I can’t remember the last time I spent over 10 hours on a demo. But Super Fantasy Kingdom hits all the right spots when it comes to the satisfying elements of a roguelite, and I can’t wait for the complete version of the game to sink another 10s of hours into.
Super Fantasy Kingdom, developed by Feryaz Beer and published by Hooded Horse, is a roguelite city-builder with a retro visual style, satisfying progression systems, simple yet strategic combat, and a highly replayable gameplay loop. Even in its demo version, I played for 10 hours. While the main gameplay elements in Super Fantasy Kingdom are fleshed out, much of the unlockable content is missing from the demo and the balance can use some polish. But overall, it’s a demo worth trying while we wait for the release version.
We play as a king trying to reestablish his ruined kingdom. We have a hero defending our kingdom while we build a settlement, gather resources, and expand our territory. As we gather more resources and unlock more of the world, we can recruit more heroes to help us defend against the monsters that attack us every night. We need to feed our heroes so they can heal and gain experience, and recruit more soldiers.
The gameplay loop of Super Fantasy Kingdom is simple. We gather resources, build more structures and produce more food, recruit more and better defenders to help us progress through harder challenges, and then repeat. In the beginning, we only have a few available construction plots, but by killing monsters and getting higher scores we can expand our kingdom to build more buildings. and the expanded territories that we unlock, are persistent through runs, giving us a better chance of success as we keep playing.
As we progress further into Super Fantasy Kingdom, the goal becomes to gather certain resources in a limited time so we can buy valuable resources and powerful heroes from visiting merchants that visit on certain days. We can also try and beat the game in harder difficulties to unlock more territory for our future runs.
During my time playing the demo, I didn’t feel a lack of goals or progression, which is crucial for a successful roguelite game. The main drawbacks of the demo were that some of the unlockable heroes were not available, and that the balance and progression could sometimes make the game feel too grindy.
The visual design of Super Fantasy Kingdom is very charming and reminiscent of classic RPGs. The top-down view, simple pixel art and animations, and the colorful theme enhance the visual experience of the game without distracting from the fun gameplay.
The music is relaxing but can get repetitive, and while the sound effects are fitting to the overall atmosphere of Super Fantasy Kingdom, the occasional voice-overs are a little immersion-breaking. There isn’t anything offensively bad about the sound design of the game, but it also didn’t stop me from putting on some music of my own to vibe with the game.
I enjoyed my time with Super Fantasy Kingdom, and I’m now left with an existential dilemma. Should I continue playing the incomplete version of the game or wait for it to be properly released? As a demo, Super Fantasy Kingdom far exceeded my expectations and I anxiously await its full release.
Nima played the demo of Super Fantasy Kingdom on PC with a provided demo code.
