Rising Kingdoms

About

In Rising Kingdoms, players engage in strategic city-building and real-time battles across a medieval fantasy world. Choose from multiple kingdoms, each with unique strengths and weaknesses, and manage resources, technology, and diplomacy to gain an edge over opponents. Join forces with friends in alliances, conquer territories, and defend your kingdom to rise to power.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
PvP Player versus Player - Fight against other players in real-time, often in arena-style combat
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 91 reviews

story4 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

Rising Kingdoms is a nostalgic classic that offers a unique gameplay experience with interesting mechanics like glory points and colony control.
The game features excellent sound design and voice acting, along with charming graphics that, while outdated, still evoke fond memories.
It has a dedicated community and offers a variety of campaigns and missions, making it a fun experience for RTS fans, especially those who enjoyed similar games like Warcraft 3.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, which can significantly hinder the gameplay experience.
It lacks modern quality-of-life features such as widescreen support and online multiplayer, making it feel outdated compared to contemporary RTS games.
The AI and mission design can be repetitive and unbalanced, leading to frustrating gameplay moments, especially in the campaign.

story
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
72%
12%
The game's story features a total of 30 campaign missions across three factions, but reviews indicate that the narrative is often considered lackluster and filled with plot holes. While the game boasts appealing music, voice acting, and visuals, many players find the missions repetitive and the overall storyline unengaging, leading to a mixed reception regarding its storytelling quality. Despite its nostalgic charm and solid mechanics, the story fails to captivate, making it difficult for some players to stay invested.
- “An old but nice game with a great story base, music, voice acting, and visuals.”
- “Rising Kingdoms did make a stand for 2D RTS in 2005, while it had good game mechanics and a nice story, the graphics technology was way ahead.”
- “The story is okay, and the building mode is good too.”
- “The storyline of the campaigns (at least, the one for humans) isn't exactly talented.”
- “I stopped playing at mission 8 of the human campaign (on hard) because I was constantly doing the same thing and fighting against repetitive respawns.”
- “It's an ok game in its visuals, but I have had a bug where if I reload the third human mission when I lose, the loading screen image covers the screen and I have to close the game to fix it.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and variety, featuring a marvelous soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. Many reviewers highlight its catchy tunes and impressive sound design, although some note that certain tracks may not perfectly align with the medieval fantasy setting. Overall, the music is considered a standout aspect, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “Oh, and the music is simply priceless.”
- “The game has a really interesting soundtrack and great sprite work.”
- “On the other hand, I don't think the voice acting or the music has aged poorly.”
- “Let's move on to the music; I found it quite catchy, and there's not much else to say about it.”
- “The soundtrack alone is worth it; some banger tunes in this.”
gameplay
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The gameplay of Rising Kingdoms has received mixed reviews, with some players criticizing it for being uninspired and derivative, borrowing heavily from titles like Warcraft 3 and Celtic Kings. However, others appreciate its unique mechanics of recruiting independent colonies and the overall fun factor, despite acknowledging its age and lower resolution graphics. Overall, while the game offers enjoyable strategic elements, it lacks originality in its core mechanics.
- “Unique gameplay: the game's idea is simply to attack independent colonies and force them to join your side, then attack the main enemy with your new army, which is a mixture of your soldiers and the colonies' soldiers.”
- “Rising Kingdoms did make a stand for 2D RTS in the year 2005. While it had good game mechanics and a nice story, the graphics technology was way ahead.”
- “Regardless of the low resolution and its age, it's a very beautiful 2D strategic game with fun gameplay, and I recommend it!”
- “Unfortunately, Rising Kingdoms doesn't offer anything beyond colorful graphics and a gameplay system clearly inspired by Warcraft 3.”
- “The few and similar units and the overall mechanics are dull, uninspired, and quite frankly plain.”
- “Some gameplay mechanics were copied from Celtic Kings as is.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The graphics of "Rising Kingdoms" are described as colorful and charming, though notably outdated by modern standards, reflecting its 2005 release. While some players appreciate the visuals for their time, others find them lacking and feel that the game suffers from technical issues, such as bugs and inconsistent unit movement. Overall, the graphics are seen as a mixed bag, with a nostalgic appeal but limited by contemporary expectations.
- “Graphics: 5”
- “The premise and the graphics are good for their time, but overall it is a boring and cheap RTS game.”
- “Rising Kingdoms did make a stand for 2D RTS in the year 2005; while it had good game mechanics and a nice story, the graphics technology was way ahead.”
- “Unfortunately, Rising Kingdoms doesn't offer anything beyond colorful graphics and a gameplay system clearly inspired by Warcraft 3.”
- “The graphics are similarly outdated, though I still think they are charming, and I would not call them bad at all; again, it’s to be expected from 2005.”
- “Graphics are extremely outdated.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Despite being updated to version 1.20, users report significant stability issues, including frequent freezes when continuing campaigns and various bugs that affect gameplay. Overall, the game is described as unbalanced and lacking attention to multiplayer stability, with only minor glitches being tolerable.
- “Even though this version comes with the latest official update (1.20) pre-installed, it's still buggy as heck.”
- “I click 'continue campaign' and the game just freezes.”
- “It's buggy as heck, it's unbalanced, and nobody even cared to fix multiplayer.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game is praised for its excellent optimization, particularly for a title from 2005, as it runs smoothly on Windows 10 without requiring any adjustments. However, there are a couple of minor issues noted by users.
- “Other than those two problems, the game aged really well. It's surprisingly one of those few games from 2005 that doesn't require optimization and works great right off the bat on Windows 10.”