I recently spent around an hour playing Kingdom’s Return: Time-Eating Fruit and the Ancient Monster on the PlayStation 5 Pro, thanks to a review copy from INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
You can check out my gameplay below:
Below, are my first impressions for this 2D action JRPG:
Pros:
- Fun 2D combat that is deceptively deep.
- Nostalgic graphics and soundtrack.
- Base building adds a nice twist to character building.
Cons:
- Very little exploration.
Overall:
Kingdom’s Return: Time-Eating Fruit and the Ancient Monster is a 2D action-RPG with a little bit of base building. While rebuilding the kingdom is simple, it does add a nice twist when it comes to character building since your actions will affect your stats.
At first, the combat in Kingdom’s Return seems overly simple, especially during normal encounters. However, it becomes deeper as you unlock more helpful skills. Of course, the bosses are the biggest highlights and will certainly test your skills.
To round out the positives, the game has a great nostalgic presentation. The 2D sprites and soundtrack reminds me of the classic 16-bit and 32-bit JRPGs.
The only real negative in Kingdom’s Return is the lack of any meaningful exploration. The kingdom you are building is sadly nothing but static screens. The dungeons are nothing more than combat stages. While you can explore a little on the overworld map, you can only move through one small area at the time.
If you don’t mind the lack of exploration, then Kingdom’s Return: Time-Eating Fruit and the Ancient Monster is a pretty good action-RPG worth checking out, especially if you are fans of games like Act Raiser and Monster Boy.