Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

1. Unclouded

   Sep 21, 2021

   10

   The best Wonder Boy game ever made! Everything about this game just oozes charm and effort. I can't think of a single Metroidvania that hasThe best Wonder Boy game ever made! Everything about this game just oozes charm and effort. I can't think of a single Metroidvania that has impressed me this much!… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
2. flowbeus

   Jan 8, 2019

   10

   This game is a dream come true for me, I've been waiting a long time for a game with Wonder Boy III style gameplay.
   
   This game blew away allThis game is a dream come true for me, I've been waiting a long time for a game with Wonder Boy III style gameplay.
   
   This game blew away all my expectations and delivered awesome platforming gold. The graphics are amazingly detailed, the music is phenomenal and the world is nicely fleshed out more than previous Wonder Boy games.
   
   The obvious criticism is that it is a bit too hard, it's easy to get lost or confused about what to do next. I embarrassingly got stuck for 30 minutes in the church trying to figure out what to do in there to progress the game. I spent another 40 minutes trying to find an optional hidden room in one of the dungeons. I also encountered a puzzle where I had a solution that should have worked, but the game seemed to not accept my solution and wanted me to find its intended solution. I think some of these puzzles should have more clues to help the player if they get stuck or there should be more than one solution to some of them.
   
   Also starting over with just 3 hearts from the last checkpoint is kind of a joke, it's very difficult to progress with just 3 hearts from a checkpoint, especially later in the game like in the fire area where there is fire everywhere. Yes there is a time-comsuming way to heal yourself that I won't get into due to spoilers, but I think if you started with more hearts - maybe half your max hearts (if that's greater than 3) at checkpoints it would make a lot more sense. Or just space out the checkpoints more and make more of them fully heal you. Or have Zeke deliver a potion to you after respawning too many times. Or make an easy mode where all the checkpoints heal you perhaps.
   
   Anyway, despite the difficult sections, the large majority of the game is platforming bliss and I'm really sad that it's over. I really hope that we see a sequel in the future! I'm giving this a 10 since it is such an over-the-top joy to play this game.… Expand

   • 3 of 3 users found this helpful
4. TheDahaka

   Dec 7, 2018

   10

   A superb Metroidvania style platformer and an absolute blast for fans of Wonderboy. This was a long time coming. The devs knocked this one outA superb Metroidvania style platformer and an absolute blast for fans of Wonderboy. This was a long time coming. The devs knocked this one out of the park!… Expand

   • 9 of 9 users found this helpful
5. mbestvina

   Mar 5, 2019

   8

   I wanted to love this game more than I did. I still had a good time with it but I can't say it's a must-play. I keep seeing people call this aI wanted to love this game more than I did. I still had a good time with it but I can't say it's a must-play. I keep seeing people call this a MetroidVania and I don't think that's quite right... The structure is actually much closer to a Zelda game than a MetroidVania. There's a village in the middle of the map and you venture out in different directions to tackle a long list of self-contained dungeons. You constantly acquire new gear and monster-transformations that allow you to traverse new areas and solve more puzzles. There are secrets everywhere and the main quest could take you upwards of 20 hours to finish. That somewhat makes up for the 40 dollar price tag but compared to some indie games, Monster Boy falls short. Blossom Tales is a better Zelda clone, with a grander sense of adventure and Hollow Knight is a far better MetroidVania with better combat and infinitely superior level design and both games are much cheaper than Monster Boy. It delivers some good puzzles and platforming but the linearity and weak combat dragged it down for me.
   
   One major flaw that almost ruined the game for me is the health system. It is just impossible to get your health back. Enemies will drop health occasionally but it's nowhere near enough to compensate for the damage they'll do to you. The platforming and puzzles can also drain your health in a hurry. You can buy and upgrade shields and armor but it never seemed to make much of a difference. By my count, there are 3 ways around the health system. You can go back to a store to purchase a health potion, which is often very out of your way and will waste a lot of time. However, you actually keep all of your progress when you die so you can usually just brute force it until you win (frustrating), or kill yourself after using your potion to get it back (tedious and immersion-breaking). All 3 of these strategies are a pain in the butt and easily could have been remedied by enemies simply dropping more health. I'm all for challenge, I already recommended you play Hollow Knight instead of this game. The important difference is that this game's challenge comes from tedium. Another user review mentioned the Volcano dungeon and this was the exact moment where the game fell apart for me too, almost entirely because of the health system.
   
   I know it seems ridiculous for me to spend half my review talking about health but it really turned the game into a slog in the second half and made me question how good the first half had actually been. It never stops your progress outright but it's always a lingering annoyance. Monster Boy is a Nintendo-style side-scrolling adventure that has a lot going for it but can never quite reach the heights of the big N.… Expand

   • 4 of 4 users found this helpful
6. Phoenix-Prince

   Jun 15, 2020

   6

   If you love platforming and '90s nostalgia then this game should be on your radar.
   If you are anyone else be cautioned this game is hard.If you love platforming and '90s nostalgia then this game should be on your radar.
   If you are anyone else be cautioned this game is hard.
   "This is my revised review as I have since finished it"
   The game starts off pretty tough once you turn into your first monster, but if you can whether the storm for about half the game there is something addicting, at least addicting enough to want to finish.
   I truly hated this game for the first half of the game, but after collecting items and upgrading equipment it started to become kind of fun. There are still moments where it really ticked me off and I wanted to smash the controller, but I stuck through and glad I did.
   My advice if you're interested in this game, that would be don't take the video reviewers at there word, when they say this game is great, it's not great, well at least not great if you only have a passing interest in platforming, otherwise they're probably right.
   While I enjoyed it at the end I still don't agree with all the praise, It really becomes frustrating unless you're really a die hard platformer gamer. This should have been pointed out, I don't know how or why it wasn't.
   At the end The game made me much better at platformers so That's pretty cool. Because of that and The surprising amount of fun I was having after I unlocked most of my forms and upgrading my equipment, I'm bumping up my original score from a "4" to a "6 out of 10". Slightly above middle of the road depending on what kind of gamer you are. If you want a challenge this game will challenge you, if you want to relax this game will not be you're go too for such.
   At the end of the day I'm glad I purchased it, I beat my first platformer and now im much better at them.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. Daisuk

   Oct 19, 2020

   4

   I found this game very underwhelming, though it should be said that I'm not a follower of the whole game series (although I did play WonderboyI found this game very underwhelming, though it should be said that I'm not a follower of the whole game series (although I did play Wonderboy on the Amiga 500 back in the day). I found it slow paced, really imprecise and boring combat, dull and "blocky" platforming, the whole package is just very ... it's for kids and/or fans, basically.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
8. matt1184

   Oct 28, 2021

   0

   This game is literal garbage. I'm not sure which is worst, the story, the gameplay, or the progression. It is all simply pure garbage.

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

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