Kingdom of Night Review

As Kingdom of Night opens, we are taken to Miami, Arizona, a quiet desert town in 1987. Our view is from an outlook overlooking the city, when suddenly the moon turns red. We are then taken to the main menu, where we are in a room with a smashed window and a small CRT. This ‘80s-themed isometric action-RPG is a coming-of-age drama mixed with cosmic horror and true love. Developed by Friends of Safety and published by DANGEN Entertainment along with Game Source Entertainment, I was excited to jump into this creepy-looking title.

A mysterious voice asks what they should call you. You can stick with the default, which is John, enter a name, or select “don’t care”. I just stuck with John; the girl’s name was Ophelia, but I changed it to my name, so as per usual, I was sure something bad would happen to her… There are two other characters to name: a teen the game calls Jimmy, and a dark-haired girl, Veronica.

You begin in a classroom with eight students and pensive music playing. Our main character, John, is in detention. What he did to get there, I don’t know, but the teacher says this is where you need to learn from your mistakes, not sleep. A man in a dark cloak walks in — his name is Dr. Mesnard. The teacher doesn’t seem concerned at all; this man is the head of the Friends of Safety organisation. Silly side note: did you notice that this is also the name of the game’s developer?

Apparently, walking around wearing a cloak with the hood up is normal in Miami, AZ. He has important news for everyone at Vandal High School. He reminds them that the old mines are off-limits, and since students have ignored that rule, the existing curfew is changed to 7:00 p.m., effective today. He warns that if you try to violate this, you will be caught and punished. The bell rings, dismissing class, but before you leave, Dr. Mesnard has left souvenirs for the students, so you go up and select which of the three you’d like to take. Souvenirs are accessories that give you an attribute bonus. The shirt gives +1 Guts, the Safety Squad pin +1 Wits, or the beaded key chain +1 Muscle. Your character has one empty weapon slot and three for accessories.

A girl with chin-length pink hair named Strawberry acts as your guide in the game and tells you that you have a Quest to complete. You get these tasks by walking around, checking out objects, and speaking with people. The Quests you currently have can be viewed in your Backpack menu, accessed by pressing up on the D-pad. There is a Notebook here where you can view information for your current character, such as their level, experience points, hit points, and stats for Muscle, Guts, and Wits, which branch off into a variety of things like Defence, Luck, and Stamina. The Backpack also gives you the option to save your game at any point — well, pretty much any time except when you’re in the middle of a battle.

As you explore the city and talk to people, you have multiple responses to select from. Sometimes, when you interact with an object or person, a response option will appear which requires you to have a certain level of Attribute. If your level isn’t high enough, that response will be greyed out. To increase its level, you can equip an accessory or strengthen your character. As you go around talking to people, you learn from one student, Jamie, that the reason for the early curfew is that a “bimbo” cheerleader went missing. No one knows what happened to her, but it seems sketchy. There is some weird stuff going on around here.

Strawberry gives you a crash course on how to attack. When playing with a controller, press the left trigger to enter Combat Stance, and it will lock on to the closest enemy. Once it does, press A to dash or X to use your weapon. If you time it right, you can avoid any damage from the incoming attack. You have a stamina bar that depletes with each dash and recharges slowly, so if the bar is empty, you won’t be able to do anything.

When you leave the school, we see the view over the city, and then we’re at Ophelia’s (Alana’s) house. She comments on how cold it’s getting when suddenly a black creature comes out of the floor. They have a message for her: “The Dark One bids you hello. Long has he hidden, now he’s here!” The creature’s name changes from Black Creature to Abductor.

John has a dream about her and goes to the house to speak with her. When you enter the house, there is a man in a blue cloak standing by the broken window. His name is listed as Gramps, but he looks like a mage. He says the enemy has drawn Alana in for some dark purpose. He tells you to go home and gather everything you might need, then return. You go to the wardrobe in your room; the item you select will determine your fighter type. You can pick between either melee or magic. Once you have what you need from the wardrobe, you are ready to meet up with Gramps.

When you leave the house to go to the tavern, there are monstrous beings on the street. You begin to slow, and Strawberry tells you not to be afraid. Select Keychain to open the Archetype Menu, which shows the paths available for each of the classes, with each one having its own unique abilities and skills. Choose carefully, as you can’t change it until you reach the 10th level. For my playthrough, I selected the Knight.

Now you can fight off the fiends with the weapon you selected. I was using a trusty baseball bat. As you defeat enemies, you gain XP and gold. The world in Kingdom of Night is large, and you can explore freely as you like, but the enemies in some areas are a lot stronger than they were in the beginning, so make sure you do some levelling up before facing these foes, or head to an area with weaker monsters first.

The pixel visuals in Kingdom of Night are great. They aren’t super detailed, but that adds to the mysterious feeling of the game. It’s raining and storming, which gives it an extra creepy vibe. 

As you explore Echo Park, you find wandering zombies to defeat and garbage cans with items that can replenish your health or even weapons like a firewood axe that is stronger than your baseball bat. Oh, and Mordecai shows up looking for Veronica; it certainly seems like they are hunting for the females. He also turns your dog into a werewolf to add to the already freaky night, meaning you have to fight this beast, who was once your pet. It took me multiple tries, but once successful, you see how much EXP you earned, along with the amount of gold and items you acquired.

The story here is fascinating and compelling. Mixed with the creepy music and sound effects, Kingdom of Night is an incredibly suspenseful game. It’s up to you to figure out the intentions of the Friends of Safety organisation and what their motives are. Why are they abducting people and setting curfews to keep the teens in their houses, along with unleashing demonic creatures to attack the innocent residents of this town? My only complaint with Kingdom of Night is that you can’t skip story scenes that you’ve seen multiple times already, like when you die over and over again fighting the werewolf. Mordecai, I’ve heard your speech like ten times already; can we just get to the battle?