Kingdom of the Dragon is a 2D Action/Adventure game in where we play as a nameless knight that crash lands onto a hostile island. All the story and context that we are told is given via a brief paragraph upon starting our journey. It can be very easy to ignore but be warned, this title will not hold your hand and you will not even know what you are meant to be doing if you do not pay attention to that seemingly unimportant intro. There is no more story or dialogue afterward, just you and the countless challenges you’ll have to face.
Our noble knight is armed with a sword and is quite agile despite having a full set of metal armor, being able to effortlessly jump, backstep, and roll out of harm’s way at a moment’s notice. You won’t be pulling off crazy combos here, instead it takes a slow, methodical approach in where a few hits will typically kill any normal foe. It nearly plays like a rhythm game as it is heavily based on timing the exact moment when an enemy is within striking distance and since your attacks have quite a bit of windup, missing your opening strike will likely end badly for you. There is a single method of attack with your sword but it never becomes stale due to the focus on positioning and timing over reckless button mashing. This is not Dark Souls either, rolling will not give you any invisibility frames, it is primarily used to try to dodge projectiles, not a get out of jail free card in the middle of a fight.
Combat is just a portion of what this title has to offer. Exploration and platforming are the other two big factors. As you explore the starting island you will soon be faced with simple jumps that will spell your doom if you miss, and locations you won’t be able to reach until you have the needed equipment later on. That sets the precedence of what to expect later on where the environments are just as dangerous as any creature and sometimes you simply won’t be able to accomplish something despite how much you try. This is a slow-paced affair where your wits are equally as important as your swinging arm. It is also quite solemn in its presentation with a general lack of music and the only sounds when not drawing steel being the clanging of your armor as you trudge along into the unknown. The sounds of the roaring flames of a campfire which serve as a checkpoint serving as music to your ears.
That’s not to say the game has no music, it’s just that on the rare moment when it kicks up, it is for a reason and usually that reason is hardly good news for you. I simply love the sound design in this game, it is one of those perfect instances where less is more. Back on the topic of bonfires, they are vital to your journey as they are the only place to save your game and be able to refill your health as well as projectiles. If you have gathered a ton of gold from random enemy drops, it may be worth your while to backtrack in case you meet your end and lose all that you’ve gathered. You will retain all the gold you previously had, though absolutely every bit of progress you made after the last time you have used a checkpoint will be lost. That ranges from gold, to any hidden collectibles, and even entire boss fights that you will now have to do again. Defeating a boss leads to even more tension as even a simple jump carries that much more risk. Luckily campfires are generally close by to one so that short walk seems far more grand than it would otherwise.
Oddly enough, the first few boss fights are by far the most difficult. There is no XP in this title, all that enemies drop is some gold or an orb to refill some health. At best you can grind up enough cash to purchase an increase to your overall health or strength, though it is a single purchase and they will never restock them again in that location. Since you can’t travel elsewhere yet, you are going to be forced to refine your skills to finally slay them. Once you emerge victorious, you will be able to fix your boat which is where the game really opens up and it differs from the stand your ground & fight approach it just had. As you sail across the vast ocean, discovering many different islands to explore, it is vital to know when to choose your battles. Getting killed in one shot should make it clear you are in over your head and since there is no XP it is meaningless to even try. Explore and find an island that is feasible to build up your strength as well as find new gear to return with a vengeance.
Needless to say, it is a game that requires patience and your full attention. It won’t hold your hand in the least, there isn’t even a map of any form to guide you. Every area you explore will have to be mapped via your muscle memory as well as where the island itself is located in the sea should you need to come back. This is your adventure, your chance of success will lie entirely on your own wits or perseverance. If you can handle an island from the get-go then you can complete it in its entirety. Your only reason to return would be to search for anything that you missed, aside from that they are self-contained and have the gear you need to progress within its bounds. It was a very smart move not to require backtracking among islands as that could have gotten confusing fast.
Once on land, it is quite open-ended with so many places to explore that you won’t know where to start. The areas are interconnected in a way that makes sense and the level design is pretty decent, usually having shortcuts that toss you back to earlier sections once you get too far out. A thing that may annoy some is the lack of impossible spaces in certain sections. So say you just scaled an enormous mountain and unlocked an elevator shortcut to take you back down. It will take you around 40 seconds of doing nothing but hearing the mechanical clunking of the aging machine before finally hitting the bottom. This will make you extra salty if you die and are forced to once again take the trip back up or down. Kingdom of the Dragon loves its immersion, though that may be either a negative or a positive thing considering the type of gamer playing.
One thing that is definitely a negative is the hitboxes, particularly when it comes to you and projectiles. Often times you take damage when it felt like you should not have and unluckily for us, one of the earliest enemies is a teleporting wizard that flings spells at you. At that stage of the game you have no way to defend yourself against them and can’t even duck, so you are forced to jump over their spells while hoping that it doesn’t register as a hit. They fire pretty rapidly too and since they teleport away once you get close, it is better just to take a hit then rush them from the start. Dealing with projectiles becomes far simpler once you gain the ability to double jump or get your hands on a shield, though those come along much later. One thing that never ceases to irritate however are the endlessly respawning bats that come after you in some underground sections. A nod to Castlevania perhaps, but completely destroys the slow pace it usually has due to their frequency and are a deadly nuisance when making jumps.
It is also marred by some technical issues. In one case there is a platform that is supposed to rise after defeating a certain boss and it never did, causing me to repeat the same fight multiple times while trying to make that impossible jump. The solution to that was killing the boss and using a harp item to teleport back to the start of the island, only then did that platform rise upon returning. Another time I instantly died when entering an area and in a different case I fell through the world while landing a jump. Those three issues are hardly game-breaking for an 8-hour adventure though it could do with some more polish. The most constant issue I had with it was not being able to differentiate foreground from an actual path at times and vice versa. It has a strange sense of depth, with the mix of retro-styled pixel art and MS Paint looking backgrounds clashing on occasion as well.
You’ve no doubt noticed the weird aspect ratio it runs in. It’s an interesting choice that gives it a cinematic flair and I never felt it interfered with the gameplay or any jumps since you can pan the camera down. Thankfully it does go into fullscreen when out on a boat to make it far easier to navigate the vast, empty sea from an overhead view. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a great platformer or action game on its own, though in combination with the great exploration and sense of adventure, it becomes more than the sum of its parts. It will test both your skill and your brain as you use the gear you’ve gathered throughout to great effect. Running through the thin ice cracking underneath, the sense of proudly sailing away from an island I’ve just conquered, and foolishly sprinting into a cave without a light source are but a few moments I won’t soon forget. This is your adventure and while it does have some technical issues, it is very much worth taking.
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