Kingdom of the Dragon

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My review video - https://youtu.be/DvR4f4uFPRw

This may not be the most visually impressive game but it was fun! Gameplay is solid and fun. I enjoyed playing through this game and reading all the lore found in it. Be careful on the final boss, I found a glitch that locks you into an neverending falling rocks sequence. Do not get the final hit in when he pulls his head up. 8/10 game

Much better than I thought it would be!

And if you need it, there is a walkthrough in the discussion board. :)

This is a cool game. I like it a lot. Not too hard, but a nice challenge. Nice exploration game with beautiful art design. You could stand still whilst looking around just to soak in the scenery. Lots of different locations, and the natural sound effects set the mood. Not really a metroidvania or a dark souls clone, just a pretty game where you are a knight exploring all the islands and finding power ups to help you progress farther into the game.

Wow, what a great surprise. Kingdom of the Dragon is something of a metroidvania with a strong Dark Souls vibe to it. The combat may be simplistic but doesn't lack a certain finesse to it, and I loved the exploration and general atmosphere of the game. Couldn't put it down, even after being quite stuck during a couple of occasions. Would love to see more games from the developer.

I hate leaving negative reviews, especially to small indie games like this.

Another review mentions this game doesn't respect your time. That is 100% accurate. It takes AGES to walk anywhere in this game and if you've taken a wrong turn or are going down the wrong branch, you'll need to walk all the way back up. There's nothing to do or see along the way either - Most enemies die in a single hit. None of them are interesting. The first 1.5 hours the enemies just walk back and forth or walk very slowly towards you. There's zero depth. Exploration is almost non existent - Every path ends with a chest containing some coins, which you can use to upgrade either your health or damage. You can kill everything in one hit so I'm assuming you need the damage upgrades for later in the game.

Both the bosses I've fought were jokes. The first was a giant slime that crawled back and forth extremely slowly and shot a single projectile every 5ish seconds. It involved me standing there and smacking it for about 30 seconds after which it died and gave me a grappling hook. The hook can only be used at "loops" scattered throughout the world, which did nothing to change the actual gameplay.

The next boss was the most tedious mess I've ever seen. It takes place in a pitch black room which only lights up when the boss is there. Hitting the boss makes him disappear and teleport to the next section. The only danger is falling into spikes (which one shot you) or his projectile that he launches every 5 seconds or so (it's easy to dodge). The fight basically goes like this:
1. Hit the boss
2. Room goes pitch black
3. Stand still for 5 seconds to wait for the light to turn back on
4. Walk forward 10 steps and repeat

Eventually I unlocked a sail which got my hopes up. I started sailing around an overworld to new locations with zero direction as to where to go. I acquired a world map which had some points of interest but at one of the points was a medusa enemy which killed me in a single hit (and took a bunch of hits to kill). I explored a bit more, but the next hour or so of tedious walking was enough for me. I never encountered any interesting enemies, never got any interesting upgrades, never fought interesting bosses, etc.

The worst part of this is I discovered that this is version 2 of the game. They actually "fixed" a bunch of problems people had with the game (like hitboxes and a lack of a map). This still feels like a beta/alpha - There are no graphical options, no sound options, there's some collision issues with walls, there's next to no music (which I don't necessarily hate), no balance , etc.

I think this would be a passable game given a fast travel system between save points, but it should be built in. Maybe you unlock something later on - I'm not sure, and I'm not willing to spend more than the two hours I've already wasted.

Kingdom of the Dragon was an impulse buy for me, in a quest of looking for new old school games to play in the action/adventure/rpg genres. I was aware of the mixed reviews but "mixed" to me could be a game that's perfectly suitable for one person's taste and detestable to the next. Kingdom of the Dragon has its flaws, yet it's a great game that was challenging, fun, addictive and an all around pleasure to complete. I'm still going to go back in and try to earn the rest of the achievements just to spend a little more time in its charming NES/SNES world.

You play as a knight who is on a quest to rid the land of Artaphys from evil. The game reminds me of a combination between the recent and outstanding Apotheon, Castlevania, Metroid and Megaman. Starting off on one small island to explore, you soon stumble upon a ship that needs fixed and will be your vessel for further exploring the world. In each area there are secrets to find (ammo capacity upgrades, health containers, etc.), special weapons and abilities to gain ala Megaman (as many of the abilities have a specific boss or obstacle that they can overcome) and enemies to smash. I'm reviewing the original game without the update, so it'll be interesting to compare how it plays now with how it did then.

Did I mention bosses and enemies? I sure did and there's alot of challenging fights ahead. The boss battles are quite clever and the monster sinister and well-designed. Defeating each one requires learning their tactics and fighting back against them with some of your own. They are a consistent highlight of the game and it was always exciting to reach the next one and find out what it might be. The paths to each one are often treacherous and require skillful platforming using tools like the grappling hook etc. to get around. I died most on the platforming and though it has its quirks with very precise jumping required, it was a level of difficult that could be mastered to eventually kick progression back into gear. The levels are nicely drawn, colorful or dark depending on the locale and all a joy to explore with hidden secrets, shops to spend your hard-earned coin at and a pile of enemies to deal with from skeletons to medusas to wild dogs and much more.

You're gong to spend alot of time fighting and the combat like the platforming has its quirks but is like any old game where you had to get a grip on the basic schematics. The sword's range was short in the OG version though thanks to a bow n' arrow, reflecting shield and other cool gear you have a fighting chance against everything that you face. I found a good mix of softening enemies up from a distance and then utilizing the sword was one of the best ways to go all-around. There's a few frustrating parts but nothing that was irritating. In fact, it makes you want to go back in and try harder the next time. The animations feel very old school authentic and timing the triggering of them will aid you in fighting and connecting with your targets.

The atmospheric audio packed into the game suits the levels well. Nothing is overdone and there's a sparse ambiance to all of the sound FX that furthered my entracement with the world. Perhaps, some might complain that the story is pretty thin and in all fairness it is. Sometimes you get bits and pieces of text which clue you in on the lifespan of the island realms themselves but mostly you will get a feel for what this lost land was like through the areas themselves. To me it felt like just enough with the emphasis wisely relying on action and exploration.

All in all Kingdom of the Dragon is a great action adventure game and I can't wait to try out the update later on today. The game glitched once or twice on me, a scant few platforming sections will get you pulling at your hair and the combat is a bit awkward until you get better equipped. Still these flaws are minor in a game that stood out as a worthy throwback to classic NES/SNES adventures. Well-worth checking out.

Pros:
-Colorful, well-drawn characters, locations and bosses
-Plenty to explore with a good mix of searching, platforming and fighting
-Satisfying arsenal of gear
-Good ambient sound FX
-Fun hidden secrets and enjoyable achievements
-Superb boss battles that pile on the old school patterns recognition

Cons:
-Awkward to start with a learning curve on the fighting
-Platforming is not always as precise as it needs to be
-Glitched a rare time or two

Rating: 8/10

Fun little side-scroller, has some minor technical issues (expected with such a new developer). Few expoits that can give you unfair advantages, but overall a captivating atmosphere and asthetic. 8/10

I picked up the game on sale and found myself enjoying it. It gave nostalgic feelings of old school games like Zelda 2 or Faxanadu, but with way cooler art.

I played it with an Xbox controller and found it fairly responsive. It took a little to get used to the timing on the swings, but I found it came naturally in no time. I've seen some complaints about hitbox detection from other reviews, but I had little issues. 2D melee combat isn't for the meek, kids.

Storyline is limited to nearly nothing, but I'm thankful for that. Too many games choke you with unnecessary dialogue and cutscenes. I play games, I don't watch them. Welcome to KotD: here's a sword, go kill things and collect other things. I can dig it.

I felt the overall gameplay was satisfying. I had no complaints about backtracking to go look for stuff I missed, and many times felt myself drawn to explore deeper despite the risk. I didn't get everything before I beat it, but I feel compelled to go back and look. That says something. There were a couple bugs but nothing worth crying about - I mentioned it to the developers and they responded quickly. Amen.

In summary, if you get it on sale then good for you. Go the slay the dragon already.

A very cool game with challenges that get easier with each try (meaning you won't be stuck on a level forever). It's really sad to see that some of the best games here on steam recieve the least amount of recognition. On a different note, 12 dollars me be a bit too much for this game (I think 7 dollars is fair). Finally, I really hope you guys bring this game to IOS and Andrioid seeing as its a type of game that is simple and can be played on the go.

Several different areas, challenging boss fights, and a great feeling of exploration and difficulty that is (mostly) fair. While I'd hesitate to get this game at full price, I'd say that you should diffenitely pick up it on sale.

It's a little buggy, specifically when using the jump and something else, (if you jump, then roll and attack while in mid air you pick up enough momentum to fling yourself across an area in seconds or kill yourself going down a slight hill.) however, none of the bugs were game breaking or required a restart to fix.

I'm not usually a fan of bit music, however this games music was catchy and it only played in specific areas so you don't get burnt out on it.

I was a bit dissapointed by the final boss because I died more times on the path to him than I did fighting him. once you realize how to beat him it's a cakewalk.

Most importantly though, this game has what I believe to be the smothest mid-air roll animation I've seen in a long time. When you jump and roll at the same time, your dudes pulling off the sickest front flip. They don't jump unrealalistically high, the animation doesn't cancel whenever you hit the ground. It's so amazing that I rolled Nine Thousand, Five Hundred, and Ninety Two Times.

All in all, it's a solid game and I don't regret sinking the hours I did into it. I honestly wish I could give the game some more coverage because, while it is a simple idea overall, it was executed very well.

This is going to be a good game, but sadly it's just not ready for primetime at this point. MAJOR technical issues, such as controller lag, and stuttering which their technical support has so far been unable to resolve. There's a few other issues with errors in the collision models as well. Basically, it's an alpha release. Hope they stick with it.

The Metroidvania Review

Full Review (Pre-2.0)

How do developers still get away with releasing games like this? What a steaming pile of {exploitive}. For real. I was excited for this to come out because it had the look of games like Salt and Sanctuary that I love, but it plays like a rejected Game Boy title from 1990. Controls are terrible, all you can do is jump and hack with your stupid little pixel sword (you can roll, but you still get damaged by anything you roll into, which utterly defeats the purpose). THe enemies are repetitive and completely unoriginal and the optimization just sucks (they mst have skipped that part so they could rush this one out and take our cash).
Seriously, another shameful piece of crap. I think the game development industry has become as corrupt, bland and misguided as the country itself. Whoever made this, dont quit your day job

Kingdom of the Dragon is a fantasy metroidvania that draws heavily from influences of Dark Souls and old-school side-scrollers. The Metroidvania is one of my favorite genres, so I overlook some flaws of games in the genre, but I am also extra harsh in other ways. I found Kingdom of the Dragon to be an essential play for fans of the genre. I was also impressed by the developers. I hit a bug in the game that kept me from being able to progress. After writing a post on the discussion forums and showing a video of my bug, the developers responded to and fixed the bug within the hour. They were also very helpful in getting me past a part I couldn't figure out.

Now on to specifics:

Graphics
Kingdom of the Dragon has a nice pixel art that blends old-school side-scroller with modern indie. While this is definitely not new ground for indie games, I feel Kingdom of the Dragon nails its blend quite well. Many of the areas are beautiful even despite their minimalism. Areas like the Red Forest and snow/crow laden areas are beautiful. I found some of the later areas were not as well done, however they adequately achieved the aesthetic they were going for I feel.

Sound
I found Kingdom of the Dragon didn't stand out in this area. I enjoyed the boss music, but I wasn't left with any lasting ear worms from the soundtrack. I was never bothered by the sound design or music however. It just wasn't a particular strength for this title.

Gameplay
King of the Dragon definitely took a bit to get used to playing. The controls themselves are fine. I wouldn't really change much with the controller layout. The combat (particularly sword swinging) took a solid hour to grasp for me though. The first boss was kind of a make or break moment for me. It was at that moment that I almost gave up on the game. While I was having fun, Kingdom of the Dragon hadn't quite opened up and sunk its hooks into me yet, and the combat just didn't "feel" like it was up to the task to complete the challenges that the game was expecting you to be able to do. To be reductive, it almost felt clunky. However, after beating the boss and spending a little more time with it, the controls were no longer an obstacle. I'm reminded of how I felt while playing Volgarr the Viking to be honest. In both scenarios, I was immediately put off, but eventually absolutely hooked on the gameplay.

This game is a blast! I just spent 3 hours playing it and didn’t even realize how long I’d been playing. There are definitely some difficult parts to get through, which I believe good games should have, but it’s so much fun. Reminds me of some of my favorite NES games that I used to play.
The graphics are beautiful. They create an atmosphere that is intriguing, engaging, and frankly just great to look at. Honestly, I hope the come out with some wallpapers to download
The soundtrack is surprisingly catchy although I wish it would play more often.
The maps are long and winding and every one is different and packed with hidden treasure.
I’m giving this one a solid 8/10. Well worth the price and hours of fun. I’m going to get my kid to start playing it too.

Exploration is a big part of this game and a decent amount of backtracking is required if one wants to find all the power-ups. The music is sparse but effective, usually playing whenever a powerful foe is in the immediate area. Otherwise, there are pleasing enviromental sounds to match the area. The game can be rather difficult at times, but I never felt the game was being unfair or cheap. Other players reportedly have issues with hitboxes, but I never encountered this. As for length, it took me approximately nine hours to finish and 100% the game. The devs are quick to respond to any messages, so there should be no worries about the game not being updated or patched if a serious issue were to arise.

The only problem I had was the Feather Ring being assigned to L3 on the controller. With my current controller it feels rather awkward to hold L3 while using the analog stick. I simply used Joy2Key and set it as a toggle function to work around this. However, I could imagine this not being an issue for those that own more comfortable controllers.