Ancient Kingdoms

About

Ancient Kingdoms is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Ancient Pixels and was released on January 15, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Ancient Kingdoms is a classic 2D RPG game meticulously crafted to evoke the nostalgia and charm of beloved RPGs from the golden era of gaming. Designed by dedicated fans for fellow enthusiasts, it offers an experience that celebrates the timeless elements of traditional role-playing games, with special attention to making the game accessible for beginner players in the genre, and entertaining and …

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87%

Audience ScoreBased on 174 reviews

story7 positive mentions

grinding27 negative mentions

The game has a nostalgic old-school MMO feel reminiscent of Everquest and other classic RPGs, with solid RPG mechanics and pixel art.
Active and responsive developers who frequently update the game and engage positively with the community.
Supports both solo play with mercenaries and multiplayer co-op for up to 4 players, offering a flexible gameplay experience with a large world to explore and many dungeons and quests.

Endgame and veteran level progression is very grind-heavy and can be frustrating, especially for solo players relying on AI mercenaries with limited capabilities.
Poorly optimized in some areas, with issues like slow movement speeds in combat, clunky mercenary AI, and unintuitive UI elements such as insufficient inventory space and unclear crafting systems.
Boss respawn timers and other game mechanics can cause excessive waiting and timegating, which combined with challenging difficulty spikes can make progression feel slow and punishing.

story
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
78%
7%
The story receives mixed feedback, with some players appreciating its epic scope and traditional RPG quest structure, while others criticize its linearity, pacing issues, and frustrating main quest design that often requires excessive grinding and cumbersome crafting tasks. Quest progression can feel tedious due to poorly balanced leveling, repetitive kill quests, and problematic respawn mechanics, which hinder exploration and enjoyment. Overall, it provides a solid foundation but needs improvements in quest variety, pacing, and quality-of-life features to enhance engagement.
- “Epic storyline, even for an early access game.”
- “The quest lines are good enough to keep you playing and looking forward to the next in your line of goals, I'm working on my warrior epic weapon quest currently!”
- “Very fun game in the style of classical quests and MMO.”
- “I find it incredibly easy to outlevel quests before I pick them up, while others will hang around in your journal because you are given them way before you are leveled enough to attempt them.”
- “Normally if I run into a quest that obnoxious, I'll just skip it since it's needlessly grindy and ended up costing us more resources than it gained us, but here's the kicker; this is a main story quest.”
- “Once I hit level 50 and started Krom Razz, I was no longer able to progress the main story until I ground out veteran levels. After I got veteran levels, I was able to progress the main story some, but this took an absurd amount of time just to progress one boss. Needing veteran level scaling just to complete the main story is frankly absurd.”
gameplay
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
61%
10%
The gameplay offers a nostalgic, classic RPG and MMO experience with solid mechanics, intuitive controls, and a rich pixel-art aesthetic, appealing especially to fans of old-school titles. However, it suffers from balancing issues, outdated or broken mechanics—particularly in endgame combat and reputation systems—that can hinder progression and player enjoyment. Despite these flaws, the engaging social and cooperative elements, along with responsive developer support, make the gameplay rewarding and promising for those who enjoy deep progression and community interaction.
- “Beautiful pixel art and solid RPG mechanics - I can’t ask for more.”
- “The gameplay itself is heavily inspired by classic MMORPGs with the holy trinity (tank, DPS, healer), a meaty level grind, and a large world to explore that can surprise you with ultra challenging bosses, encouraging group play.”
- “It perfectly blends that nostalgic pixel-art aesthetic and classic RPG gameplay with modern conveniences.”
- “There are some great systems and a fun overall game, but currently many issues with balancing and core gameplay become apparent in the endgame.”
- “Rogue's main issue is low damage due to a broken core auto attack system. They also can't debuff half the endgame bosses because they are 'debuff immune' which only applies to DoTs and armor debuffs, making Dexterity rogue useless (DoT rogue) and Strength rogue lag far behind in DPS. Mages can still magic resist shred all these 'debuff immune' bosses, and this is a spammed mechanic late game.”
- “There is also a system where you get negative reputation from the core gameplay loop. Two dungeons you are meant to farm on your way to the endgame give you vast negative reputation. You need this reputation for the endgame questlines, creating a gate through normal gameplay where you must farm at least a few dozen hours of reputation from mostly trash mobs to access endgame questlines and areas.”
grinding
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in Ancient Kingdoms is extensive and reminiscent of classic MMORPGs, often requiring long hours to level up, farm rare items, and progress, especially in professions and endgame content. While some players enjoy the nostalgic, grind-heavy gameplay and gear progression, others find certain grinds tedious, resource-heavy, and sometimes unreasonable, particularly when playing solo beyond mid-levels. Quality-of-life features like boss spawn resets help, but the grind may still feel overwhelming for those with limited time.
- “Normally if I run into a quest that obnoxious, I'll just skip it since it's needlessly grindy and ended up costing us more resources than it gained us, but here's the kicker; this is a main story quest.”
- “Expect to spend tens of hours farming veteran levels per boss progression if you actually want to complete this game single player.”
- “Changes like this will just push players that a) don't have a ton of time to play and wait (seriously having to keep the game open in the background while playing another game to wait on a boss spawn is insane) and b) want to feel like they are making any sort of progress cause seriously once you hit 50 on a character you hit a wall besides farming bosses, to cheating for gear etc.”
graphics
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
31%
23%
The graphics receive praise for their nostalgic, retro pixel-art style that effectively blends classic RPG aesthetics with modern smoothness and functionality. While generally solid and charming, some users report occasional performance and graphical issues, particularly on Linux. Overall, the visuals are appreciated for creating a fun, atmospheric experience reminiscent of classic 90's CRPGs.
- “Harkens back to the CRPGs of the 90's, but running smoother and with better graphics.”
- “It perfectly blends that nostalgic pixel-art aesthetic and classic RPG gameplay with modern conveniences.”
- “Superb game with awesome old school graphics style recreated in a modern way.”
- “There was another review that said there were performance and graphical issues with text on Linux.”
- “Harkens back to the CRPGs of the 90s, but running smoother and with better graphics.”
- “Graphics are solid and just exploring for a few minutes already gave me a good idea that this game is going to be good.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
29%
14%
The music is praised for its relaxing, ambient qualities that enhance the game's atmosphere and world design. Many users found it nostalgic and enjoyable, reminiscent of classic games like RuneScape. Overall, the soundtrack contributes positively to the immersive experience.
- “The atmosphere, music, and overall design really show that a lot of care went into making the world enjoyable to explore.”
- “I enjoyed the music; it reminded me of RuneScape back in the day.”
- “Nice relaxing and ambient music.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The game suffers from noticeable optimization issues, including inconsistent performance drops and graphical/text problems on certain platforms like Linux. These technical shortcomings hinder smooth gameplay and may prevent further improvements in optimization.
- “I don't think it will do anything but prevent a great game from being further optimized.”
- “There was another review that said there were performance and graphical issues with text on Linux.”
- “Clearly, something here is poorly optimized.”
- “Do note that the early access release has some obvious technical issues (performance drops to 20 fps in places) while others with similar rigs don't have any issues at all.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere is praised for its nostalgic, old-school RPG vibes and cozy, retro style reminiscent of games from the 80s and 90s. Thoughtful music and design contribute to an enjoyable and catchy world that's inviting to explore.
- “The atmosphere, music, and overall design really show that a lot of care went into making the world enjoyable to explore.”
- “Good old school RPG vibes, cozy atmosphere.”
- “Retro style and atmosphere of games from the 80s and 90s.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect evokes a sense of nostalgia and humor, as users relate simple game elements like the level-up sound to personal feelings of aging.
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a surprising depth that enhances its replayability, making it engaging to play multiple times.
- “This game has a surprising amount of depth and replayability.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is hindered by occasional bugs, particularly affecting certain drops and making arcane missions difficult to complete.