That’s because a number of the enemies in KINGDOM of the DEAD seamlessly blend in with the darkness. Sticking to the illuminated spots along a path becomes a valid strategy for survival.
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In some levels, you’ll find yourself moving through black open spaces that are suddenly lit up by a crack of lightning. Unsurprisingly, the monstrous minions of Death like to hid out in unlit places. The textures of KINGDOM of the DEAD are complemented by the excellent use of lighting. Outside though, you’ll find yourself under a swirling sky that looks like it jumped off the pages of a morbid children’s book. For example, in the Downtown level you’ll make your way through buildings where the hand drawn artwork is on par with most retro inspired shooters that use pixel art, creating a convincing environment to transverse. There’s an astonishing attention to detail that’s been pencilled into each texture that strikes an excellent balance between realism and the abstract. KINGDOM of the DEAD features a hand drawn, black and white art style that’s gorgeous to look at. The game’s greatest strength is its aesthetic. KINGDOM of the DEAD’s strengths lie elsewhere… The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword Sure, it would have been cool to have a depth beyond “ go here, kill this” but what is here leaves plenty to the imagination and acts as a decent enough framing to the action. There’s no need for reams of lore in a game like this. The narrative isn’t a strong point in this title. Some of the missions have a similar conversations afterwards too. Each mission has a short introduction as the protagonist and his loquacious weapon chat about the upcoming battle. It has an old school approach to storytelling too. It’s a no-nonsense premise that sets up KINGDOM of the DEAD.
There, he’ll have to blast his way through the army of the dead and close the portal they’re pouring through. Led by a talking sword that has an eye ball in its cross-guard, this agent is tasked with heading on 8 self-contained missions across the American East coast.
In KINGDOM of the DEAD, you play as a gun-toting operative of the Gatekeepers, an age old agency that prevents that from happening. They breakthrough via portals and attempt to conquer the land of the living. Lead by Death itself, the zombies and monsters of the underworld repeatedly attempt to invade our world. The battle between the living and the dead has been raging since time immemorial. Recreating the challenge of the shooters from the 90’s and playing how you remember them (just nowhere near as clunky as those games actually were), can KINGDOM of the DEAD slash its way to a place among the likes of Dusk, Amid Evil and Ion Fury? Well, almost… This title oozes panache and macabre charm, so much so that I’m going to respect that style here by capitalising the title as the designers intended.Ī retro inspired first person shooter, KINGDOM of the DEAD is the latest title from Dirigo Games (whose titles you might have played in the Dread X games) and the debut game from the brand new publisher HOOK. Not only do I enjoy the thought of everyone having to shout the KINGDOM and DEAD in the title because they’re in all caps, this is a game that’s all about style. I’m not going to do that with KINGDOM of the DEAD. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s a little daft. For example, I went around calling the original Watch_Dogs “Watch Underscore Dogs” for a few weeks after it was announced because of how prevalent and pushy the style guide was in the press releases. Normally, when a game has an abnormal title styling, I start a review by pointing it out by poking fun at it. A retro-inspired shooter with an eye catching hand drawn art style, KINGDOM of the DEAD is tense and thrilling, but just a little rough around the edges.
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