Roam freely through a huge open world full with dangers, ancient secrets and adventure. An old-school action-RPG with a challenging environment, tough choices and a unique setting. Explore, fight, make friends and enemies... and above all, Roleplay!
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I’ve noticed something recently. When someone talks about their favourite or most influential media, it's usually something they've consumed very early on in their encounter with that medium. For example, 4 of my top 5 favourite games (as of writing this) are ones that I played before I started writing these reviews.
As such, I can’t say that Exiled Kingdoms is objectively an amazing game, as my rating would imply. However, I have become oddly attached to it and I very much enjoyed my time with it. It’s very much the opposite of a big-budget title. It’s the closest a one-man team can get to the expansive RPGs we see these days from the AAA scene (like Baldur’s Gate). Exiled Kingdoms tries to have an interesting storyline with many side quests along the way, good combat, and a world with lots of stories to tell.
Does it succeed? Well, it’s a matter of expectations. For me, it did. Even if my view is tainted by nostalgia, I respect the attention and love poured into this game. If you can stomach the low quality of pretty much everything, you will find a fun RPG with 50+ hours of content if you decide to do everything.
Also, the wiki is EXTENSIVE. I have seen AAA games with massive communities that have much less exhaustive wikis. There isn't a single thing you can’t find using it.
𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
The setting is a fairly standard medieval fantasy. There is plenty of world building throughout the game, which manages to set the world of Exiled Kingdoms apart from others with similar settings.
You play as some rando who has been left with a great inheritance by his ancestor, who is also a powerful wizard. The story spirals from there on. It's not the most creative plot, but still, I was invested in the story.
There are also 100 more side quests you can do as well. They don’t fall into the trap of being just fetch quests and are quite varied. Not a single one felt like a copy of another.
𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
It has all the parts of a traditional RPG. You gain exp. by doing quests, exploring, and fighting. After enough exp. you level up and can upgrade your stats and skills. In addition, while doing all those tasks to level up, you will probably find plenty of gear to use.
Quests I talked about already.
Exploration, while being on a 2D plane, is still satisfying, as the map is massive and there are plenty of secrets around and about. One thing I very much like, and I wish more games were like this is the way everything is fixed. Going back to the starter area all enemies will be easy to take down, they won't suddenly be endgame level, just because you are. The same goes for the gear, bad gear is in the low-level areas, the most powerful gear on the other hand is at the endgame area. This gives a feeling of constant progression and makes finding unique weapons worth the hassle.
Combat is very simplistic, but it can be heavily exploited. I played as a warrior, so I was exclusively melee. Normal combat is just standing next to an enemy and holding the attack button until one of you dies. One thing I should mention is the healing. You are given multiple free max health heals, but they can only be used when not in combat. You see where I am going with this. You fight a strong foe until low health, then run away until they deaggro and heal to full health. There are numerous other similar exploits, I found while playing. For me, they are the real combat depth.
𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
The worst part of Exiled Kingdoms. At its best it looks alright, other times the glaring flaws can be seen. For instance, there is an item called a magma axe, which is represented by a normal axe with a flame.jpg background. It’s understandable, you can’t expect everything to be handcrafted in such an ambitious project.
𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
The atmosphere is the kind of generic fantasy adventure.
It’s not the most atmospheric or immersive game, but it does a lot better than most. At least it doesn’t have any elements to pull you out.
𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
Listening back to the soundtrack, it's actually good. I don’t know who made it or whether it was originally for this game. I thought it was just mostly regular medieval music, but It’s a lot more varied and has more personality and charm than I remember. My favourite part is “The Complex”. (I don’t know if that’s the real name, that’s just what I found on YouTube)
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
My profile picture is from this game. His name is Uther Flonwe.
As such, I can’t say that Exiled Kingdoms is objectively an amazing game, as my rating would imply. However, I have become oddly attached to it and I very much enjoyed my time with it. It’s very much the opposite of a big-budget title. It’s the closest a one-man team can get to the expansive RPGs we see these days from the AAA scene (like Baldur’s Gate). Exiled Kingdoms tries to have an interesting storyline with many side quests along the way, good combat, and a world with lots of stories to tell.
Does it succeed? Well, it’s a matter of expectations. For me, it did. Even if my view is tainted by nostalgia, I respect the attention and love poured into this game. If you can stomach the low quality of pretty much everything, you will find a fun RPG with 50+ hours of content if you decide to do everything.
Also, the wiki is EXTENSIVE. I have seen AAA games with massive communities that have much less exhaustive wikis. There isn't a single thing you can’t find using it.
𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
The setting is a fairly standard medieval fantasy. There is plenty of world building throughout the game, which manages to set the world of Exiled Kingdoms apart from others with similar settings.
You play as some rando who has been left with a great inheritance by his ancestor, who is also a powerful wizard. The story spirals from there on. It's not the most creative plot, but still, I was invested in the story.
There are also 100 more side quests you can do as well. They don’t fall into the trap of being just fetch quests and are quite varied. Not a single one felt like a copy of another.
𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
It has all the parts of a traditional RPG. You gain exp. by doing quests, exploring, and fighting. After enough exp. you level up and can upgrade your stats and skills. In addition, while doing all those tasks to level up, you will probably find plenty of gear to use.
Quests I talked about already.
Exploration, while being on a 2D plane, is still satisfying, as the map is massive and there are plenty of secrets around and about. One thing I very much like, and I wish more games were like this is the way everything is fixed. Going back to the starter area all enemies will be easy to take down, they won't suddenly be endgame level, just because you are. The same goes for the gear, bad gear is in the low-level areas, the most powerful gear on the other hand is at the endgame area. This gives a feeling of constant progression and makes finding unique weapons worth the hassle.
Combat is very simplistic, but it can be heavily exploited. I played as a warrior, so I was exclusively melee. Normal combat is just standing next to an enemy and holding the attack button until one of you dies. One thing I should mention is the healing. You are given multiple free max health heals, but they can only be used when not in combat. You see where I am going with this. You fight a strong foe until low health, then run away until they deaggro and heal to full health. There are numerous other similar exploits, I found while playing. For me, they are the real combat depth.
𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
The worst part of Exiled Kingdoms. At its best it looks alright, other times the glaring flaws can be seen. For instance, there is an item called a magma axe, which is represented by a normal axe with a flame.jpg background. It’s understandable, you can’t expect everything to be handcrafted in such an ambitious project.
𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
The atmosphere is the kind of generic fantasy adventure.
It’s not the most atmospheric or immersive game, but it does a lot better than most. At least it doesn’t have any elements to pull you out.
𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
Listening back to the soundtrack, it's actually good. I don’t know who made it or whether it was originally for this game. I thought it was just mostly regular medieval music, but It’s a lot more varied and has more personality and charm than I remember. My favourite part is “The Complex”. (I don’t know if that’s the real name, that’s just what I found on YouTube)
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
My profile picture is from this game. His name is Uther Flonwe.