Kingdom: New Lands is what I guess you would call a sequel even though that isn’t quite right. New Lands is the version of the game that was first released as the final product of the early access phase but that phase later became known and released as Kingdom: Classic. The difference between the two is that in New Lands, your goal is to build a boat and escape the islands where as in Classic, your goal was simply to survive.
I absolutely love this game. The only reason I have 5 hours in it is because I know that if I kept this on my computer, I’d lose my life to it. The game more than anything else exceeds in the sound department which is something that gets far too overlooked in many projects. The score and sound effects compliment each other so incredibly well. They really make you feel like you are where you are. I’ve been out camping with a fire burning in the dark of night and the way this game does that sound tells me that someone on that team has also been there. The crickets, the hooves of your horse hitting the ground, the fire crackle, and the rain are all so real I feel like I am actually sitting outside around a campfire beneath the stars.
The core gameplay loop is solid. You walk around hiring peasants to be a part of your kingdom and building it up to the point where you can fix a recked ship you can find and leave the island. At night monsters come to attack your kingdom because they are attracted to shiny things and if they steal your crown, it’s game over. You can very easily spend a long time playing this game because there aren’t any clear out points. The only time where you shouldn’t be actively doing something is at night when all you can do is hope and pray that your archers can stave off the monsters until morning. During that time I enjoy watching them do battle but you are free to do whatever you like between those walls. The only thing that’s frustrating is that your horse can’t run forever but you really shouldn’t expect a horse to anyway.
The aesthetic of the game is also great. It’s a pixel art style that you see in many indie games but the things that set it above the average pixel art game are it’s lighting which is really spot on as well as the water and the reflections that sit at the bottom of the screen. Those are just astounding to look at.
Overall, if you are looking for a chill game that can really take you away from your daily worries and put you in a place completely separate, consider giving these guys your money.
