Ancient Kingdoms

About Ancient Kingdoms

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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Reviews

85%Audience ScoreBased on 378 reviews

story13 positive mentions

grinding46 negative mentions

Ancient Kingdoms captures the nostalgic feel of classic MMORPGs with a charming pixel-art style, satisfying exploration, and rewarding progression.
The game offers a solid and engaging core gameplay loop with diverse classes, dungeons, loot, professions, and a flexible mercenary system making solo play viable.
Developers are highly active and responsive, releasing frequent updates, engaging with the community, and continuously improving the overall experience.

The game features slow pacing, tedious grind, and sometimes frustrating mechanics such as long respawn timers, low drop rates, and limited inventory space.
Solo play can be challenging due to underpowered mercenaries and balance issues, with some endgame content strongly favoring multiplayer groups.
Some UI/UX elements lack polish, such as unclear crafting systems, clunky inventory management, poor targeting mechanics, and insufficient in-game guidance or tutorials.

story
91 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14% positive mentions, 82% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions
The game's story offers a classic RPG feel with unique class starts and some engaging main quests, but it suffers from extreme linearity, a lack of meaningful side quests, and repetitive fetch or grind-heavy tasks. Players often find quest pacing uneven, with difficult scaling issues and frustrating item drop rates that hinder progression and exploration enjoyment. While some appreciate the nostalgic, old-school MMO style and quest content, many highlight missing quality-of-life features and quest design flaws that disrupt the overall narrative flow.
- “I love that you can choose from different classes, and each one starts in its own unique area with quests and content that make the world feel fresh.”
- “The quests have been fun and rewarding, exploration has been enjoyable, and I love the nostalgic old-school MMORPG feel.”
- “Well thought out zones, fair amount of quests and content even at this stage to keep you busy, loot tables on the bosses that will keep you coming back to try and farm their rare drops, no bugs I've experienced to this point, fun classes (I've tried 2 so far, and they did a good job of making the traditional MMO roles work within the context of a 2D RPG).”
- “I played for a few hours and so far there's only a single quest line.”
- “It's just a single quest where you run back and forth from the quest area to the same quest giver until the first area is mostly explored.”
- “There aren't side quests or anything as far as I can tell.”
gameplay
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 10% negative mentions
The gameplay offers a nostalgic blend of classic MMO and old-school RPG mechanics with engaging progression, diverse classes, and a solid multiplayer focus, appealing to fans of methodical, cooperative experiences. While it features addictive loot systems, tactical combat, and well-designed content, some players find late-game balance issues, repetitive mechanics, and outdated or poorly documented systems detract from the overall experience. Ongoing developer support and a strong community help maintain its appeal despite these shortcomings.
- “Even in its current state, the game offers countless hours of gameplay and allows the player to progress at their own pace without fear of missing out on something.”
- “The variety of classes, challenging dungeons, meaningful loot upgrades, crafting, boss encounters, and optional co-op all work together to create an engaging gameplay loop.”
- “The gameplay is very polished and the enemies are different and unique from one another.”
- “The gameplay features every outdated and horribly player-unfriendly mechanic that even 'old school' games stopped doing a decade ago.”
- “There are many issues with balancing and core gameplay that become apparent in the endgame.”
- “You need reputation for the endgame questlines, but normal gameplay causes negative reputation, creating a gate requiring you to farm hours of trash mobs to progress.”
grinding
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 2% neutral mentions, 98% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is substantial and reminiscent of old-school MMO-style progression, appealing to players who enjoy lengthy farming, boss fights, and slow character development. While this grinding contributes to the game's charm and RPG depth, it can also feel tedious, unbalanced, and excessively time-consuming, particularly in endgame content and profession systems. Overall, it suits those who appreciate grind-heavy, single-player or solo MMO experiences but may frustrate players seeking faster or more streamlined progression.
- “You have to meticulously equip all your mercs, which is something you wouldn't do in multiplayer, but doing that is painful, slow, and tedious because the UI lacks a bunch of quality-of-life improvements (why do I have to unequip to bag to equip to a merc?).”
- “I enjoyed it until the endgame, which is unnecessarily grindy.”
- “Expect to spend tens of hours farming veteran levels per boss progression if you actually want to complete this game single player.”
graphics
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34% positive mentions, 57% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions
The game features charming and cohesive pixel-art graphics that evoke a strong nostalgic old-school RPG vibe, reminiscent of classics like EverQuest and Stardew Valley. While it intentionally avoids modern graphical complexity, its consistent art style and solid visuals effectively support the game's classic atmosphere, though some users note specific performance issues on certain hardware. Overall, the graphics are well-received for fans of retro aesthetics and methodical gameplay.
- “Although the visuals intentionally avoid modern graphical complexity, their consistency and charm effectively reinforce the game's classic identity.”
- “The pixel-art style looks fantastic and really captures the feeling of older RPGs.”
- “It perfectly blends that nostalgic pixel-art aesthetic and classic RPG gameplay with modern conveniences.”
- “Graphics are basic.”
- “There was another review that said there were performance and graphical issues with text on Linux.”
- “Little advice: if you have the option to use integrated graphics instead of discrete graphics, do it; integrated works fine. It has used nearly all 6GB of my VRAM when I use discrete graphics (possibly bloom and a few other visuals?).”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its relaxing, ambient, and atmospheric qualities that enhance both exploration and combat. While many find it nostalgic and well-suited to the game's vibe, a few players find it repetitive or prefer to turn it off after a short time. Overall, it effectively contributes to an enjoyable and immersive world.
- “The soundtrack complements the gameplay with appropriately adventurous and atmospheric music that enhances both peaceful exploration and intense combat encounters.”
- “The atmosphere, music and overall design really show that a lot of care went into making the world enjoyable to explore.”
- “The music is perfect for this kind of game (chill/relaxing) and the design of the enemies and towns are all interesting and very different per area.”
- “10 minutes of the music was more than enough for me, shut it off.”
- “I challenge anyone to play this game longer than 2 hours and not turn off the music and the sound effects.”
- “The music is decent.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is praised for its distinct, varied environments and smooth character animations, complemented by a nostalgic retro art style and soundtrack that balance peaceful exploration with intense combat. The cohesive environment and sound design create a cozy, immersive world filled with classic RPG vibes, demonstrating thoughtful care in crafting an enjoyable and engaging experience.
- “Character animations are smooth, monster designs are varied, and each environment possesses its own distinct atmosphere that keeps exploration interesting.”
- “The soundtrack complements the gameplay with appropriately adventurous and atmospheric music that enhances both peaceful exploration and intense combat encounters.”
- “Same goes for the environment and sound design, everything works together really well and builds a strong sense of atmosphere.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, 17% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The game's optimization is inconsistent, with noticeable performance drops and graphical issues reported by some users, particularly on Linux. While gear customization adds depth, technical problems in the early access version hinder smooth gameplay for certain setups. Overall, optimization needs improvement to enhance user experience.
- “These items can also be equipped to mercenaries to help boost their performance as well.”
- “Gear is also the only way to customize your mercs' performance.”
- “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.”
- “There was another review that said there were performance and graphical issues with text on Linux.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
Players experienced mixed emotions, including moments of confusion or feeling lost due to challenging areas, as well as lighthearted nostalgia triggered by in-game level-up sounds.
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The game features no in-game purchases, providing a straightforward experience without monetization pressures.
- “There are no in-game purchases.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability through multiple playable classes, each with distinct combat styles that encourage experimentation. Players can enjoy varied approaches, from close-range fighting to ranged attacks and magic, adding depth and variety to each playthrough.
- “Multiple playable classes provide distinct combat styles that encourage experimentation and replayability, whether players prefer fighting enemies at close range, attacking from afar, or utilizing magical abilities.”
- “This game has a surprising amount of depth and replayability.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The character development in the game is integral and rewarding, emphasizing strategic growth through positioning and timing rather than flashy action. It supports a traditional RPG experience that values patience and exploration over fast-paced gameplay.
- “Combat follows a straightforward but engaging design philosophy that emphasizes positioning, timing, and proper character development over fast-paced spectacle.”
- “Although it may not appeal to players seeking fast-paced action or cutting-edge graphics, it delivers an authentic and enjoyable old-school RPG experience that rewards patience, exploration, and character development.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Users report stability issues causing certain drops to be buggy, which makes completing arcane missions particularly difficult.

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Ancient Kingdoms
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Play Times

60h Median play time

84h Average play time

12-172h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Ancient Kingdoms is a open world role playing game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. Common tags for Ancient Kingdoms include dragons, indie, exploration, pixel graphics, early access and others.

Ancient Kingdoms is available on PC, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 84 hours playing Ancient Kingdoms.

Ancient Kingdoms was released on January 15, 2025.

Ancient Kingdoms was developed by Ancient Pixels.

Ancient Kingdoms has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Ancient Kingdoms for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Ancient Kingdoms is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Nevergrind Online, Heartwood Online, Eterspire, Erenshor, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and others.

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About Ancient Kingdoms

Games Like Ancient Kingdoms

Nevergrind Online

Heartwood Online

Eterspire

Erenshor

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

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Farever

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Reviews

story

gameplay

grinding

graphics

music

atmosphere

optimization

emotional

monetization

replayability

character development

stability

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