will receive.

Achievement-hunters will want to note that 100% for the title is extremely difficult and will require multiple playthroughs. I have unlocked 11 of  34 in 9 hours of play time.

For Settings:
Language Selector, Windowed/Fullscreen, Zoom 3-4x, Sound & Music sliders, Set Blazon code box (you can set your encampments flag parameters here). You can google needed information!

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!