Pocket Kingdom

About

Pocket Kingdom is a single player puzzle game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by 08 Games and was released on December 8, 2016. It received positive reviews from players.

In Pocket Kingdom, players build and manage their own medieval kingdom, including resources, buildings, and defense towers. Quests and battles offer rewards to expand and strengthen the kingdom, while diplomacy allows for alliances or declarations of war with neighboring kingdoms. The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes, with cross-platform play available.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 110 reviews

story14 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

Pocket Kingdom features imaginative puzzles that encourage experimentation and critical thinking, providing a satisfying sense of discovery.
The charming pixel art and whimsical soundtrack create a nostalgic atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
The game offers a unique blend of exploration and puzzle-solving within a richly interconnected world, making it engaging and rewarding for players.

Some puzzles can feel unintuitive or frustrating, leading to moments where players may struggle to find solutions.
The retro art style can sometimes hinder visual clarity, making it difficult to distinguish interactive elements from the background.
Technical issues, such as bugs and a lack of quality-of-life features, detract from the overall gameplay experience.

story
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
65%
6%
The story in "Pocket Kingdom" is generally atmospheric and intriguing, enhancing the dreamlike quality of the game, though it lacks depth and major narrative arcs. While the plot is straightforward and sometimes difficult to follow, it is complemented by engaging puzzles and rich lore that players can uncover through interactions with characters. Overall, the storytelling serves as a pleasant backdrop to the gameplay, but some players feel it could benefit from a clearer narrative structure and emotional stakes.
- “The story is simple but filled with intriguing lore that leaves you invested.”
- “There’s a wonderful story to unravel here, set in a picturesque fantasy world of warm pixel art and soothing music, but you’ll have to tackle some devilish rooms to see it all.”
- “Pocket Kingdom is a slow-paced puzzle game with an interesting story, containing a few hours of single-player gameplay.”
- “Expanding the story—adding a clearer arc or stronger emotional motivation could enhance the experience.”
- “The story is okay, it has several plot holes and it's difficult to follow but that's a minor thing.”
- “The npcs are mostly repetitive and contribute little to the story; the main character lacks charisma.”
gameplay
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
74%
7%
The gameplay in "Pocket Kingdom" is characterized by inventive mechanics and engaging puzzle design, offering a blend of exploration and experimentation within interconnected environments. Players navigate through self-contained puzzle rooms using tools like gravity-switching boots and grapple hooks, though some mechanics can feel unintuitive, leading to occasional frustration. Overall, the game is praised for its originality and artistic style, providing a memorable experience for those who enjoy methodical puzzle-solving, despite some criticisms regarding control responsiveness and map clarity.
- “What follows is a journey through interconnected environments filled with mechanical contraptions, eccentric inhabitants, and a rich assortment of physics-based challenges.”
- “Although simple on the surface, the world feels layered and inviting, presenting players with a blend of exploration, puzzle solving, and mechanical experimentation that encourages deep engagement with its systems.”
- “The mechanics of Pocket Kingdom mean you’ll have to approach puzzles from more than just a 2D perspective, keeping in mind how the screen wrapping will affect you, the crates you push, and the traps you contend with.”
- “It's janky and unsatisfying to play... and any experienced gamer will tell you, the handling, responsiveness, and general gameplay feel of the control scheme must be well polished for this kind of game to succeed.”
- “Unfortunately, this is something the developer seems to have phoned in, with little to no apparent gameplay testing.”
- “Some puzzles rely on mechanics that can feel unintuitive at first, occasionally leading to moments of frustration where the solution seems unclear.”
music
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
48%
8%
The music in the game is characterized by an upbeat chiptune soundtrack that enhances the adventurous atmosphere and complements the charming pixel art. While many players appreciate its nostalgic appeal and immersive qualities, some note that the limited variety leads to repetitive loops that can become fatiguing during extended play sessions. Overall, the soundtrack is well-received for its catchy and atmospheric qualities, despite occasional audio bugs and looping issues.
- “Blending steampunk aesthetics with detailed pixel art and an immersive chiptune soundtrack, the game serves as a heartfelt homage to classic amiga-era titles, while also introducing modern twists that make it feel fresh and unique.”
- “The chiptune soundtrack enhances immersion, adding rhythm and personality to the world.”
- “Utterly gorgeous little pixel game with a sublime and fitting soundtrack.”
- “The soundtrack, while charming, may begin to feel repetitive.”
- “The music tends to repeat itself.”
- “The music/sound in the game was on par, but did get a bit grating on the ears sometimes.”
graphics
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
63%
9%
The graphics of Pocket Kingdom feature a charming pixel-art aesthetic inspired by amiga-era games, infused with steampunk elements that enhance the visual experience. While some players appreciate the handcrafted feel and nostalgic appeal, others criticize the low resolution and lack of modern graphical options, which can detract from visual clarity. Overall, the game's retro style and accompanying chiptune soundtrack create an immersive atmosphere, though opinions on the quality of the graphics vary significantly.
- “The visual style of Pocket Kingdom leans heavily into a pixel-art aesthetic reminiscent of Amiga-era games, with a steampunk influence shaping the appearance of machinery, devices, and architectural elements scattered throughout the island.”
- “Blending steampunk aesthetics with detailed pixel art and an immersive chiptune soundtrack, the game serves as a heartfelt homage to classic Amiga-era titles, while also introducing modern twists that make it feel fresh and unique.”
- “A surprisingly deep and challenging puzzle game wrapped in one of my favorite pixel art aesthetics to come out in the last few years.”
- “Visual clarity can sometimes suffer due to the game’s retro art style, making certain interactive objects blend into the environment.”
- “A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel 'art' as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
36%
21%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its nostalgic and whimsical qualities, effectively blending sights and sounds to create an engaging indie puzzle experience. Players appreciate the unique, floating world and its intriguing lore, complemented by charming pixel art and a fitting soundtrack, despite some technical issues. Overall, the game's atmosphere is described as immersive and inviting, making it a standout feature that enhances the overall enjoyment.
- “Nonetheless, the pairing of sights and sounds builds an atmosphere that feels both nostalgic and whimsical, anchoring the game’s identity firmly in the indie puzzle tradition.”
- “Unique atmosphere: a floating world that begs to be explored.”
- “I also loved the game world, its characters, the lore of the place, the art style, etc... the atmosphere is top notch for such a simple looking 2D puzzler and I found myself wanting to learn more about the game world and its strange inhabitants.”
- “The low-res graphics may put off at first, but soon gets accepted as a reasonable ingredient of the atmosphere.”
- “There's a simplicity to it that made me nostalgic for the games I played when I was younger, and its puzzles and its mysterious atmosphere held my attention during the 7 hours it took to complete it.”
- “A great, small puzzle platformer that does a fantastic job (for its size) of creating a sense of atmosphere.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its humorous premise and charming characters, with NPCs providing cryptic yet funny hints that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the blend of surreal humor and engaging puzzles, creating a relaxing atmosphere suitable for family enjoyment. Overall, the humor is described as a delightful complement to the game's intriguing narrative and design.
- “The game begins with a humorous yet intriguing premise: a financially troubled photographer is hired to document a sleeping god located somewhere in a fragmented, floating island kingdom suspended among the clouds.”
- “NPCs provide cryptic hints, fragments of world lore, and occasional humor, helping the player piece together the rules of the island while adding personality to the floating kingdom’s eccentric residents.”
- “The game features nice pixel art and chiptune music, well-designed puzzles, charming characters, good humor, and I found it quite fun.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game effectively combines steampunk aesthetics, pixel art, and a chiptune soundtrack to create an immersive atmosphere reminiscent of classic titles, but its story lacks depth and emotional stakes. While the ambiance is engaging, enhancing the narrative with clearer arcs and stronger motivations could elevate the emotional impact of the experience.
- “Blending steampunk aesthetics with detailed pixel art and an immersive chiptune soundtrack, the game serves as a heartfelt homage to classic Amiga-era titles, while also introducing modern twists that make it feel fresh and unique.”
- “The story is more atmospheric than deep—great for setting the tone, but lacking in major narrative arcs or emotional stakes.”
- “Expanding the story—adding a clearer arc or stronger emotional motivation could enhance the experience.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some users praising its smooth performance and efficient resource management, while others report issues such as frame rate drops and long loading times. Overall, the game's optimization appears to vary significantly across different hardware configurations.
- “The optimization in this game is outstanding, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end systems.”
- “I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the performance, making it accessible for a wider range of players.”
- “The game's optimization ensures that I can enjoy high frame rates without sacrificing visual quality.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is marred by frequent audio bugs, with sound effects often cutting out and requiring a restart to resolve the issue. While the music is praised, the overall experience is hindered by these technical problems.
- “The music is very good, but the audio is buggy; sound effects often stop working, and the only solution is to restart the game.”
- “The game is plagued with bugs.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of Pocket Kingdom has been criticized as a cash grab by mobile developers, with users expressing frustration over its low quality and the influx of similar retro platformers on Steam, which they believe detracts from the overall gaming experience.
- “Pocket Kingdom is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it were a real PC game (it's not). It's a cash grab from greedy mobile developers. This mobile app is yet another of literally thousands of 2D retro platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
Players find the game offers significant replayability due to the challenge of certain rooms and the incentive to collect all items and diary entries, as well as explore alternate solutions. This encourages multiple playthroughs to fully experience the content.
- “I had more difficulty than I would have expected in a couple of rooms, and I've gained more replay value than I anticipated from trying to collect all the items and diary entries, as well as exploring alternate solutions for some of the rooms.”
- “I had more difficulty than I would have expected in a couple of rooms and have gotten more replay value than I anticipated from trying to collect all the items and diary entries, as well as exploring alternate solutions for some of the rooms.”