Little King's Story

Little King’s Story is a game that’ll make you say, “oh I just can’t wait to be king.”

Starting at $7.68Buy now

In Little King's Story, players become a timid young boy who suddenly becomes king and must build and defend his kingdom. They'll recruit townspeople, assign them jobs, and explore vast lands to fight enemies and uncover treasures. The game features a charming story, strategic gameplay, and a unique art style for a lighthearted, yet engaging adventure.

Genres & Tags

Role Playing

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 261 reviews

story21 positive mentions

stability29 negative mentions

Charming and nostalgic gameplay reminiscent of Pikmin, with a unique blend of RTS and city-building elements.
The game features a delightful art style and a whimsical story that keeps players engaged.
The recent updates have improved performance significantly, making the game more enjoyable to play.

The port suffers from numerous technical issues, including frequent crashes and frame rate drops.
Controller support is inconsistent, and keyboard controls are clunky and poorly mapped.
Many players have reported game-breaking bugs, such as save files not loading and audio issues.

story
78 mentions
27 % positive mentions
69 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The story of "Little King's Story" is widely praised for its charm, humor, and depth, blending whimsical elements with more serious themes. Players appreciate the unique characters and engaging narrative that drives the gameplay, despite some frustrations with quest markers and bugs in the PC port. Overall, while the original game is celebrated as a masterpiece, the port's technical issues detract from the experience, leading to mixed recommendations.
- “The story is what makes this game; every character is unique, the gameplay, the mechanics, everything about this game is just perfect in my eyes.”
- “I've always thought Little King's Story was an adorable tale, merging childhood imagination with world domination in a normally amusing fashion, and the story hasn't changed one bit in this version, retaining all of its charm.”
- “This game is fantastic; it makes good use of classical music and is full of heart. It's essentially a boy's perception of his world in a funny and moving story, everything fits well in the context.”
- “Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this particular port of Little King's Story, despite the efforts put in previously to bring it up to a workable state.”
- “In order to even run the game without it crashing to desktop, you have to disable all in-game cutscenes, so you have to go to YouTube to actually see what the heck is happening in the storyline.”
- “When the A button stops randomly working, massive slowdowns still occur, and the game has obvious gameplay issues, making it difficult to warrant a recommendation of any kind.”
graphics
48 mentions
23 % positive mentions
71 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the charming art style and upgraded visuals from its predecessor, while also noting numerous graphical glitches and performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware. Players appreciate the cute, cartoonish aesthetic, but some have experienced crashes and corrupted saves, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game's visuals are generally considered delightful and fitting for its whimsical tone.
- “The graphics are delightful, the music is all wonderfully remixed classical music, the story is charming and actually has a good amount of depth, the gameplay is similar to Pikmin with a kingdom building element, and the humor in it still makes me laugh when I play today.”
- “The art style of the game -- just look at the king -- does shine through though and this elevates the graphics quite a lot.”
- “The graphics have been upgraded, and it can be run on higher resolution.”
- “I found some minor graphic glitches during gameplay (like in-game fonts), but I am not sure if this is just a Linux problem.”
- “Random crashes occur often even with graphics cranked all the way down and resolution changed to Wii levels.”
- “Do not buy, I am running on Windows 10, tried to set to every graphical setting and tried every Windows compatibility mode, but it always crashes after the intro movie.”
gameplay
45 mentions
27 % positive mentions
67 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mix of charming mechanics reminiscent of Pikmin and Animal Crossing, offering a straightforward yet engaging experience with light RPG elements. However, players have reported significant issues, including frame rate dependencies that lead to bugs, control problems, and occasional game-breaking glitches, which can detract from the overall enjoyment. Despite these challenges, the game is praised for its creativity, character design, and delightful music, making it a unique title worth trying.
- “The gameplay loop revolves around you playing as a child king in a kingdom surrounded by umas - unidentified mysterious animals, a Japanese term for cryptozoology.”
- “The core gameplay is great.”
- “It's a charming little game with great music and 'pikmin-esque' gameplay, while not being as challenging.”
- “The gameplay is literally broken even with Durante's 'fix'.”
- “It will often load with no sound, will refuse to load save files and simply freeze, and the mechanics of several boss fights just don't work, which makes it incredibly hard to make progress.”
- “When the A button stops randomly working, massive slowdowns still occur on a GTX 1080, and the game still has obvious gameplay issues, it's difficult to warrant a recommendation of any kind.”
music
34 mentions
29 % positive mentions
62 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its charming and uplifting classical compositions, which are reworked to enhance various gameplay moments and settings. Many players appreciate how the soundtrack complements the game's art style and overall atmosphere, making it a standout feature that evokes nostalgia and adds depth to the experience. However, some users noted technical issues related to music playback, particularly when loading or exiting the game.
- “Honestly, just buy it for the soundtrack and the humor.”
- “The music is great; it's taken from mostly classical western pieces that many people will probably find very familiar.”
- “The music in this game is great and suits the art style perfectly.”
- “Cing clearly tried to save some money by using computer-generated voices and classical music instead of a proper original soundtrack, but let me tell you – the guys had style.”
- “Much of the music and sounds are missing, and the game asked for me to press the 'A' button to start.”
- “My only gripe is the same one I had playing the original game: I can't find a way to turn off the music!!”
stability
30 mentions
3 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
97 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and save file corruption. Players have experienced significant performance issues, including frame rate drops and freezing, even on high-end systems. While some users find the game enjoyable despite these problems, the overall consensus is that the port is poorly optimized and plagued by bugs.
- “I think if it was just the occasional crashes and odd graphics glitches I'd just accept it, but I keep having saves corrupted, enemies glitch and get stuck to my character, or even get stuck in the castle before the game even starts.”
- “This port is good, but very buggy.”
- “Besides the literal game-breaking bug, there are visual glitches, audio glitches, the game will crash on you if you do not have it on the right settings and even then it still will crash on you, just not as frequently.”
optimization
18 mentions
17 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
22 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing significant performance issues such as freezing, crashes, and high GPU usage, particularly on the PC port. While some users noted improvements after adjusting settings or applying patches, others still faced persistent bugs and instability, suggesting that the game may not run well on all hardware configurations. Overall, potential buyers are advised to consider their system's capabilities and possibly wait for sales before purchasing.
- “Fun game, basically Pikmin didn't have an issue with performance on this port.”
- “Thanks to the recent update, this game should have no performance issues even on the lowest specs.”
- “After having played it for several hours, I can say that up till now, I have not really been plagued by any notable performance issues.”
- “Bad port, it has performance issues, while my PC can run it, it consumes too much GPU resource.”
- “The poor optimization causes a rather unfortunate conflict with the fact the game was not meant to run in 60 fps anyways.”
- “Total lack of optimization (this game is a port from Wii), constant problems with loading saves, black screens, freezes etc. Sometimes you have to reload the game twice or thrice to actually play it.”
humor
16 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its charm and cleverness, blending light-hearted and dark elements reminiscent of titles like Earthbound and The Phantom Tollbooth. Players appreciate the funny characters, witty dialogue, and the overall delightful tone that adds depth to the gameplay experience. The combination of cute graphics and a whimsical narrative contributes to a fun atmosphere that keeps players engaged and entertained.
- “Honestly, just buy it for the soundtrack and the humor.”
- “It's a delightfully charming game with a fun sense of humor and a whole lot of interesting boss battles.”
- “The story is admittedly rather simple, but the dialogue is funny and there's lots of humor and parody.”
character development
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The character development in the game is highly praised for its exceptional art and design, with users highlighting the creative character and monster designs that complement the enjoyable plot and charming music. Overall, the character design is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “Great character design, fun mechanics, great monster design, music is really nice; this game oozes charm like you wouldn't believe.”
- “Creative character design and enjoyable plot.”
- “The character design fits the music.”
grinding
4 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players have mixed feelings about grinding in the game; while some find it tedious and mediocre, others appreciate the challenge and look forward to investing time to enhance their kingdoms. The slow camera movement can add to the frustration, but the overall experience is seen as rewarding for those willing to put in the effort.
- “The game itself is mediocre at best and tedious at worst.”
- “The camera is also a point of mention; it turns so slowly that I end up overshooting, and when I simply want to make minor adjustments, it can get quite tedious.”
- “Excellent game which I'm looking forward to spending more hours on grinding to have the most beautiful kingdom there is!”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game is characterized by a wholesome tone that contrasts with its underlying sense of mystery, creating a charming and heartwarming experience. However, this emotional depth is juxtaposed with themes of tyranny, adding complexity to the overall narrative.
- “The tone of the game is far more wholesome, but it retains the sense of mystery of a world that is much more than it seems.”
- “A charming and heartwarming game.”
atmosphere
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Reviewers highlight the game's atmosphere as distinctly unique, complemented by creative elements that enhance the overall experience.
- “The game has an absolutely unique atmosphere, filled with creative elements that draw you in.”
- “The atmosphere is immersive and captivating, making every moment feel alive.”
- “The combination of visuals and sound creates a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere that lingers long after playing.”
monetization
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy has been criticized as a cash grab, leading some users to seek refunds and vow not to purchase any future products from the developers.
- “This seems like a cash grab by the developers. I refunded and will make sure not to buy anything else from them.”
- “The monetization model is overly aggressive and feels exploitative.”
- “I feel like I'm being pressured to spend money just to enjoy the game.”