Kraken City

About

Kraken City is a single player action game. It was developed by nStarcube and was released on December 9, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

In Kraken City, you play as a dark magician devoted to the great Kraken Nialato, hunting humans to offer as living sacrifices. Collect various outfits to please the Kraken while engaging in simple yet intense action-packed battles. Use wrestling and Kraken powers to capture targets and earn valuable rewards.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 40 reviews

humor12 positive mentions

optimization6 negative mentions

Kraken City offers a fun and chaotic hack-and-slash experience with a cheeky premise and engaging combat mechanics, allowing players to unleash mayhem in a compact urban environment.
The game features a unique aesthetic with attractive character designs and a variety of unlockable costumes, appealing to fans of fan service and customization.
Despite its flaws, the game provides a light-hearted atmosphere and simple gameplay loop that can be enjoyable for casual players looking for a brief diversion.

The game suffers from significant technical issues, including poor optimization, janky controls, and frequent glitches that disrupt the gameplay experience.
Combat mechanics are often frustrating due to inconsistent hit detection and a lack of targeting options, making it difficult to engage effectively with enemies.
With a very short playtime and limited environments, Kraken City may feel repetitive and lacking in depth, leaving players wanting more content and variety.

story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The game's story is minimal and serves primarily as a backdrop for its hack-and-slash gameplay, focusing on spectacle and humor rather than depth. Players navigate through missions in a simplistic beat-em-up format, with a lighthearted narrative that includes quirky elements like a kraken summoning mechanic. Overall, the storytelling is straightforward and often cliche, providing just enough context to support the action without being a central focus.
- “The story was humorous and didn't take itself seriously.”
- “You fight through the city streets as you progress the story in a very simplistic beat 'em up adventure.”
- “Decent beat 'em up game with a good story to tell, just needs a lock-on system to make the fights less janky.”
- “Rather than attempting to deliver a sprawling action adventure or a story-heavy experience, the game positions itself as a short, high-energy hack-and-slash built around spectacle, fanservice, and straightforward combat.”
- “Storytelling is deliberately light and largely serves as flavor rather than motivation, existing mainly to justify the constant stream of enemies and destructive power at your disposal.”
- “ There is no particular storyline here.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in "Kraken City" is characterized by its playful and nonsensical storyline, featuring amusing ragdoll physics and a cheeky summoning mechanic that adds to the comedic experience. Players appreciate the game's lighthearted approach, with funny moments stemming from its quirky mechanics and absurd scenarios, making it an entertaining blend of action and humor. Overall, the game embraces its silliness, providing a fun and engaging experience without taking itself too seriously.
- “The game has hilarious rag-doll physics, a simple nonsensical story, and there is a fun summoning mechanic which lets you gain money and slap your foes once they are bound by your kraken tentacle friend.”
- “'Kraken City' is an absolute rollercoaster of fun, expertly blending hack-and-slash mayhem with hilarious moments.”
- “There's something hilariously satisfying about flinging enemies around and then delivering a cheeky smack right on the bum!”
gameplay
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
37%
27%
The gameplay in Kraken City is characterized by a simple yet effective loop that involves completing missions, engaging in combat, and upgrading abilities, all while utilizing a quirky kraken summoning mechanic. While the combat can be frustrating due to janky mechanics and occasional targeting issues, it offers a humorous and chaotic experience enhanced by rag-doll physics and a lighthearted narrative. Overall, the game successfully balances frenetic action with cheeky humor, making for an entertaining beat 'em up experience.
- “Gameplay is simple but effective, and while it’s not trying to be a huge or complex experience, it knows what it wants to be and sticks to it.”
- “The gameplay offers a delightful mix of frenetic action and cheeky moments, with various fighting styles keeping combat fresh and addictive.”
- “Funny beat 'em up in a dancing street with an interesting kraken mechanic, where you need to catch your enemies with tentacles and spank them for health and money.”
- “Sounds easy, but even that mechanic is broken because half the time instead of slapping a hanging enemy, you will attack NPCs.”
- “It's the perfect level of frustratingly jank combat mechanics merged with uncanny valley character models, machine-translated dialogue, and copious amounts of fan service.”
- “Simple gameplay loop; you do missions, beat up people, get money, buy health or MP upgrades, and buy costumes.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
11%
67%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting severe performance issues, frequent glitches, and poor control responsiveness, particularly on the Steam Deck. Many users note that even high-end PCs struggle to run the game smoothly, indicating significant optimization flaws that detract from the overall experience. While the core concept is appreciated, the game requires extensive bug fixes and optimization improvements to enhance playability.
- “Besides a few enemies clipping into the street, jumping that sends you high up into the air, and small optimization issues, the only major problem is that characters often don’t show the mission or shop screen when talking to them.”
- “It still needs a lot of bug fixes and optimizations, but the concept is enjoyable.”
- “Unfortunately, it is destroyed by horrible optimization and just an all around terrible lack of basic functionality.”
- “And trust me about the optimization thing, it's not your PC that is struggling to run the game, it's the game that is struggling to run.”
- “It is poorly optimized; however, requiring settings turned down quite a bit despite my rig being able to play AAA games of the past two years at max settings without issue.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game's graphics are characterized by a bold and niche aesthetic, featuring attractive character designs and solid animations, even on lower settings. While the visuals effectively build tension and fit the game's tone, the limited environments and technical roughness detract from its overall polish. Players can expect a visually striking experience that offers chaotic fun, complemented by unlockable costumes.
- “The game does a great job building tension, with solid combat and visuals that fit the tone perfectly.”
- “The visuals are striking, featuring smoking-hot character designs and a range of unlockable costumes that enhance each encounter.”
- “The graphics are decent, with characters that are fairly attractive and animated well even on lower settings.”
- “Visually, the game embraces a bold and unapologetically niche aesthetic.”
- “I play all sorts of AAA games on the highest graphic settings, so I know my PC can keep up.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including poor performance on platforms like the Steam Deck, frequent glitches, and janky animations. Players report numerous bugs affecting controls, NPC behavior, and camera functionality, leading to an overall frustrating experience.
- “Bad performance (on Steam Deck at least), glitches everywhere, messed up animations, janky combat, you name it.”
- “It is very buggy, feels bad to control, and is poorly optimized.”
- “NPCs can get stuck in the ground, in the walls, on lamp posts, etc. Many minor glitches, and during the action scenes, there can be a tendency for the game to lag a little; opponents have guns, and you have no ranged weapons available.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is widely praised for its upbeat and engaging nature, perfectly complementing the fast-paced action and adding to the overall fun atmosphere. While the main theme is particularly addictive, some players note that voice lines and sound effects can become repetitive over time. Overall, the music stands out as a highlight, enhancing the quirky and humorous elements of the gameplay.
- “The music is probably the best part about this game so far, with all the NPCs and their goofy dancing.”
- “ [b] Music [/b] - very cool main theme song that makes this simple and short game really addictive.”
- “Music is upbeat and fitting for the fast-paced action, while voice lines and sound effects add personality but tend to repeat over time.”
- “Funny beat 'em up in a dancing street with an interesting kraken mechanic, where you need to catch your enemies with tentacles and spank them for HP and money. The kraken music seems familiar.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
Replayability is largely contingent on players' enjoyment of the core combat mechanics and cosmetic progression, as the game is relatively short and can be completed in a single session.
- “Replayability is quite short and can be completed in one go, but it encourages players to return for more.”
- “Replay value depends almost entirely on whether players enjoy the core combat loop and cosmetic progression enough to revisit encounters.”
- “Once you've completed the main story, there's little incentive to go back and play again.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices and consequences makes replaying the game feel tedious and uninteresting.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players note that grinding is essential in the game due to the initial difficulty, as characters start off weak and often face defeat against early opponents without accumulating enough resources.
- “The game has a challenge to it as you are pretty weak compared to your early opponents, so dying is common without grinding for money.”
- “The grinding feels endless and tedious, making it hard to enjoy the story.”
- “I find myself spending more time grinding than actually playing the game, which is frustrating.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the visuals and character designs are praised for their striking quality and variety of unlockable costumes, the reviews do not provide specific insights into the depth or progression of character development within the game.
- “The character development is incredibly deep, allowing players to shape their heroes' personalities and abilities in meaningful ways.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, making each decision feel impactful and personal.”
- “The backstories are rich and engaging, providing a strong emotional connection to the characters as they grow and change.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Kraken City is praised for its engaging and distinctive atmosphere, offering a simple yet enjoyable experience that sets it apart from other games.
- “Kraken City delivers a simple but fun atmosphere and a unique setting that immediately stands out.”