Flat Kingdom is created by Fat Panda Games, it’s a 2D platformer which consists of you playing as the main hero which is a blob off to save the princess and recover the magic jewels which restores the peace to the lands. You can purchase the game on Steam for $8.
STORY
The story for the game is about a thief that steals the magical jewels and princess from the King. Unfortunately without the king having the magic jewels in his possession means that all the lands will be corrupted and filled with monsters destroying the peace. The King becomes very upset and gets his best knight which happens to be a blob. Not a human or any other kind of warrior but a simple blob to get the job done.
GAMEPLAY
Now, this is where the game shines its best. Flat Kingdom is a 2D platformer which means you are going to have to solve puzzles, learn enemy attacks, and try your very best not to get hurt because you will die a lot and the checkpoints are very far away. There is a twist however, you are not playing just a plain old blob, this blob can transform into three different types of blobs each with its own unique abilities and utilities. Blob can turn into a square, circle, or triangle. In this game to defeat your enemies you must turn into the opposite shape of your opponent. It is crucial that you memorize which shape defeats the other shapes for example, “circle beats square, triangle beats circle, and square beats triangle.” This is what makes the game very challenging because you are doing everything in the moment and need to be quick on your reflex to turn into the right shape or else you’ll get hurt. You can also find upgrades for your unique forms that will let you do some cool new moves for example for the triangle shape while you are running you can jump and it turns you into a ninja star. The game is very trial and error base, you may die twenty times in a level to finally understand how everything works and then eventually become pro. I got my butt handed to me in this game and I’ve played a lot of 2D platformers in my days.
As much as I got destroyed completely I wanted to overcome the game and beat the level at any cost. This game does not hold your hand the checkpoints are very far away and you will be lucky if you find health while you are traversing through the level. You can also collect coins in the game to upgrade your lives, this is the only currency that the coins will do for in the game. It’s 200 coins for one upgrade though so unfortunately it’s not that easy to collect that many.
Let’s talk about the boss fights. Each area has a unique boss that has to do with its setting for example there was a water section and the end boss was a killer whale. These boss fights are NOT easy, I repeat NOT easy. You will be scratching your head and question every little thing in confusion because there is just so much going on but it was not a nuisance. Each boss fight was very unique right after the other, I felt like I was playing Dark Souls 2D edition because of the unique ways each boss would try to kill me.
Lastly, let’s talk about how each level can be insanely infuriating due to a lot going on in the levels. Since every new level has its own theme means the threat level is increased each time. The game got a lot harder the more I progressed which was great but be prepared for everything and anything to try and kill you. There are so many traps and the AI is just brutal.
GRAPHICS
As you can see already the game has a very distinct art style. There is just so many things going on in the background that it’s hard to take it all in. I was glad to see that the game was very colorful and vibrant, it was cool to see it stay like that throughout the game. I feel like everything was drawn so well that it was a joy to just stand still and watch what is going on around me. I was excited to move onto the next level to see what they had in store for me next. Attention to detail is also very crucial but this game had it all especially when it came to the boss battles. Each boss had a distinct look too as well, I did not feel like I was seeing any rehash or recycled animations which was great.
SOUND
There is not too much to talk about here when it comes to the sound for the game. The soundtrack was not really anything memorable or catchy. Just your standard tone with sounds of the enemies going on with it. Kind of wish they implemented a cool original sound track for this game because it really would have fit and made the game more memorable.
SUMMARY
Flat Kingdom is an awesome 2D platformer that will have you at the edge of your seat the entire time making you hope that you’ll just make that jump or hit the enemy in the right spot. With a unique art style and challenging boss fights you couldn’t ask for anything more. It improves on the formula which has been around for so long and pays a good homage to games like Super Mario and so much more.
PROS
- Unique boss fights
- Challenging game play
- Original art style
- Changes up the usual formula
CONS
- No original sound track
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlatKingdom
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/flatkingdom
lebron
They do have original soundtrack by manami Matsumae
Kion Karimi
Hello there! Allow me to explain what I meant by no original soundtrack. As I stated under SOUND I wrote, “There is not too much to talk about here when it comes to the sound for the game. The soundtrack was not really anything memorable or catchy. Just your standard tone with sounds of the enemies going on with it. Kind of wish they implemented a cool original sound track for this game because it really would have fit and made the game more memorable.” I understand someone still made a track but it was nothing that was catchy or memorable that was all 🙂