Reign of Kings Review

Reign of Kings Review Screenshot 1

I’ve never been the type of person to play a game the way it’s intended. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always found ways to manipulate the gameplay of a game to either role play or devise my own method of play style. When I find a game that gives the player a massive amount of opportunities, I know I’ve found something to keep me occupied for a long time. Reign of Kings isn’t a video game, it’s a lifestyle. The community (if you can call it that) would probably disagree, but you can’t deny the hours you all sank into this title by running around picking weeds and building walls out of clay. Aside from the obvious incomplete optimization, there is an immense amount of content to keep this game afloat on its own. If you’ve played already and you’re crying over my praise, you know you’re in denial, and I won’t hold it against you. My riverside shack will still open its doors to you when you’re hungry or need to craft something at the workbench (or you’ll probably just kill me and take my stuff which is ok as well).

For you freshspawns however, let me put you on about how this goes down. Your little raft is making its way to a Temperate Oceanic Hardiness Zone. You’ll create your character (what I actually mean is you’ll distort your binary character template and no matter what come out with a neanderthal physique as illustrated below) and spawn on the beach. No palm trees means no coconuts, and no coconuts means no Pina Coladas, but you do get a torch and a driftwood club (completing the neanderthal getup). At the end of the process, I ended up a pregnant cave woman.

What do you like to do first when you get to the beach? My parents would always find a spot right near everyone else (so annoying) and set up the umbrella and towels. Me? I can be practical when I want to, and I find it wise to take that driftwood and start smacking some trees to gather wood (we’re talking about the game now, not my Floridian childhood). I haven’t played this game since the early access first hit, so I forgot everything. Everything but the first king who saved me from a bandit attack, he was so dashing and mystical. Actually I think he was hacking, but it was an amazing encounter nonetheless.

Reign of Kings Review Screenshot 2

I wasn’t being practical by any means. Instead of gathering water and food, I chased fish and crabs in the ocean with my club (Pelagic Neanderthal). I caught up to some sea bass and attempted to hit them with my club (failed). I even crafted some wooden javelins to throw at them in a spear-fishing manner (failed). I didn’t give up…

Actually I did give up, and that server found a more crestfallen version of me wondering the fields in search of flax, which I needed to make several vital tools. It’s not uncommon to find player-made structures, the map isn’t that big, and I was only in a server with less than twenty people. Whilst searching for the coveted flax, I gave birth (Maternal Neanderthal).

I shouldn’t lie in a review, it was just someone who logged off. When you leave the server you permanently become a burlap burrito, vulnerable to the hostile world of RoK. After making armor and traveling a bit, I discovered an actual town which at first I thought was constructed by a player. The game apparently has prefab towns and THEY ARE NOT SAFE. I thought it would be fun to peep what keeps the party alive downtown but I think I ended up in Silent Hill. What I’m about to show you may disturb you, and I urge the reader to grab anyone nearby and ask them if this thing resembles the straightjacket from SH2:

Reign of Kings Review Screenshot 3

That’s a Plague Villager, and they are SO adorable. They lunge at you from rather extensive distances and scratch with those cute spaghetti fingers! Such a precious thing was no match for me and my wooden armor…

I can’t just write a review for this kind of game, it’s not possible – Unless all you were looking for was the rating, and in that case:

All I can do is give my account on what I experienced when I jumped into the server. A good online multiplayer will create a unique and fun world for players, despite its flaws, if any. Reign of Kings achieves that at the very least. There’s a fair amount of optimization to be done in a few areas, however the game is worth its price and is still receiving updates. The music is well-orchestrated, and a real treat when that crescendo swells as you’re crossing the plains in search of a moose to beat the apple seeds out of. There aren’t a whole lot of unique locales to see unfortunately, so the environments could use a little work. Strange unrealistic terrain sculpting and over-abundant foliage meshes underwater make the map seem a little basic and placeholder, so there’s a lot to look forward to in the future should the team flesh out this world a bit more. As it stands, the game has great structure, and after hammering out the wonkiness particularly in character creation and animation, it’ll stand more uniformly with the more polished titles in the online multiplayer universe.

I’ve beaten a crab with a stick, watched a man spear a wolf to death, been murdered by melted bat people, and met an invisible king who saved me when I was attacked by a 4ft medieval Eddie Guerrero. When will you ever say something like that happened to you irl (if you beat crabs with sticks, as a Marine Biology major I’m ashamed of you)? That’s the beauty of modern sandbox multiplayer. So what are you going to do first when you get to the beach? If you need help, I’ll be the weird knitting mom in the house by the river with the green light inside. Stop by, eat some berries, make a Kabuki mask, and go beat the bean seeds out of the local Mallards with me.

Rating 7

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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