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Kingsway
Released On: Jul 18, 2017
80
6.0
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
80
67% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
17% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
80
67% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
17% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
I enjoyed the novelty of the interface along with the ability to experiment with maximizing different character classes. There are some genuinely cool moments that harken back to classic RPGs, especially around the boss fights. Because of the threat of perma-death, they felt especially tense and I had to psych myself up before I took on the Big Bad. Despite some repetitive content, the overall experience was fresh and fun.
Kingsway goes beyond being just a throwback to the past, and proves itself an entertaining game in its own right.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 User Ratings
6.0
55% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
18% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
27% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 User Ratings
6.0
55% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
18% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
27% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Fun game if you're looking for something new/different to do. The game is quite short, but it being randomly generated and having permadeath keeps things exciting.
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PC
Like all successful pieces of nostalgia, Kingsway knows the adventure on the screen is less important than the adventure in your mind. Kingsway took me far down those winding paths, deeper and deeper with each hesitant chitter of nonexistent hardware.
The gimmick of Kingsway is rather glorious, but the grandeur fades quickly as you take up your sword and staff for the third or forth completion run. The novelty of Kingsway is quite potent, but it just doesn’t have any staying power. As something to hammer out in a day and put down never to play again, it’s a fun diversion – but don’t count on it to keep you exploring the ever-changing island for much longer than that.
A fun procedurally generated rpg adventure with a punishing difficulty that will require multiple playthroughs.
Goodness me, Kingsway is clever. It’s clever in so, so many ways. It’s clever in its absolutely spectacular presentation, but it’s far too clever to let that just be a gimmick – its peculiar appearance as a mid-90s Windows desktop could so easily have been a cute idea that hid an ordinary roguelite RPG, but instead it so very brilliantly influences how you play, and indeed the foibles of such an interface become crucial to how you experience it. It’s also really bloody tough.
If for some reason you feel reminiscent of the Windows 95 OS, you should probably play this game. After Kingsway, I am proud to say that I was lucky enough to be born during a time when Windows 95 reigned supreme. I don’t remember much other than the ridiculously hideous UI with the solid grey taskbar and borders. Playing made me want to change my desktop theme to match it and when I did, I absolutely hated it. Andrew Morrish, creator of Super Puzzle Platformer, and Adult Swim published Kingsway as a means for us to all remember why we hated early Windows OS (Some of us still hate current OS, thanks Microsoft). This rogue-like takes the player into the a fantasy world, where you are trying to save it from a world-eating monster.
You start the game by creating a character and using generic classes that give different stat bonuses. Warriors start with high strength while mages start with high intelligence and so on. I was pleasantly surprised by how hilarious the characters ended up looking when I clicked random; the names also turned out so great that I never wanted to change them. I never ended up diving into the character creation because I ended up using whatever the game generated for me. When you’re done creating your character, you are introduced to a rendition of an early 90s Windows desktop. There are a couple of windows open and a couple of desktop shortcuts. You have to manually click on the windows to bring them up to view and anything that you’re clicking will have screen priority. This makes it so that having all the windows open is advantageous, but it can cause you to misclick onto the wrong window.
Clicking on the world shortcut will open an overworld map that you use to traverse the land. Moving to a destination is simple, you click on a location and depending on the distance, a meter with a time duration appears. During the allotted travel duration, you can be attacked by various enemies spanning from skeletons wielding swords to sorcerers. Battle windows pop up for each enemy you encounter and sometimes you are met with more than one enemy which means more windows to manage. Kingsway masterfully integrates an Active Time Battle system with multi-management. Certain enemies are able to create more pop-up windows that can be interacted with, an example is the a sorcerer can summon 3 icicles that fall from the top of the screen to the bottom. The player has to multitask attacking/blocking the attacks from the sorcerer while clicking the large AVOID buttons on the windows of the icicles. Many of the enemies have different effects on the player other than status effects or damage. Phantoms, a ghost-like creature, can close certain windows after their attack connects while another enemy will throw poison daggers that must be avoided before they reach the end of the screen. The depth of the combat is both simple and intuitive. Controlling the multiple windows requires precision and each misstep can lead to detrimental effects on the current adventure. I found myself fully immersed in the simple combat. Clicking and prioritizing windows felt fun and interactive. I’ve played many games with a similar active time battle and yet I felt the most involved for Kingsway’s combat. The explosion of pop-up windows and the different desktop effects leads to a different experience through each playthrough.
Kingsway is a reminiscent game of a past era. The look and the feel of the game only add to the experience. Although the game lacks a story, it is made to push the player to try new things. It may take time, but reaching the end is achievable. The gameplay is where the game really shines. It was fun to manage each window that would appear; I enjoyed each individual challenge that every enemy presented. The point-and-click adventure part of the game was secondary to the fluid combat system. Experimenting with classes lead to different outcomes and it felt like I learned something through each character. The generic upgrade system per character death is something found in many other rogue-likes. The atmosphere and the aesthetics of the game really drive it home for me. If you’re looking for a game that reminds you of the Windows OS glory days, this is the perfect one. The controls limit the game to a mouse and keyboard and the only thing I would want more out of this game is the ability to play it on the go.
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PC
Modeling the game like an operating system is a great idea but it would have been cooler if they put some things in there that weren't directly to do with the game like a text editor, a calculator, a calendar, a simplistic spreadsheet etc. Instead you quickly realize that it's just the game elements like character screen, inventory etc. and that it's actually quite annoying that they behave like separate windows instead of being in fixed places not overlapping. It's nice that you can put elements where you want but enemy windows pop up where they decide to which often covers your important information. The game also does not save your window positions.
As for those enemy windows popping up, that is the part of the game I most hate. I realize it's part of the gameplay that the enemy windows move while you are trying to click on them and that things like bombs and arrows pop up as fast moving windows you have to click on while doing everything else to be "realistic" but I don't want tests of hand/eye co-ordination requiring precision and speed on the mouse in an rpg. I would prefer the tactical grid combat of a true roguelike in place of this test of my real life dexterity and agility.
I'm also not a fan of the roguelite progression where you earn gems while playing that you later use to give yourself permanent advantages. I'm especially not happy about one of those advantages being unlocking shortcut keys for various windows in the game. I'm not sure if this will even let you redefine a key once you have unlocked it but I would guess not.
The bottom line is that what at first appears to be an innovative, deep rpg with procedural elements turns out to gimmicky, shallow, encounter-based rpg which enforces a certain method of user interaction. The gimmick (fake operating system) is only realized enough to suit the game which is an opportunity missed.
(No linux version available)
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PC
Summary Kingsway is the #1 operating system for daily tasks such as skeleton smashing and loot-organizing. Trouble sorting through all your potions and swords? Don't worry! Kingsway can help you manage, and with an easy to use interface you'll have time leftover for a peaceful stroll through the underworld.
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Jul 18, 2017
Developer:
- Andrew Morrish
Publisher: Adult Swim
Genres:
