King's Field surprised me in a number of ways. I liked it a lot more than I expected to and it makes up a lot more of the Souls DNA than I expected it to. The experience has quite a few rough edges, getting started can be very difficult, and it never truly feels great to play, but there is a lot here to love.
Let's get the visuals out of the way. King's Field doesn't look very good at all. Everything is super low rez and the textures are perfunctory at best. Most of the environments look like the worst Doom levels, with repeating textures giving you the suggestion of environmental detail without actually delivering it.
NPCs in the game are similarly low rez, though it feels more like a stylistic choice. The lack of any real facial features or personality gives them an ephemeral, dreamlike quality that is reflected and amplified by the minimal explanation for their presence and the way they drift in and out of your quest.
Despite the visuals, the dungeon has a character to it that manages to come through. Soldiers, priests, and gravediggers (robbers?) survive in this hellish underworld alongside helpful fairies and the dead, imprisoned ghosts of powerful mages. The graveyards they inhabit and makeshift barracks, shops, and churches they have established make this place feel like an ancient, haunted tomb being encroached upon by doomed fools. Simple signs and scrawled messages prime your imagination to see eroded grave sites and palaces, rather than simple grey and brown walls.
The time span here is uncertain... your quest feels urgent as you follow your father and his soldiers downwards through the crypt, but also as though this has been going on for untold years -- long decayed bones of past adventurers litter these halls. The lack of detail in the visuals combined with the lack of detail in the narrative leave room for your mind to fill in details of your own as you wander in solitude through this dungeon, searching for a way through its strata to save your father and ultimately, the realm of Verdite itself.
This is a world driven by the promise of power and treasure that lays within this crypt -- a promise that is fulfilled by your character's growth as you plumb its depths. This is one of the more compelling (and Souls-like) aspects of the game. As you play, the strength of your equipment seems to grow exponentially and your familiarity with the (awkward, stiff) controls and (exacting, imprecise) attacks let you cleave easily through enemies that were insurmountable obstacles hours earlier. This is first person melee combat in the style of Elder Scrolls without the weightlessness and unsatisfying results. King's Field gives heft and impact to even the weakest of weapons, forcing you to consider the placement and timing of every swing and relish every solid hit you land. Enemy hit reactions become a precious resource you manage alongside your stamina and magic power, granting you scant moments of safety or interrupting attacks at just the right time as you circle-strafe and lurch in and out of range, looking for your opening. This is a combat system that demands (and rewards) your commitment to its idiosyncrasies.
There is quite a bit of equipment and magic in this game, with some opportunity to define your own style as you go, although by the end, there is basically one choice -- the Moonlight Greatsword. King's Field has an interesting, somewhat hidden system called Sword Magic -- certain weapons can cast spells if you have the right timing and the right stats. This feels deeper than it is, but some of the unique magic is fun to use and mixes things up a bit.
The systemic mystery and complexity mirrors the mystery and complexity of living in and navigating this world, giving the whole experience a cohesion from which you can draw a straight line to From Software's future games.
King's Field is very rough to play. Acclimating yourself to its particular speed and way of doing things is not easy, but can be done. The result is a compelling experience that gives back almost as much as you put into it and rewards persistence and precision as much as it does curiosity and imagination.
Despite its problems, this game is worth breaking into for its own merits, but especially as a spiritual predecessor to some of the best games ever made.
Let's get the visuals out of the way. King's Field doesn't look very good at all. Everything is super low rez and the textures are perfunctory at best. Most of the environments look like the worst Doom levels, with repeating textures giving you the suggestion of environmental detail without actually delivering it.
NPCs in the game are similarly low rez, though it feels more like a stylistic choice. The lack of any real facial features or personality gives them an ephemeral, dreamlike quality that is reflected and amplified by the minimal explanation for their presence and the way they drift in and out of your quest.
Despite the visuals, the dungeon has a character to it that manages to come through. Soldiers, priests, and gravediggers (robbers?) survive in this hellish underworld alongside helpful fairies and the dead, imprisoned ghosts of powerful mages. The graveyards they inhabit and makeshift barracks, shops, and churches they have established make this place feel like an ancient, haunted tomb being encroached upon by doomed fools. Simple signs and scrawled messages prime your imagination to see eroded grave sites and palaces, rather than simple grey and brown walls.
The time span here is uncertain... your quest feels urgent as you follow your father and his soldiers downwards through the crypt, but also as though this has been going on for untold years -- long decayed bones of past adventurers litter these halls. The lack of detail in the visuals combined with the lack of detail in the narrative leave room for your mind to fill in details of your own as you wander in solitude through this dungeon, searching for a way through its strata to save your father and ultimately, the realm of Verdite itself.
This is a world driven by the promise of power and treasure that lays within this crypt -- a promise that is fulfilled by your character's growth as you plumb its depths. This is one of the more compelling (and Souls-like) aspects of the game. As you play, the strength of your equipment seems to grow exponentially and your familiarity with the (awkward, stiff) controls and (exacting, imprecise) attacks let you cleave easily through enemies that were insurmountable obstacles hours earlier. This is first person melee combat in the style of Elder Scrolls without the weightlessness and unsatisfying results. King's Field gives heft and impact to even the weakest of weapons, forcing you to consider the placement and timing of every swing and relish every solid hit you land. Enemy hit reactions become a precious resource you manage alongside your stamina and magic power, granting you scant moments of safety or interrupting attacks at just the right time as you circle-strafe and lurch in and out of range, looking for your opening. This is a combat system that demands (and rewards) your commitment to its idiosyncrasies.
There is quite a bit of equipment and magic in this game, with some opportunity to define your own style as you go, although by the end, there is basically one choice -- the Moonlight Greatsword. King's Field has an interesting, somewhat hidden system called Sword Magic -- certain weapons can cast spells if you have the right timing and the right stats. This feels deeper than it is, but some of the unique magic is fun to use and mixes things up a bit.
The systemic mystery and complexity mirrors the mystery and complexity of living in and navigating this world, giving the whole experience a cohesion from which you can draw a straight line to From Software's future games.
King's Field is very rough to play. Acclimating yourself to its particular speed and way of doing things is not easy, but can be done. The result is a compelling experience that gives back almost as much as you put into it and rewards persistence and precision as much as it does curiosity and imagination.
Despite its problems, this game is worth breaking into for its own merits, but especially as a spiritual predecessor to some of the best games ever made.