Vacant Kingdom
- February 22, 2019
- shru
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Vacant Kingdom" is a challenging, top-down action-adventure game set in a dark, desolate world. As the lone warrior, players must navigate treacherous environments, battles against grotesque creatures, and uncover the mysteries of the abandoned kingdom. With limited resources and restored health, each decision made is crucial to survival, offering a thrilling and immersive experience.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- The game features a charming art style, witty dialogue, and engaging puzzles that keep players entertained.
- It offers a good balance of challenge with adjustable difficulty settings, making it accessible for both new and experienced players.
- The bullet hell mechanics are well-executed, providing a fun and rewarding gameplay experience, especially during boss fights.
- The demo is relatively short and may leave players wanting more content, as it is not a complete game yet.
- Some players find the overall difficulty to be quite high, which can be frustrating, especially for those new to the bullet hell genre.
- There are technical issues reported, such as freezing on startup and problems with controller compatibility.
- humor23 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is widely praised, featuring hilarious dialogue, clever writing, and charming characters that enhance the overall experience. Many reviewers draw comparisons to titles like Undertale and Deltarune, highlighting the balance of humor with challenging gameplay and engaging puzzles. Overall, the humor is described as a standout aspect that keeps players entertained and invested throughout their journey.
“Great humor, great art, great puzzles, and great gameplay.”
“It has everything from hilarious dialogue to challenging boss fights, fun puzzles, eerie settings, and wonderful characters.”
“I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, I cried again, I kept laughing and crying for sixteen hours like an ouroboros of joy.”
- gameplay20 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally praised for its solid mechanics, challenging puzzles, and engaging humor, with many reviewers highlighting its blend of RPG and bullet hell elements. While some found the difficulty to be quite high, the overall experience is described as fun and rewarding, with intuitive controls and charming artwork enhancing the gameplay. Despite a few criticisms regarding visuals and linear progression, the attention to detail and clever writing contribute to a positive reception.
“Great humor, great art, great puzzles, and great gameplay.”
“There is so much attention to detail, the developers' sense of humor is great, and the gameplay is really good.”
“The core gameplay is solid and challenging, but not in a way that makes you want to quit after two attempts.”
“Gameplay is on par with the godawfully bad visuals and general poor delivery of this demo.”
“It's linear gameplay where you try to progress from A to B to C until you finish the game.”
“The difficulty is legit too; I beat everything on hard minus the last boss. The bouncing mechanic, plus not being able to see the full floor without dragging the camera down and running into bullets you can barely see, was too much and frustrating for me. Props to the people who get it though; I had to do it on easy.”
- music11 mentions
- 73 % positive mentions
- 9 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
Overall, the music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players find it enjoyable and atmospheric, others describe it as generic or underwhelming during key moments like battles. Many appreciate the music's contribution to the overall experience, particularly in enhancing the game's charm and fun gameplay. However, there are notable criticisms regarding its lack of impact in certain scenarios, especially during intense bullet hell sequences.
“It's an awesome game, super fun, I enjoyed every puzzle, boss fights, music, and the cute characters and their conversations.”
“Very fun demo for an upcoming bullet-hell game with witty dialogue, smooth controls, and nice music.”
“The game looks very pleasant, has phenomenal music, and the atmosphere it creates is quite nice.”
“The bullet hell battles were decent, though the music during the battles was underwhelming.”
“Annoying music”
- story11 mentions
- 73 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The story has received mixed feedback, with some players finding it uninteresting or incomplete, likely due to it being a snippet from a larger game. However, many others appreciate the engaging characters, humor, and art style, expressing excitement for the full release and potential future developments. Overall, while there are concerns about the current state of the story, the foundation appears promising and enjoyable for many players.
“Also has some mind-boggling puzzles and a great story - can't wait for the full game!”
“The story is just lovely with an art style that really fits the atmosphere of the game.”
“So I really enjoyed the game; the dialogue between characters is funny, the game plays super smoothly, and its story is interesting. Can't wait to see the full release.”
“The story feels disjointed and lacks a coherent flow.”
“Character development is shallow, making it hard to connect with anyone.”
“The plot twists are predictable and fail to engage the player.”
- graphics11 mentions
- 55 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players criticizing the use of retro pixel art as outdated, while others appreciate the cute artwork and fitting art style that enhances the game's atmosphere. Overall, the visuals are described as charming and well-integrated with the gameplay, contributing positively to the overall experience.
“Art style looks good.”
“I really love the vibe and the art style.”
“The story is just lovely with an art style that really fits the atmosphere of the game.”
“They chose to use obsolete retro pixel art as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
“Gameplay is on par with the godawfully bad visuals and general poor delivery of this demo.”
- atmosphere5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is a captivating blend of cute dialogue and a lonely ambiance, enhanced by stunning visuals and exceptional music. It successfully combines charming elements with a touch of mystique, creating a well-executed world lore that invites exploration and curiosity. Overall, players find the atmosphere to be both pleasant and engaging, making it a standout feature of the game.
“The game looks very pleasant, has phenomenal music, and the atmosphere it creates is quite nice.”
“The atmosphere feels great with both cute elements and a bit of mystique.”
“I feel that the atmosphere and world lore in this game is uncommonly well-executed; I strongly recommend giving this game a shot if you're a curious kind of person.”
- emotional3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its charming and wholesome nature, evoking a wide range of emotions from laughter to tears throughout the gameplay. Its engaging music, well-designed bosses, and varying difficulty levels contribute to an emotionally rich experience that keeps players invested for hours.
“This game is charming and wholesome.”
“A very wholesome, witty bullet hell with excellent music, well-made bosses, and varying difficulties to make the game increasingly more challenging.”
“I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, I cried again; I kept laughing and crying for sixteen hours like an ouroboros of joy.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, including frequent freezes during startup and gameplay, which hinder the overall experience. While the game is enjoyable when functioning properly, these technical problems can be frustrating and detract from the enjoyment.
“It freezes when I start it up, and nothing I've done will fix it. It's really fun if you can get it to work. I got stuck at the weird tomb boss at the hotel where I saved.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to progress. I've lost hours of gameplay due to these stability issues.”
“I experience constant lag and random shutdowns, which ruins the overall experience. It's frustrating to deal with these technical problems.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization of the game is criticized for being misleadingly labeled as "free" on Steam, as it primarily serves as a low-quality advertisement or demo, leading users to feel it is not worth their time or investment.
“While this is misleadingly positioned on Steam as a 'free' game, it's really just an advertisement/demo of very poor quality, and not worth wasting the time adding to your library.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers praise the character design and movement mechanics, highlighting their quality and effectiveness. However, some users noted minor navigation challenges within the game world.
“The character design and the way the movement works is great; I didn't really find anything to complain about, other than it was a little hard for me to find one of the areas.”
