Kingdom: New Lands

86%
Game Brain Score Based on 3,867 reviews
  • gameplay
  • graphics
  • music
Kingdom: New Lands Game Cover
Set forth and conquer the lands in this brilliant strategy title
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Kingdom: New Lands is a 2D side-scrolling strategy game where you play as a monarch building and defending your kingdom against nightly attacks from mysterious creatures. Explore new lands, gather resources, and recruit loyal subjects to help grow and protect your realm. With each playthrough offering a unique experience, it's up to you to adapt your strategy and survive the ever-changing landscapes and challenges.

  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Mac OS
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Phone
  • Play​station 4
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Linux
  • Mobile Platform
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

86%
Audience ScoreBased on 3,867 reviews
gameplay247 positive mentions
grinding88 negative mentions
  • gameplay799 mentions

    The gameplay of "Kingdom: New Lands" is characterized by its simple mechanics and minimalist design, which some players find addictive and engaging, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking depth. Many reviews highlight the steep learning curve due to poorly explained mechanics, leading to frustration, especially when mistakes can result in significant setbacks. Overall, while the game offers a charming aesthetic and strategic elements, it struggles with balance and clarity, making it a mixed experience for players.

    • “The gameplay is unique, the pixel art is great, the music is beautiful, and it requires well-thought-out strategies to win, which is quite challenging.”
    • “The gameplay combines elements of resource management, exploration, and tower defense, providing a rich and engaging experience.”
    • “The mechanics are simple, but strategy is complex, making for a surprisingly deep gameplay experience.”
    • “I spent 4 hours in the game, and another 1 reading tutorials, and I still don't understand some of the mechanics.”
    • “The gameplay is relaxing, tedious, and frustrating, rarely satisfying.”
    • “The poorly explained, highly repetitive gameplay gets frustrating very quickly.”
  • graphics457 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful pixel art style, which combines simplicity with stunning detail, creating an immersive atmosphere enhanced by dynamic weather and lighting effects. Many players find the visuals charming and relaxing, contributing significantly to the overall enjoyment of the gameplay. The soundtrack complements the graphics well, further enriching the aesthetic experience, making it a standout feature of the game.

    • “The game design and graphics: everything from the characters and animals to the scenery, lighting, and the weather that changes with the seasons... it's stunning if you like the pixel art style.”
    • “The graphics in this game are absolutely stunning as well as the soundtrack.”
    • “The graphics are charming and the gameplay consists of WASD (or arrow key) and ESC, but there's a lot to learn here.”
    • “It's tedious, it's unintuitive, it's boring... so many decisions to keep its aesthetic purity just make the game a big failure to me as a player.”
    • “As expected from any modern 'charming' indie game, it's just a brick of shit slathered in nice pixel graphics with calm music to appeal to a very bland audience.”
    • “If you're looking for a game with a story, a game with high-quality graphics, or a game with depth, then don't buy this game.”
  • music437 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many players describing it as calming, immersive, and well-composed. The soundtrack complements the stunning pixel art, creating a serene and engaging experience that players find themselves returning to repeatedly. Overall, the combination of relaxing tunes and thematic soundscapes significantly contributes to the game's charm and appeal.

    • “The music is fitting too, mostly peaceful and relaxed, other times eerie and foreboding, very well composed.”
    • “From the picturesque pixel art to the calming soundtrack, 'Kingdom: New Lands' invites players into a world that feels like a living, breathing painting.”
    • “The music and ambience is amazing and I can lose myself for hours; I've played it heaps on my phone too.”
    • “The soundtrack is haunting.”
    • “They basically copy and pasted the original game, soundtrack and all, then just added ships which literally do nothing other than patrol the waters and take you to another island where you just rebuild and repeat.”
    • “The music is appropriate and non-persistent, being used to maximum effect by setting the mood of a new day, or the ominous horror of trying to endure a blood moon as you sit helplessly and pray that your defenses hold out until morning.”
  • atmosphere128 mentions

    The atmosphere in "Kingdom: New Lands" is widely praised for its beautiful pixel art, immersive soundtracks, and a calming yet engaging environment that enhances the gameplay experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to create a serene and captivating world, balancing relaxation with moments of tension, making it a standout title in the kingdom-building genre. Overall, the combination of stunning visuals and atmospheric music contributes to a deeply engaging and memorable gaming experience.

    • “Kingdom: New Lands excels in creating an immersive and atmospheric experience.”
    • “The atmosphere created by the art style and music in this game is downright mesmerizing at times.”
    • “The visuals are absolutely stunning, and the atmosphere is beautiful.”
    • “The relaxing atmosphere is completely destroyed by the massive amounts of frustration I've experienced in simply learning how to play the game.”
    • “Don't let the relaxing atmosphere fool you, it can be very unforgiving.”
    • “While the atmosphere as well as astonishing pixel art bring utmost visual satisfaction.”
  • story110 mentions

    The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its minimalism, with many users noting a lack of a coherent narrative or character depth. While some appreciate the atmospheric and environmental storytelling that allows for personal interpretation, others find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in progression due to the absence of a structured story. Overall, players express a desire for more depth and a clearer storyline to enhance the gaming experience.

    • “It's story rich, immersive, exciting, and fun to play!”
    • “The atmospheric storytelling in 'Kingdom: New Lands' is commendable.”
    • “The graphics combined with the simple story and the focus on adventure were very creative and well designed; I just loved the flow and feeling of it all.”
    • “The only problem with this game is a lack of story because without the story the gameplay is quite repetitive and by the first hour you have almost seen everything this game has to offer.”
    • “No real emergent storytelling, no surprises, it kinda sucks.”
    • “If you're looking for a game with a story, a game with high quality graphics, or a game with depth then don't buy this game.”
  • grinding101 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with players describing it as tedious, repetitive, and often frustrating. Many reviews highlight the excessive back-and-forth movement required for tasks, the slow pace of gameplay, and the lack of engaging mechanics, leading to a sense of boredom and a feeling that the game is more of a chore than an enjoyable experience. While some players find initial enjoyment, they quickly note that the grind becomes overwhelming, detracting from the overall fun.

    • “Repetition is not tedious.”
    • “A bit grindy... sometimes.”
    • “One long, tedious grind.”
    • “This game gets tedious real fast, frankly.”
    • “It's not really fun and gets into a tedious grind at the second island with no end in sight.”
    • “The grinding between early and late game had gotten a bit stale and I had loved to imagine what this would be like.”
  • replayability96 mentions

    Replayability in the game varies significantly among players, with some praising its high replay value due to unlockable content, procedural generation, and engaging mechanics, while others find it limited and repetitive after a certain point. The addition of new lands and features has generally improved replayability compared to the original, but many players still feel that once the game is mastered, it lacks long-term engagement. Overall, while some enjoy the depth and challenge that encourages repeated play, others note that the experience can become stale after extensive gameplay.

    • “A remarkably polished, minimalist strategy with surprising depth and plenty of replayability.”
    • “The mechanics are incredibly easy to learn, but hard to master, so it has great replayability.”
    • “This version adds a lot of replayability to the core game, the art style is enhanced, there are new units and a lovely custom banner creation tool.”
    • “Limited replayability (same mechanics in all the islands), gets repetitive fast.”
    • “I had a lot of fun with this game for the first dozen hours, but despite the significant improvements made from Kingdom Classic, it still lacks the long-term replay value to keep you coming back.”
    • “There is a point when you've explored everything it has to offer and most probably won't consider it replayable past that.”
  • stability26 mentions

    The game has been consistently criticized for its stability issues, with players reporting persistent bugs such as disappearing characters, erratic AI behavior, and performance problems across multiple years. While some glitches have been addressed, many users still experience significant gameplay interruptions, including frame rate drops and unresponsive commands, leading to frustration and a lack of confidence in the game's reliability. Overall, the stability remains a major concern, detracting from an otherwise enjoyable experience.

    • “The game is mostly bug-free, providing a smooth experience overall.”
    • “I have encountered one bug consistently: once an order has been placed with a coin (like telling workers to chop down a tree), that order can be ignored by all workers until you save, quit, and reload your save.”
    • “It's a neat game, but it is so buggy.”
    • “I can't recommend a product where success is ruined because the game is buggy.”
    • “The game is a bit buggy, especially concerning the AI of your villagers; sometimes this can be fixed by saving and reloading your game, but often I have lost half a village because I assigned a tree to be cut down in an area that was then overrun by monsters.”
  • humor15 mentions

    The humor in the game is often described as a mix of absurdity and frustration, with players finding amusement in the chaotic actions of NPCs and unexpected glitches. While some aspects, like the punishing enemy mechanics, can detract from the humor, many players appreciate the game's quirky design and funny moments that arise from its challenges. Overall, the humor is a notable element that adds to the game's charm, despite its difficulty.

    • “I'm a souls player, so rage quitting is very familiar to me, but let me tell you; there is nothing like watching all 8 of your builders run straight out of the village and into the enemy just to push a goddamn boat that should be sailing on its own anyway; which is hilarious considering the only build order the builders do ignore to run behind the walls is building the boat.”
    • “The only odd occurrence was that when leaving the island, my king decided to glitch out of the boat and left the screen, but that did not affect my progress in the game as I was able to move on to the next island anyway... so that was rather hilarious than frustrating.”
    • “It's funny that you can play this game with four buttons and still find a reasonable challenge.”
    • “Not funny.”
    • “The humor fell flat and felt forced.”
    • “I expected more laughs, but it was mostly cringeworthy.”
  • emotional10 mentions

    Players express a strong emotional connection to the game, particularly through the attachment to their pet dog, which can be taken by enemies, evoking feelings of heartbreak. The game is praised for its poetic and beautiful elements, complemented by a minimalistic yet evocative soundtrack, though some players feel a sense of futility in their efforts as the game's world remains unchanged despite their dedication. Overall, the emotional depth and charming aesthetics contribute to a memorable gaming experience.

    • “When you find the pet dog, look after them well; the enemies can take the dog and run, which was heartbreaking!”
    • “Beware, you can develop a strong emotional attachment to your new little kingdom.”
    • “This is one of those games that manage to feel poetic, beautiful, and touching, while actually offering really interesting gameplay.”
  • optimization9 mentions

    The game's optimization is highly inconsistent, with some users experiencing smooth performance even on low-end hardware, while others report severe stuttering and frame rate issues on high-end systems. Troubleshooting reveals potential problems with multithreading, as performance can improve when limiting the game to a single core, but this leads to audio glitches. Overall, the optimization appears to vary significantly based on the user's setup and configuration.

    • “Runs smoothly even on a potato-powered laptop.”
    • “Originally, I believe this was a mobile game and I have to say this is an amazing port to the PC because of the great optimization, though the controls are very simplistic, the gameplay itself requires time to understand its underpinnings.”
    • “I feel that the game is best played with optimization in mind and with the goal of leaving each island as quickly as possible.”
    • “I couldn't get this game to stop stuttering on my Alienware.”
    • “I get constant frame skips, stutters, and abysmal performance on a high-end gaming rig that has 6 cores at 3.8GHz, 64GB of RAM, and a 980Ti with a 144Hz G-Sync display. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting, I'm starting to suspect sloppy multithreading code. If I set the affinity of the process to a single core, the framerate smooths out, but I'll see the core spike and then the audio thread starts glitching and stuttering. If I set the game to use more than one core, there are no audio glitches, but I start getting framerate hiccups and stutters. Your mileage may vary.”
    • “Severe performance issues.”
  • monetization3 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for feeling like a cash grab, with users noting excessive advertising for other titles and misleading promotions about new features. This has detracted from the initial enjoyment, leading to frustration over the game's convoluted approach to monetization.

    • “The game is gorgeous and I loved it at first, but it became a convoluted cash grab for no reason.”
    • “Oddly long startup time for a new game with ads for the developers' other games.”
    • “The advertising would have you believe that there are new features, such as new mounts (bears and elks) and new characters.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

83% average critic score

Buy Kingdom: New Lands

Play time

20hMedian play time
50hAverage play time
10hMain story
37hCompletionist
6-70hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 34 analyzed playthroughs

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