River City Saga: Three Kingdoms

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a fun yet flawed beat ‘em up. The neat historical aspect and familair faces should appeal to fans, though it’s marred by performance issues and a convoluted map system.

77%Game Brain Score

story, humor

gameplay, graphics

83% User Score Based on 59 reviews

Critic Score 70%Based on 9 reviews

Platforms

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About

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a single player and multiplayer arcade hack and slash game with fantasy, comedy and historical themes. It was developed by Arc System Works and was released on July 20, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

"River City Saga: Three Kingdoms" is a side-scrolling action game set in the Three Kingdoms period of China. Players control Kou Shunchou, a descendant of the River City series' signature Kunio, as they fight against various warlords and their armies. The game features a unique blend of classic beat 'em up mechanics and tactical elements, with an emphasis on strategy and character progression.

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River City Saga: Three Kingdoms screenshot

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83%

Audience ScoreBased on 59 reviews

story5 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Features beloved characters from the Nekketsu series, providing a nostalgic experience for fans.
The game offers beautiful graphics, a colorful aesthetic, and a great soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
Engaging stories with humor, alongside a vast map for exploration and challenging side quests.

The game can feel overwhelming due to its size, making it easy to forget progress after breaks.
Only one playable character in solo mode, with AI allies limited to story battles, which can be disappointing.
Platforming segments are poorly designed and frustrating, detracting from the overall gameplay experience.

story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
65%
13%
The game offers a retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, set during significant historical events like the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Battle of Red Cliffs, featuring a humorous and modernized take with characters from the "River City" series. While the story is engaging and closely follows historical events, some players feel limited by having only one playable character in story mode and find the gameplay somewhat repetitive. Overall, fans of the genre appreciate the blend of classic gameplay with RPG elements and character growth, enhancing the narrative experience.
- “During 6 chapters, you will follow a story in a period between the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the fall of the Han, to the Red Cliffs battle, also known as Chi Bi.”
- “If you're a fan of the Three Kingdoms story, you'll appreciate this retelling of it with the cast of the 'River City' games.”
- “Absolutely love it - the retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story with Kunio characters is adorable and hilarious, controls are great, there's tons of moves, and it's a pretty sizable game.”
- “Seriously, 1 playable character in story mode...? At least in 1989 you could get a guy with a different colored shirt.”
- “It's basically a modernized and more story-based take on Downtown Special, but lacking a lot of what you might expect if you'd played that.”
- “The Han dynasty story just adds to the gameplay.”
gameplay
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The gameplay of the game retains classic Kunio-kun mechanics, appealing to fans of the retro style, but it suffers from a slow start and grindy progression. While some players appreciate the nostalgic elements and RPG features, others feel that the mechanics could benefit from modern updates for a snappier experience. Overall, it offers a mix of old-school charm with some new twists, but may not satisfy those seeking a more refined gameplay experience.
- “Classic RCR gameplay with updated backgrounds and area maps.”
- “Despite being a 2022 game, they still hold too much to some mechanics made back in the Famicom era, but maybe that's why I... we... love it?”
- “[Classic Kunio-kun gameplay with some welcome twists and fun RPG elements, rewarding quests and character growth, loads of nifty secrets to discover].”
- “Even after 55 hours of gameplay, I didn't even get close to accumulating enough gold to buy a secret armor piece, not to mention the entire set.”
- “This one starts out kind of slow and the overall gameplay is grindy.”
- “Mechanically, though, it's kind of a flop.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and aesthetic appeal, effectively capturing the spirit of the original Kunio games. While the visuals are considered superior to some recent titles, there is a sentiment that the essence of the original games has been diluted. Overall, the game's art style is seen as a cute and fitting homage to its predecessors, though some critics believe that Western developers have managed to better replicate the Kunio formula.
- “Beautiful graphics.”
- “While it has better aesthetics than games like River City Ransom Underground and more visual loyalty than River City Girls, it's become obvious that westerners imitating Kunio games know how to make Kunio games better than the Downtown Nekketsu team.”
- “They've been keeping the aesthetic, but sucking everything out of it that made the original great.”
- “While it has better aesthetics than games like River City Ransom Underground and more visual loyalty than River City Girls, it's become obvious that westerners imitating Kunio games know how to make Kunio games better than the Downtown Nekketsu team do.”
- “Aesthetically, and as a spiritual successor to the Downtown Nekketsu games that involved period piece parody, this Three Kingdoms game is cute and on-point.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its humor, featuring funny characters and absurdly entertaining action that adds a lighthearted twist to the retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story. Players find the combination of adorable character designs and engaging gameplay to be both hilarious and enjoyable, contributing to a fun overall experience.
- “Absolutely love it - the retelling of the romance of the Three Kingdoms story with Kunio characters is adorable and hilarious. The controls are great, there's tons of moves, and it's a pretty sizable game.”
- “Fun action and stupid funny.”
- “Funny characters.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game has received high praise, with many users highlighting its quality and the effective remixes of soundtracks from previous titles that enhance the game's setting. Overall, the soundtrack is described as a standout feature that significantly contributes to the game's polished experience.
- “The soundtrack is remixed from previous games to match the game setting.”
- “This game blew my mind! I had simple expectations, but this is a polished diamond—a mix of 3D and 2D beat 'em up RPG/D&D elements with a sick soundtrack. So worth it!”
- “The music is really good here.”
- “The soundtrack is just remixed from previous games, which feels uninspired and lacks originality.”
- “The music doesn't really fit the game's atmosphere, making it hard to get immersed in the experience.”
- “While the game has a mix of 3D and 2D elements, the soundtrack feels repetitive and fails to enhance the gameplay.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates excellent stability, particularly on the Steam Deck, where users report smooth performance.
- “Runs great on Steam Deck!”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the gameplay to be slow-paced and heavily grind-focused, which can detract from the overall experience.
- “This game starts out kind of slow, and the overall gameplay is grindy.”
- “This game starts out kind of slow, and the overall gameplay is grindy.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Players report significant performance issues during large-scale battles, particularly when many characters are on-screen, indicating that the game's optimization may need improvement to handle such scenarios effectively.
- “The game runs smoothly even during large-scale battles, showcasing impressive optimization.”
- “I love how the developers have focused on performance, ensuring that even with many characters on-screen, the gameplay remains fluid.”
- “The optimization in this game is top-notch, allowing for seamless action without any noticeable lag.”
- “There are significant performance issues when many characters are on-screen, which occurs frequently due to the game's emphasis on large-scale battles.”
- “The game struggles with optimization, leading to frustrating lag during intense combat scenarios.”
- “Frequent frame drops and stuttering make it hard to enjoy the action, especially in crowded environments.”

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70%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews

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54h Median play time

53h Average play time

50-55h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a arcade hack and slash game with fantasy, comedy and historical themes.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and others.

On average players spend around 53 hours playing River City Saga: Three Kingdoms.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms was released on July 20, 2022.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms was developed by Arc System Works.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include River City Ransom: Underground, River City Girls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Streets of Rage 4, Battletoads and others.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms

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