Game Review: Kingdom's Dungeon Rage

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC

Mixing together precision and puzzle platforming gameplay, Kingdom's Dungeon Rage recently dropped onto just about every major platform. This quirky little game promises challenges that are near impossible, but what isn't impossible is my ability to review it! We're going to be taking a look at the game on the Nintendo Switch today, though I'm sure it'll be representative of the experience on all other platforms. There's not much else to say within this intro, so let's dive right in!

Kingdom's Dungeon Rage places you into the shoes of a King who is trapped inside of a dungeon that apparently is made up of over 100 variants of the same room. I'm going to admit right now at the beginning that I did not complete the game, but I got well into the 100s before I gave up. While some readers are clicking away or crying foul, I should add that this game's description clearly states that it's "rage-quitting friendly", so I like to think that I'm just going with the flow. Going back to that description, it also states that there are apparently over 180 levels. These levels are all single screen rooms, with each having at least one new gameplay element that makes them both unique and random. I'm going to get more in-depth as to what I mean by that in just a second, but I should mention now that each subsequent level is not necessarily harder than the one that came before it. That last point is ultimately why I quit the game for now, but I will admit that it was quite the strange right up to that point. Difficulty spikes are to be expected, but you thankfully have unlimited lives at your disposal. Anyway, this talk about the game's premise is getting a bit off topic. Let's move on to discussing gameplay.

Our nameless King has the ability to run and jump, as well as push and pick certain items when the stage calls for it. That's literally it when it comes to controls and move set. It doesn't get much simpler than that, though I was quite amazed by how much gameplay variety the developers managed to squeeze out of such a simple move set. Each dungeon room has the same basic layout, and they (mostly) all require you to find a key to open up the exit. That key's placement is mostly the same too, but picking it up can also be tricky depending on the current challenge. It's best to take a second to read what each dungeon room is named when you first enter it, as these names usually give hints as to what's expected of you. Some rooms have exits that are already open, some require you to move upside-down or backwards, some stretch or warp the level's layout, others change The King's movement and jumping speeds, and one even requires the use of color-changing keys. That last one was mildly annoying as I am indeed colorblind, and the dungeon room's name seemed to poke fun at those who would have trouble differentiating colors. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't offended by that or anything, I was just annoyed that it took a few more tries until I got the solution sorted out. That's the fun of the game actually, figuring out what is needed of you, and then getting it done. There is even a sense of accomplishment when you realize a solution was in front of your face the entire time, or after you clear a room that took you about 20-30 tries to do.

I feel that I should give a few more examples of dungeon room layouts, so I'm going to do just that before moving on. Picking out the most memorable stages from Kingdom's Dungeon Rage is a somewhat tricky thing to do, as many of them just fly by when you're playing. I mentioned earlier that some stages have their exits already open, and these literally are cleared by getting to the exit the fastest way possible. A particularly memorable stage moved the key around the room each time The King jumped, so the solution requires you to count your jumps carefully in order for the key to be where you needed it to be. One particularly memorable stage had a math problem for its name, and several keys that were labeled with potential answers. There are also several stages that simply skew or morph the dungeon room itself, with one zooming the camera out the longer you were in the stage. I could easily name a dozen more, but I feel that I'd be going a bit into spoiler territory. Half of the fun of this game is experiencing each of the stages for oneself, and the only way to do that is to get out there and play them without too much knowledge about what to expect. There are plenty of interesting stages to be had here, and they all can be beaten eventually if you have the patience.

Now there are some issues with the game that I feel that I need to point out, and some of them I think are rather obvious. While I was playing the game, I kept thinking that the dungeon room layout would change over time. I assumed that hitting level 20, 50, or even 100 would unlock a new room layout, but that never happened. This ultimately wasn't a giant negative point to me, as the differing puzzles do shuffle around the gameplay quite a bit, but I can see some people getting tired of clearing the same room over and over again. There are even some puzzles that require you to be pixel perfect when lining up The King to objects that have to be pushed. The amount of times I tapped the d-pad slightly to try to avoid spikes, only to hit them anyway, are too numerous to count. I also encountered a weird bug where I couldn't jump if I was on top of a key, and that made for more than a few deaths that felt very cheap. Speaking of feeling cheap, some of the puzzles are just straight out unfair. I guess it falls under that whole wanting to rage-quit thing, but there are some platforming challenges that just don't feel right for the slippery controls the game has. Far too many puzzles reversed movement, made The King walk extremely slow, or had a time limit to them. The gameplay loop can get very addicting, but the novelty can also wear out quite fast when the challenges require you to endure bad gameplay. That's actually why I eventually put down the game, I just couldn't be bothered to complete the last half of the game if things were just going to keep going the way they were. I'll probably come back around to it eventually, but I felt like I needed a long break.

Negatives aside, there's still other good points to discuss. Even though Kingdom's Dungeon Rage has a very simple look to it, I found it charming enough that I wanted to shout out its beautiful, retro-inspired graphics. Obviously I wish there was more of everything graphics-wise, but what was there somehow managed to look colorful and cute despite all the earlier-mentioned nonsense happening on screen. Sound-wise, things aren't quite as strong, but it's not bad either. I did find it odd that the music would occasionally change to a much more intense theme following a death, only to revert back when you died another time. I'm not sure if the game's tracks play at random after each death, but the music does have the occasional tonal whiplash even if that isn't the case. While I don't have a whole lot more to say about either topic, together they make up one of the stronger aspects of the game.

Kingdom's Dungeon Rage is a very simple game that can probably be totally cleared in a couple hours depending on skill. I know that's saying a lot considering that I didn't clear it myself, but I'm sure the game isn't hiding a full dungeon crawler RPG once you beat its 180+ rooms. At just $5.99 I think it's priced perfectly for the amount of content you get. It's part puzzle platformer, part precision platformer, and it really is a fun experience all around. I recommend it fully if you're a fan of either of the genres mentioned, or if you just want to try out something different. My only advice would be to keep yourself ready for that eventual rage-quit. Do that, and you'll be fine! See you in the next one!

Check Out Kingdom's Dungeon Rage on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/kingdoms-dungeon-rage-switch/

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Story: B (For effort!)
Gameplay: B
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: B
Value: A

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A fun puzzle/precision platformer that is sure to be enjoyed by fans of either genre.
+ The quick levels make it easy to fall into the gameplay loop, and not realize that you may be dying over and over again.
+ Both the visuals and sound are great, with there being a particular charm to the admittedly limited graphics that hard to describe.
+ Though it can be easy to rage-quit, the game does offer a decent amount of content (180+ stages) for just $5.99

Cons:
- The difficulty can be all over the place.
- Some levels feel far cheaper than others, and the controls can sometimes feel not up to what is required of you.
- All 180+ levels are simply variants on the same single dungeon layout.

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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I forgot to mention it has a fun loading screen!

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