Alexx Aplin
Alexx AplinBack in 2015, developer IronOak Games kickstarted a little project called For the King. After said success, they went on to launch a two-year Early Access campaign, which led to a full release on Steam back in April of 2018. Now, over a year later, For the King has made its way to the Nintendo Switch, offering a unique experience for fans of tabletop games and traditional RPGs.
For the King is a strategic, rogue-like RPG that blends traditional JRPG combat with procedurally generated events, maps, and a whole slew of strategic elements to manage. The premise is simple. After the sudden murder of their king, the Kingdom of Fahrul finds itself embroiled in a chaotic struggle. The Queen finds herself enlisting citizens of her kingdom to stem the tide in their favor, and it is up to you (and a few friends possibly) to aid the kingdom.
The great thing about For the King is that every run is unique. Thanks to procedural generation mechanics, everything such as quests, encounters, and map generation is entirely unique each time. You build a party (of classes that you unlock over time) either in single-player, local co-op, or online co-op, to explore the map and defeat the forces of chaos.
Interestingly, this leads to some strategic questions. Do you split your party up to cover more ground, risking death? Or do you stay together to give your people a higher chance of victory, while minimizing the damage taken? This is just one of many strategic decisions you’ll have to make. For example, gold is not shared between your party members, so you’ll have to make sure that prior to doing any adventuring your people are geared up properly.
There is also the matter of managing your time and resources properly. Do you do every side quest given to you? Or do you risk missing out on rewards, so that you have plenty of resources to take on the challenges of main quests? As someone who loves side quests and the freedom to choose, this is the sort of thing I thrive on.
There are also random events that pop up on the map from time to time. Some are random surprises, and others are clearly labeled. They may end up being good or bad, but either way, there is plenty of variety involved. The map of For the King is laid out in a hexagonal grid of “hexes” on which enemies, cities, dungeons, and other resources are spread out.
Your characters (of which you can have 3) can occupy different hexes, and ranged characters can attack from a hex away, while melee characters must be in closer proximity. When a character crosses through an enemy controlled hex, it initiates combat, which takes place in a turn-based scenario like normal RPGs. You also have other options, like sneaking past enemies, ambushing them, or retreating from the hex outright.
In combat, your characters and enemies alternate based on the turn-order. Each character has a variety of abilities to utilize in combat, however, they all have varying success rates. This is where focus comes in. Focus is a resource that allows you to increase your success rate on abilities. Each character has a limited amount of focus though, so you need to replenish it outside of battle with consumables, camping, or at various towns.
There is one big concept you have to be concerned about as you play. Chaos is a mechanic that slowly rises across your gameplay session. By dismantling Chaos shrines or completing side quests, you can lower the chaos level in Fahrul. If the Chaos meter fills, it is a big problem. A giant Chaos beast will chase you, and your characters will take damage every turn. There is also a similar mechanic in certain levels called The Great Flood, where the Sea King must be defeated before the flood meter fills.
You also have to be mindful of weather conditions such as cold wintry areas, due to them dealing damage at the end of turns. However, this can be avoided by staying at camps or inns in order to stay warm, etc. There are all sorts of things to explore, such as dungeon areas, which must be completed as a full party.
If a character dies along the way, you can revive them by using points from the Life Pool. Replenishing the Life Pool can be achieved by utilizing Chaos Shrines, finding Fairy Fountains, or taking on special quests. Your characters can also be geared up with weapons, armor, and consumables, which are uniquely suited to specific classes.
The Nintendo Switch version of For the King contains all the expansion content released on Steam, as well as multiple difficulty levels for various types of player. Personally, I enjoy playing on the easiest difficulty (which is by no means simple) because I like the opportunity to take it slow. You can also set “House Rules” which allow you to adjust the difficulty further, but cap your Lore Rewards (which we will get to later) at 50% and lock a few achievements.
The difficulty levels adjust things like the frequency that Chaos rises, as well as how far the economy in-game inflates, raising prices on goods and services. Enemy health and your Life Pool is also adjusted by the difficulty you play on. Additionally, (as previously referenced) difficulty levels adjust the amount of “Lore points” you acquire while playing. Lore points are used on the main menu in the Lore Store, to purchase unlockable classes, events, gear, and more.
Before I get into the upsides and downsides of For the King, I really want to impress a warning on any potential purchasers of this game. The color palette is bright, but in docked mode, the UI is very small. This can cause a lot of eye-strain, and as someone with chronic migraines, I couldn’t sit down to play this for very long in a sitting without taking regular breaks.
Additionally, you should know that For the King is very unforgiving, regardless of the difficulty you choose. It often feels like playing a round of Dungeons and Dragons where your Dungeon Master is the Jigsaw Killer, just eager to add insult to injury when your party is struggling. With that being said, the game does have some fun aspects to it once you get past the early game, and can really sink your teeth into things.
Overall, I would say that For the King was done very well for a game that originally was made for PC. The controls are solid (though the UI does cause issues) and all the information you need is clearly detailed, even if the lettering is very small. My main issues lie with the steep difficulty spikes (common in rogue-like games) and the size of the font and interface.
However, if you are a fan of difficult tactics and strategy-driven adventures, this might be up your alley. This is even easier to recommend if you want to play co-op with friends and/or family. With the amount of content in the game (expansions included) I would easily say that if any of these things tickle your fancy then For the King is well worth your money.
A Nintendo Switch Review Copy of For the King was provided by Curve Digital for this review.
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🔥651For the King
$34.99 USD
Pros
- Tactical Strategic Gameplay
- A Variety of Difficulty Levels
- Fun Alone or with Friends
- Immense Amount of Content
- Simple Controls
Cons
- Difficulty Spikes
- UI is Very Small
- Can Cause Migraines in TV Mode
