Kingdom: Original

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Time to Beat: 4 Hours

Kingdom: Classic is another simple simulation game, developed by Noio and Licorice, and the first published game by Raw Fury. Released in 2015, the developers originally named the game Kingdom, but added the subtitle after producing two sequels, Kingdom: New Lands and Kingdom: Two Crowns.

In Kingdom: Classic the player controls the ruler of a newly founded petty Kingdom. A 2D side-scroller, the King rides his dauntless steed back and forth, assessing his realm, collecting coins, and dispensing them to improve his realm. Day changes to night, which ushers forth an ever increasing horde of monsters in assault against the Kingdom, relenting only in death or daybreak. The only method to secure the realm a permanent peace is by destroying four portal, two in the east, and two in the west.

Like Mini Metro, the core mechanics of Kingdom: Classic are so simple the developers chose to include few instructions: only the most opening, obvious actions are described for the player. The King collects coins, and spends them on a variety of tasks, such as buildings, tools for workers, hiring vagabonds to join the kingdom, and ordering workers to clear forests.
On the first day, the King exits the wood and spies an impoverished hovel which he improves with a few coins. Craftsmen shape hammers and bows which the King can purchase for any available peasant. Beyond the boundaries of the camp, the King can mark trees so workers will cut down, which costs one coin, but returns two. Bowmen idle away the daylight hours inexpertly hunting rabbits and deer for coins, which they pay as a mark of their fealty. When the King is absent, these men collect the coins they produce and offer them up as the king passes by. Stored in the King's pouch, Kingdom: Classic offers no method for the player to assess the numerical amount of cash they carry, though this rarely matters as the transfer of gold is constant, influx and egress.

This is the first economy, and will produce enough coin to resist early assaults. As the moon rises, there is a chance monsters attack from the east and the west. Early invasions can be resisted by a few archers and a basic, wooden wall. To improve the economy, the player must search the forests for vagrants to reform for a coin, clear forests, hire more archers, and ultimately improve the central keep.

Improving the keep unlocks technological advances, such as improved walls, towers, catapults, and scythes. When workers clear an the woods around a river, the King can order the construction of a farm, which scythe wielding yeomen work to yield an expansive and reliable source of income. With even one farm, an army can be raised, though another farm or two won't hurt.
As days become weeks, the player will need towers to aid his defense against monstrous abominations. Each day brings new surprises, and each dawn, noon, dusk, and night are delightfully unique, distinguished by a unique soundtrack and distinctive weather. Not a single day repeats itself, except the dreaded Red Moon nights. When the Red Moon rises pray that the Kingdom's defenses are sufficient for the most brutal assault.

When the Kingdom has reached the peak of its strength, the King must lead a party to attack one of the portal. But first the Keep must be at its full development, unlocking the ability to hire a knight. The player can direct a knight to attack portal, aided by archers and catapults. While the King needn't participate, it's recommended he ride with the party. A successful assault brings the player one quarter closer to victory.

What are some of the key strategies to consider? Constantly ride the line, from the Western Wall to the Eastern Fortification and back. Expand slowly, to prevent over-extension, and never order the building of anything beyond the walls near or during the night. Workers will venture out and never return, or even worse: If the player orders the building of a wall at night, archers will accompany the worker, and they will all be slain defending him. The result: monsters will destroy the undefended walls. In a desperate emergency, the player can use the King to tank for his archers. A single hit to a bowman will reduce them to their prior state of vagabondhood and they'll flee to the woods (more difficult monsters will eat them instead), but the King can't be killed as long as he has a single coin in his pouch. When a monster touches the king it causes him to drop coins like Sonic the Hedgehog does when he crashes into one of Robotnik's robots. But if the player can mange to recover a coin or two, he can shield his archers as they shoot the monsters.
Another crucial tactic involves the clearing of forests and the conversion of vagrants into peasants. The only mechanic to acquire peasants is to search the woods for vagrant camps. Purchasing a bow, a hammer, a scythe, or even knight's armor, does not create a person, and if there is no peasant available to claim the object it will sit unused by the craftsman. To ensure a steady supply of new peasants, the player must ensure that at least one, nearby camp is maintained at all times. But vagrant camps disperse if the player cuts the last tree which separates the Kingdom and the camp, so its mandatory one tree unfelled until the King is certain of the existence of another camp.

While Kingdom: Classic allows the player to experience an enjoyable simple simulation, sometimes its simplicity leads it to embrace a major flaw: a lack of control. The player only controls whether the King pays for something, whether it's a tool, a building, or person. What follows are the most egregious examples of a lack of control. Archers always move to the most distant wall. As mentioned earlier, they will even move to where a wall is being built, before it is finished. The player can not order the archers to retreat, ever. They will stand an die, defending a partially constructed or totally destroyed wall, rather than run.
When a tower is built, an archer will fill it. Archers will never leave towers, and can't be order to abandon them, even when this particular tower is now the forth from the front, so only build and upgrade towers when it is essential. Neither can the player order archers from the West Wall to go to the East, or vise versa. Peasants are assigned by Kingdom: Classic to one wall or the other when they claim their weapon, and the player can do nothing to alter this random determination (I assume it assigns archers to which wall has fewer, or it alternates), even if one side is entirely wiped out. And finally, the player can not cancel a building request. If the player accidentally orders the construction of a wall at night, and the worker and the archers venture out and are slaughtered (and the wall is never built), any newly armed archers and builders will march right out the wall in progress, and further feed the horde. Combine this final feature, with the inability of archers to retreat and a single mistake, made at dusk, can lead to the death of an entire army, and possibly the game.

This lack of control may be intentional or a glaring error, and at its worst can require restarting a game which was nearly won.

In conclusion, Kingdom: Classic is a simple 2D side-scrolling sim of dispensing coins to raise a realm in a wonderfully unique and aesthetically appealing setting. Its nighttime rides across an expanded Kingdom awash in the light of the moon almost soothing, and the day time Kingdom seems to bustle with energy as every occupant goes about their business in spite of their impending danger. For any intrigued by this review, there still more to experience, with other mysteries left lurking in the woods to make anyone's adventure enjoyable.

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