Game Review: Monarchy

By Al

Players: 1-2
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

When I first heard that there was a 2D side-scrolling strategy game coming to consoles, I was intrigued. I wondered what a game like that would play like, and couldn't help but be swept away by the possibilities. Enter Monarchy, the game that piqued my interest when I first heard about several months ago. It's out now on all current platforms, and we're going to be taking a look at it on the Nintendo Switch. Did it live up to the high expectations I set for it? Let's dive in and find out!

I went into Monarchy thinking that it would tell a light-hearted story about a "king" (Would they still be a king if they only had a single follower?) setting forth to build a thriving kingdom out of the barren wilderness. I assumed the game would have plot points involving a big bad that had long ravaged the land, or maybe a long-forgotten dynasty that the player character was actually a part of, or anything that would add life to this game's world. I also assumed you'd have a wise-cracking sidekick who did all the actual work, and also acted as your early in-game tutorial. If it's not obvious yet why I'm phrasing all those as assumptions, well, it's because you don't get any of that here. There isn't a single line of story to be found within Monarchy, nor is there even a single line of text. Everything is told to you via pictures, and there's nothing else for you to ever experience beyond a game of survival and (hopefully) continual growth. I think the developers probably thought that the picture-only method of tutorials and storytelling would be neat and intuitive, but they simply meant that I spent the first hour of the game learning how to play. This was done painstakingly through trial and error, all the while amassing several game overs that didn't feel like they were through any fault of my own. We'll get to the actual gameplay in just a bit, but I have to say that the lack of a story was a big missed opportunity. Even if they wanted to go the pantomime route, there was definitely room to include something here. Instead you have five unrelated scenarios that have very little character to them. Let's hope that the game makes up for this weak start elsewhere...

Now I know that I just said that there were five scenarios, but there are actually only four. The first of the scenarios serves as a tutorial, but one that's mainly in name only. It barely teaches you anything beyond the basics, and does so in a way that you'll probably have to relearn them in the first "real" scenario anyway. I'm sure I'll be doing a better job of teaching you how to play the game here, and that's not even what I'm setting out to do. Each of the four main scenarios are centered on one of the four seasons, they each have their own enemies, and they generally are harder than the one that came before. These scenarios go from spring to winter, and they can be played in any order. You start each scenario by picking your king's gender, and setting forth with your lone archer. You have no attacks, and you can't control any of your other units directly. Getting your archer to kill anything is a matter of moving towards whatever it is you want to hit, and hoping your archer survives the encounter. Thankfully you'll only have to deal with animals at first, with these animals also thankfully drop gold coins. Gold coins are the only resource to be found in Monarchy, and they can also be found via treasure chests, mining, or by defeating enemies. You can only carry a few gold coins early on, but you are able to find a wallet upgrade in each scenario. After getting a bit of money, your next task is to build your base. This starts with you placing your base camp, and then setting up buildings that train workers or warriors. Workers build each new structure, and your initial warriors will all be archers. Each day a cart arrives and drops off either gold coins or a new villager, with you being able to make the choice the day before. Villagers will take whatever job you've purchased for them with coins, and from there the gameplay loop begins.

I almost wish the rest of the game centered on simple resource management and building a fort, but things get strangely complicated from here on. Monarchy has a day/night cycle, with the scenario's enemies attacking each night. One of the four scenarios has it so that the enemies only come from one direction, but every other scenario has them come from both. This means that your next task will be to build walls, or maybe even some siege towers that act as something akin to gun turrets. Enemies come in waves throughout the entire night, and they can kill your units, your villagers, or even yourself, if you're not careful. The game ends if you lose all your gold coins (which apparently act as your life bar too), or if your base tent is destroyed. Once again, you can't command your troops to attack (at least at first), and simply must hope that they know what they're doing during each night's siege. The cycle then continues with you rebuilding whatever was destroyed at night, setting up more advanced buildings like farms and barracks, and even eventually gaining the ability to summon your warriors to you. During the day it's best to go far from your base for supplies, though this is a difficult task if you don't have the aforementioned skill that allows you to command more units than your single archer. There are also several tasks and events to be found in the wilderness. Homeless villagers can be recruited with coins, bandit hideouts can be emptied, mines can be mined, and trees can be cleared to expand your kingdom/fort. There are also chests and upgrades to be found too, but it's best to never wander too far from your home base. Night comes quickly, and like I said earlier, your base tent going down means instant death.

Despite having to figure most everything out on my own, I have to admit that initially enjoyed Monarchy's gameplay loop. It was cool seeing my base grow, and I had fun seeing it weather the threats each night brought. Then I hit a strange plateau that I initially wasn't able to get past. It took me many unsuccessful playthroughs to realize that there are additional levels to your base, and that there is even a way to "win" each scenario. The game never really shows you how to do either, though basically they both involve getting lucky with things you find in the wilderness. Upgrades are scattered about in chests and in event spaces, and you'll need a local army to actually take out the enemy bases. Also, you might not realize it early on, but the game has a sort of time limit to it. Technically you can take as long as you want to clear a scenario, but the enemies get stronger every night. You can max out the first or second level kingdoms and still get overrun in seconds if you haven't set up the right upgrades during the day. There are even some enemy units that can slip past all your defenses and make a straight line to your base tent. Death comes so quickly, and it literally means an end to everything you've worked on. There is no going back a night or two to try something else, or even anything resembling a save system. Monarch almost plays like an arcade game in that respect, though it doesn't even have the decency to keep track of your high scores. It didn't take long for me to realize that the negatives were outweighing the good, but I haven't even begun to scratch the surface when it comes to those.

The core gameplay loop might not sound all too bad, but there are plenty of annoyances that keep it from ever truly being fun. Gold coins are needed for everything, and the fact that you can only carry a limited amount is very annoying. Not only that, but the very act of putting the coins into your wallet, as in dropping them in, means that sometimes coins will just bounce or drop out for no reason at all. Not being able to attack in any way with your main unit directly is not only irksome, but the fact that you can't even command all your units to do any one thing until well into the game is even worse. Having all your units die while you're far from your base is terrible, but all the more so when you can't even defend yourself. Your horse also has limited stamina, and the amount of times I had to limp back to my base in the middle of the night, my horse stopping me every few steps, were too many to count. The action doesn't even keep you all that engaged, since it plays out like an auto-battler. Things will happen as they will, and you have almost no input on what the outcome of any situation will be. The lack of a save system makes everything feel pointless anyway, the multiplayer isn't great, and the steady increase in difficulty means that bad RNG on a couple in-game days can ruin just about any run. Add to that the fact that the game is currently priced at $14.99, and I don't know what I'm supposed to think about this game. It looks and plays like a mid-2000s browser game at best, or a free mobile game at worst. I'm honestly shocked the developers expect more people to shell out anymore more than $9.99 for this game, and even that price point feels like a stretch. There isn't a lot of replayability to be had here either, just the same five scenarios over and over again. I don't want to sound like I'm turning on the game suddenly, but I'm struggling to find anything else nice to say about it.

I guess I can say that the visual style is appealing, though it feels a bit too reminiscent of other games. Everything is cute and cartoon-y, but has very little originality to it. I would've liked to see some sort of customization in the king you use in each stage, but their models are locked beyond choosing their gender. Enemies are a bit more unique, but then again if you're seeing them to often face-to-face, you're doing something wrong. Backgrounds fare a bit better, but they're almost forced to be generic due to the basic nature of exploration. The day/night cycle is a nice touch, as are the seasonal changes found within each of the maps, but I can't help but think that those seasonal scenery changes would've been better if they were spread across all of the stages, and not just locked to a single one. None of this is helped by the music, which seems to simply exist in the background in the hopes of not drawing any attention to itself. I can't recall a single track in this game, though I guess I can at least say that none of them stood out as particularly bad either. Loads of character could've been added to the game if vocal quips were added to the villagers or units, but we're pretty much given the bare minimum here. There aren't even many in-game options to mess with.

Even though I have to admit that there's nothing particularly bad about Monarchy, I don't think I can give it any sort of full recommendation. It's priced a bit too high for the curious, and it's far too esoteric and difficult for the casual. I'm not sure who this game was aimed at, but I can't imagine anyone finding long-term enjoyment here. That said, I do think that there is potential within this game concept, it's just executed poorly here. Maybe a future update, or even a direct sequel/follow-up, can save this game. I highly doubt that'll even happen. Simply put, you're better off playing just about anything else. See you in the next one.

Check Out Monarchy on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/monarchy-switch/

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Story: N/A (Surprising!)
Gameplay: C-
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: C

Overall: C

Pros:
+ The art design is cute and cartoon-y, and there is some charm in its presentation.
+ The core resource management/base building gameplay loop can be enjoyable.
+ Each scenario is unique and has their own enemy types.

Cons:
- There is no story, no tutorial, and barely any text at all in the game. You'll most definitely be figuring this one out through trial and error.
- The lack of a save system really hinders any fun you'll have here since the game can be ended in seconds.
- It can take quite a while to figure out what the game actually expects of you, and even then you can be thwarted by bad RNG.
- The graphics are mediocre, as is the music.
- This feels like a browser or mobile game, and its current $14.99 price tag feels far too high for the amount of content you get.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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So, this is how it ends?

#MonarchyGame