It’s a shame because the ingredients are there in the premise. And while sharp edges were good for military bases and research facilities, they don’t translate well to old stone crypts and wood-framed barns. Although Kingdom can stand next to IDs classic in terms of speed, control and violence, it’s not as brimming with personality. More than anything I think that’s because it’s less concerned with evoking the history of its period setting (I’d guess late 19th century, judging by the locations) than evoking the history of gaming, specifically 1990s FPS and especially Doom. Kingdom’s sharp edges are too reliably clinical by comparison. Perhaps the blur wouldn’t suit a speedy FPS, but maybe it’s worth it for a little atmosphere. When looking at its hand-drawn monochrome textures it’s hard not to recall last year’s Mundaun, which achieved much more with a similar art style thanks to softer, smudgier pencils, bringing forth the gravity of ancient rituals and rendering the everyday strange. Then again, the lighter option does feel consistent with a lot of Kingdom’s design, which sacrifices form for function. There’s an option to soften the palette, but that almost bleaches surroundings instead, like a holy purification, which seems antithetical to a world packed with horrors. Floodlit exteriors give way instantly to pitch black chambers, some of them dead ends that exist purely to have you fumble about. This old-school FPS plays out in sketched black and white, you see (barring splashes of blood and the weapons and ammo you pick up), and let’s just say the contrast is excessive. READ MORE: ‘Dyson Sphere Program’ is ‘Factorio’ on an interstellar scale.On the first stage I kept trying to figure out how to access my character’s torch, but apparently, he’d left it at home. ![]() I mean literally, as in can’t see where you’re going half the time. I don’t mean thematically, although it is all about demons and the occult and the like.
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