Kingdom: New Lands Critic Reviews

Kingdom: New Lands is the same survival simulation game you'll find on Steam, but it feels even more at home on the Nintendo Switch. While the lack of tutorial and clearly defined goals can potentially lead to frustration and some difficult first starts, Kingdom's simple controls lead you right into an incredibly engrossing game. The gorgeous pixel graphics shine on the Switch's screen, and the changing of day to night, and summer to fall is not only visually stunning, it's an ever present reminder that winter is coming. Based upon the principle that nothing lasts, with each new game Kingdom asks: How long can your crown survive?

I have immensely enjoyed my time with Kingdom: New Lands. The set up of randomly generated island variations makes every playthrough both exciting and scary, and the feeling of branching out and fortifying your base is very satisfying. This is not a very action-heavy game, but more a dynamic adventure with the highs of triumph and the lows of defeat all wrapped up in a beautiful simulation game. With a great challenge, subtle and organic strategy and a gorgeous presentation, Kingdom: New Lands brings an excellent title to the Switch, one you won't want to miss.

Kingdom: New Lands is a great experience. At a first glance, it looks like a kingdom management game with a very simple gameplay premise; carefully built with an astonishing beautiful pixel art style. Under its subtle design philosophy, though, lies a deep experience that is both frustrating and fascinating.

A deceptively simple idea that can become laboured and bewildering as well as oddly compelling, Kingdom: New Lands is certainly a curious take on the strategy genre. Its ambiguous, incredibly minimalistic nature will initially intrigue and could easily frustrate in equal measure. Fans of roguelikes or tower defence-style games may prefer more complexity, as the simple mechanics give you control over choices rather than actions and rely on astute observation and perseverance, rather than on skill or improvisation. There is a balance to learn and a set of rules to be discovered, but even with the admittedly gorgeous aesthetic - and progressing beyond the initial stages to where the dilemma of ambition over security ramps up - it may still not be enough of a pay off to reward your time. Definitely one to consider, albeit carefully.

When it hits those lows, it's not unplayable, but it's dang close. I'm more apt to put it down after a particularly choppy run, but I still find myself coming back to it after a while. Despite its technical flaws, I still want to see all of the different areas, and learn all of their secrets.

Kingdom: New Lands may look impressive and feature a very immersive sound component but the game's limits become visible early on, when its simplicity turns more into an obstacle than an asset. The feeling of repetitiveness also becomes dominant early on, which doesn't contribute for an experience that at first seems to set the stage for something grand and ambitious.