"Simple In Concept, Boring In Practice"
Kingdom: Classic is a simple kingdom management that has very little to its gameplay. The main loop is using gold to recruit citizens, and these people can become archers/knights, farmers, or builders. By building defense towers and gates, along with a few farms, you slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) build up a society. However, there are legions of goblins that attack certain nights, and your defenses must be able to withstand them, otherwise your kingdom falls in shambles. Its a simple loop really, but it gets extremely repetitive really fast.
The only actions you can do are spend gold and move around. That's it. The systems behind this aren't much deeper - fund enough to build structure/build tool, and recruit people to perform these tasks. You as a player do nothing else. By the 15th day I thought I was going to beat this game, until I realized I had multiple goblin portals to destroy and structures to build in order to expand my kingdom. I could not fathom playing this game for any longer than I already had, as the gameplay is just dry and goes nowhere over the course of the game.
Yes, the pixel art is nice. Yes, the soundtrack can be pretty (if not repetitive) at times. However, this is a video game, and with a gameplay loop this basic and bland, it almost felt like I wasn't playing at times. It never felt engaging, and it didn't even feel like the best way I could WASTE my time after a certain point. Its serviceable for an hour at best, but further playtime proved that the game is as shallow as a puddle.
I do think the AI is dumb as well. I witnessed multiple occasions where my citizens would lazily walk back to camp as night bestowed upon them, only for them to be slaughtered by the incoming horde of goblins. Why they don't run, I don't know. Furthermore, adding a limit to how much gold you can carry, on top of the fact that you have to MANUALLY go around and collect tithes, is just plain un-fun. This wasted so much time in "adding" to the gameplay loop, all because the developers could not add anything else to their title.
Overall, this game isn't worth it. While the art is nice and the soundtrack is okay, it isn't worth paying money for a basic and bland gameplay loop that doesn't become anything greater than pressing a button to throw a gold coin. I would Not Recommend this game, plain and simple. There are plenty of more in-depth, stylistic, unique, and rewarding strategy games out there, some of which that don't resort to shallow and lazy systems.
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)
Kingdom: Classic is a simple kingdom management that has very little to its gameplay. The main loop is using gold to recruit citizens, and these people can become archers/knights, farmers, or builders. By building defense towers and gates, along with a few farms, you slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) build up a society. However, there are legions of goblins that attack certain nights, and your defenses must be able to withstand them, otherwise your kingdom falls in shambles. Its a simple loop really, but it gets extremely repetitive really fast.
The only actions you can do are spend gold and move around. That's it. The systems behind this aren't much deeper - fund enough to build structure/build tool, and recruit people to perform these tasks. You as a player do nothing else. By the 15th day I thought I was going to beat this game, until I realized I had multiple goblin portals to destroy and structures to build in order to expand my kingdom. I could not fathom playing this game for any longer than I already had, as the gameplay is just dry and goes nowhere over the course of the game.
Yes, the pixel art is nice. Yes, the soundtrack can be pretty (if not repetitive) at times. However, this is a video game, and with a gameplay loop this basic and bland, it almost felt like I wasn't playing at times. It never felt engaging, and it didn't even feel like the best way I could WASTE my time after a certain point. Its serviceable for an hour at best, but further playtime proved that the game is as shallow as a puddle.
I do think the AI is dumb as well. I witnessed multiple occasions where my citizens would lazily walk back to camp as night bestowed upon them, only for them to be slaughtered by the incoming horde of goblins. Why they don't run, I don't know. Furthermore, adding a limit to how much gold you can carry, on top of the fact that you have to MANUALLY go around and collect tithes, is just plain un-fun. This wasted so much time in "adding" to the gameplay loop, all because the developers could not add anything else to their title.
Overall, this game isn't worth it. While the art is nice and the soundtrack is okay, it isn't worth paying money for a basic and bland gameplay loop that doesn't become anything greater than pressing a button to throw a gold coin. I would Not Recommend this game, plain and simple. There are plenty of more in-depth, stylistic, unique, and rewarding strategy games out there, some of which that don't resort to shallow and lazy systems.
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)