Mini-Review | Monarchy - A Special Announcement
Originally, this was going to be a review of Monarchy. I had actually played and reviewed a pretty similar game recently, Thronefall, so I was happy I’d get into an experience that might be as engaging as that. Unfortunately, this throne isn’t worth ascending to. I’m not one to give up easily, but I wasn’t able to make ANY progress, as, by day seven or eight, your base will be compromised no matter what. Not helping matters, is that the tutorial is vague and doesn’t even ‘end’.
What I imagine is supposed to happen in Monarchy is that your regal, horsebound figure is to recruit the people of the land who are in tatters and living in what could generously be called a hut by throwing coin at them, and expanding your divinely-attested land while defending it from night raids of bandits. I say ‘imagine’ with an emphasis as you’re given no direction besides the titles of the three scenarios: Bandit Land, The Siege, and Winter Knight. Even upgrading is a mystery as sometimes you’re given a choice between two pictures that are more vague than IKEA instructions. But, regardless if you choose between ‘5 suns and circus tent’ or ‘more beggars’, your game will end shortly with almost no indication of ‘why’. As far as I could tell, the only way to lose was having your Monarch killed or your Monarch’s tent destroyed, but I received quite a few game over screens without knowing where exactly I went wrong. I have to expand my base to prepare for more bandits, and to expand my base I need coin. Coin comes from wild animals being killed or opposing forces. The problem is, you’re a very hands-on monarch - you must risk the royal lineage by venturing out yourself to expand your territory and collect gathered coin from your constituents. This catch-22 puts your base at risk as if you don’t make it back to your base at night, it will most likely be destroyed, resulting in a game over. While I can appreciate a hands-on leader, I feel like the history books won’t look too kindly on this unnamed dynasty.
To reiterate, I wasn’t able to make any progress even though this appears to be a short game. I am a bit sad that the game where you throw money at peasants didn’t turn out to be better, but there is good news. If you really are set on a game like this, Kingdom Classic is currently free on Steam. Were these two switched at birth? I’ll leave that for the tabloids to sort out.
