King of Dragon Pass
- July 28, 2015
- A Sharp
- 30h median play time
Get on Steam"King of Dragon Pass" is a unique blend of strategy and role-playing set in a mythic world of heroes, monsters, and magic. As the leader of a clan, you must guide your people in exploration, resource management, and diplomacy, while also making tough decisions in interactive stories that can bring glory or disaster. With its rich narrative and replayability, this game offers a deep and immersive experience for fans of both strategy and fantasy.
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Reviews
- Unique blend of storytelling and strategy, offering a rich and immersive experience.
- Extensive lore and world-building that enhances the gameplay and keeps players engaged.
- High replayability due to the variety of random events and choices that impact the clan's fate.
- Clunky user interface that feels more suited for mobile devices than PC, making navigation cumbersome.
- Lack of clear explanations for game mechanics, leading to confusion and frustration for new players.
- Some features from the original version are missing, which may disappoint long-time fans.
- story74 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's story is rich and immersive, featuring a blend of emergent storytelling and random events that create unique narratives with each playthrough. Players engage in a text-driven experience that emphasizes choice and consequence, often leading to unexpected outcomes that enhance the overall storytelling. While the lore and character-driven quests are praised, some players find the reliance on RNG frustrating, impacting their ability to progress through hero quests.
“This is a story-rich game worth playing for those who like visual novels.”
“The hero quests and event systems are the meat of the game, with long branching narratives that often spiral from something mundane foreshadowing or directly causing some catastrophe or wonder.”
“This unique game combines strategy and management with dynamic storytelling that causes every playthrough to be unique.”
“The story is very not brilliant.”
“Despite choosing all the correct choices in a hero quest (with extra magic devoted from the spirit time), I've had 3 questers die in 6 attempts, often just at the very end of the quest for no real given reason.”
“You are supposed to click your way through a series of events in a trial-and-error fashion, remember the right paths and try the quest again and again until you succeed.”
- gameplay57 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a unique blend of turn-based strategy, management, and text-based decision-making, heavily influenced by lore and role-playing elements. While it offers engaging mechanics and a rich narrative, many players find the hidden mechanics, reliance on randomness, and poor user interface frustrating, leading to a steep learning curve and trial-and-error gameplay. Overall, it presents an intriguing experience for those who enjoy immersive storytelling and complex decision-making, but it may deter players seeking clarity and straightforward mechanics.
“The gameplay is fun and unique, and the world's lore is both interesting and memorable.”
“Thanks to the random events and different disposition of your clan (peace, war, or balanced), gameplay can vary a lot, ensuring good replayability and countless hours of fun.”
“The gameplay is somewhere between a spreadsheet and a choose-your-own-adventure book, but that book is about vikings riding triceratops into battle, fighting off cthuloid monstrosities with the duck men, and respecting your ancestors and their traditions.”
“The gameplay is a spreadsheet/accounting simulator where you have to figure out what to do and why.”
“Sadly, it fell short of it, in no small part due to poor gameplay design choices that usually plague this kind of indie game, namely a very infuriating RNG (on which the game depends way too much, of course), a poor pacing, as well as a very hard to understand choices and bonuses system.”
“This is an 'invisibility of information' problem that plagues this game to its core: it has a complex set of inter-related parts going on under the surface, but the player is left utterly blind to the workings of these mechanics.”
- graphics28 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by stunning hand-drawn artwork that blends illustrations and paintings, creating a nostalgic and visually appealing experience. While the visuals are praised for their beauty and the game's unique lore, some players note that the graphics are simplistic and reminiscent of older titles, lacking modern 3D elements. Overall, the artwork enhances the gameplay and storytelling, making it a worthwhile experience for those who appreciate artistic design over cutting-edge graphics.
“The artwork is gorgeous, all the way through.”
“The artwork and lore are absolutely great and serve to create a world worth exploring.”
“Pros: great visuals that look well drawn and show any event pretty well, a nice lore that expands as you melt into Dragon Pass, and a fun challenge.”
“This game is kind of a relic of its time; it's basically a simple kind of city management game but it plays like an old graphic adventure game.”
“It's a 90s game that's been modernized, and the audio and graphical quality is often poor.”
“No 3D graphics as such.”
- music15 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, described as catchy and delightful, with a medieval style that enhances the overall experience. However, some players note that the tracks can become repetitive, and there are limitations such as a lack of volume control and no music sliders. Overall, while not a masterpiece, the music is considered one of the standout features of the game.
“The music is very good and the art feels cleaned up but maintains its style.”
“The music is delightful.”
“The music and art are both fantastic.”
“The game consists only of static screens; there is no animation to speak of, but the events are illustrated by nicely drawn pictures and accompanied by catchy medieval-style music.”
“They increased the events, added more art, kept the music, and... that's about it.”
“There is no music slider; it's just on or off.”
- replayability12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game exhibits high replayability due to its variety of random events and differing clan dynamics, which create diverse gameplay experiences. While some players note a decline in replay value after fully exploring the content, many others find the depth and unique choices keep them engaged for countless hours. The combination of engaging mechanics and fresh concepts contributes to its strong replayability appeal.
“Thanks to the random events and different disposition of your clan (peace, war or balanced), gameplay can vary a lot, ensuring good replayability and countless hours of fun.”
“I've found the game to have excellent replay value.”
“Kodp is among the most replayable games I've ever gotten my hands on; it does random event design wonderfully.”
“The game has a decent amount of depth, though eventually, you will reach a point where you've digested the entirety of the game's content, leaving little room for replay value after that point.”
“Replayability does not appear to be there.”
“The clan names were identical or very similar, just in different locations, so again, no real replayability.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players have mixed feelings about the grinding aspect of the game; while some appreciate the depth and variety in clan management and farming, others find it tedious and frustrating, particularly when a single mistake can derail progress. The balance between engaging gameplay and repetitive tasks can lead to a sense of burnout, especially in harder difficulty settings.
“The game is tedious and mind-numbing since a single mistake or two will shut down your entire will to chug through a normal playthrough.”
“On the downside, I've found the 'hard' version of the game to be tedious.”
“How much farming do I need?”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent freezes reported after a short playtime and numerous bugs highlighted by users in forums. Players are advised to approach with caution due to these persistent problems.
“The game simply freezes after a short time.”
“Judging from the forum, the game is extremely buggy, so beware.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by sporadic funny events and absurd scenarios, such as managing resources like magic and cows, and engaging in comical barbarian activities like raiding neighbors for cattle. However, many players feel that these humorous moments are not enough to compensate for the game's overall lack of coherence and balance.
“In this turn-based strategy, you take control of the clan’s leaders, manage resources (mainly magic and cows), explore the land, trade goods with your neighbors for cows, set out on quests to gain favor of the gods, and do other funny barbarian things (like raiding your neighbors to steal cows).”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is praised for its immersive blend of choose-your-own-adventure elements and strategic gameplay, effectively capturing the rich and vibrant world of Glorantha.
“An incredible mix of choose-your-own-adventure books, strategy, and a well-represented atmosphere of the world of Glorantha.”
“The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to immerse players in the world.”
“Despite the potential, the game's atmosphere fails to evoke any real sense of tension or excitement.”
“The environments are visually appealing, but the overall atmosphere feels disconnected and lifeless.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy for the game includes a purchase option on iOS and a wishlist feature on Steam, indicating a direct promotional approach aimed at attracting fans of the series.
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that optimization guides for the game do not support a peace clan playthrough, suggesting that players may face challenges in achieving optimal performance with this approach.
“The optimization guides are incredibly helpful for maximizing efficiency in gameplay.”
“I've found that following the optimization tips has significantly improved my overall experience.”
“The game's optimization features allow for a tailored experience that enhances strategy and performance.”
“Somewhere down the road, I'll try a peace clan playthrough, but I doubt that will go well since optimization guides don't recommend it.”
