So I Tried... Kingdom

The So I Tired… series is all about taking a game I’ve never tried and playing it for a solid thirty minutes. It’s a really clever way to burn through a Steam backlog. So, in half an hour, I’ll know whether or not I’ll finally be deleting Kingdom from my library after a month of it sitting untouched.

What I Thought It Was

The extent of my knowledge about this game is that you play as the king and have to manage your fledgling civilization from a 2D perspective. I’ve got no idea what the moment-to-moment gameplay is going to be like. Does it involve building? RTS? Diplomacy? I don’t know, but I’m intrigued to see how a 2D kingdom management game can work well. It’s not the kind of game I’d buy I think, but my friend gifted me the game about a month ago, and he loved it. I suppose we’ll find out if I will too.

What It Actually Is

This is something… different, from anything else I’ve played. It’s not the management sim I thought that it would be. There aren’t any signs of RTS or diplomacy or anything else that I expected. The gameplay seems to consist of collecting coins by exploring to the left or right of the world and then using said coins to recruit villagers and build structures. Nighttime brings an attack on your village by little monster things, and the villagers you’ve recruited will defend your home.

Will I Keep Playing

It's hard to say at this point. I am enjoying the game, though it seems extremely simple so far, and if it doesn’t add any new gameplay elements then I don’t imagine I’ll be playing much longer. I’ve actually died already while running away from monsters due to a sticky keys shortcut popping up and taking me out off of the screen, so I think the game at least deserves another half hour from me. I don’t know how much walking from the left side of the world to the right can really change, though, so while I like the game so far, I doubt that it will hold my interest for long.