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I said GODDAMN. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is the best Metroidvania I've played in years.
- Thread starter Exellus
- Start date
I loved most of the game (including the Volcano and Mansion!), but the final area and the new ability for that area felt comparatively half-baked. Still a wonderful experience and a worthy follow-up to the Dragon's Trap remake.
Your first playthrough will most likely take 20-25 hours.
https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=62946
Thank you! Can't believe I couldn't see it lol.
Oh, and cheers for the great game you guys have created. I'm really enjoying it and am glad I picked it up.
There's a demo available, feel free to check it out and see if it's to your liking. ;)
Thank you very much! The next area is a feared, sometimes hated, but popular one! :p
I've never played any of the previous games, but I'm a couple hours into this one. It's really fun and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I'm definitely interested in trying out some older titles now, though.
Well OP, true to my word, I bought the game. Picked up the physical Switch copy that came with the booklet and stickers. I was able to get as far as the woods as the pig before the kids tackled me because they wanted to try it. My son, who is 4, was able to defeat the first boss, lol. The game gave him extra healing items after multiple deaths, which I thought was a nice touch. It does seem to get harder as it goes along though, as I encountered this games' version of the Super Mario 3 angry sun, in cloud form, while fighting snakes on the ground, lol. It has great charm, fantastic music and that old school 8-bit feel, but with gorgeous hand drawn animations.
1. Absolutely!
2. The older one still feels fresh. There are some dated mechanics and it can be a bit grindy at times so I'd maybe play it first. Plus it's shorter.
Enjoy!
Always nice to see more people discover Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. Was definitely one of the highlights of last year for me.
Pretty much my take away from the demo experience. Very appealing art style however. I definitely got the impression that this is designed for a much younger audience though. I don't mean this as a diss either, I'm going to be Day 1'ing Yoshi after all...
Not really. Game is harder than what it seems. It gets nowhere as difficult as Hollow Knight but it isn't for children at all, either. I'd say it's very well balanced.
Shit, I saw this thread in passing yesterday after just having finished Hollow Knight. Saw it was on sale on Xbox and went for it. Just started playing and now realised that I bought Wonder Boy...
What does 'I said' mean in this context? What's the difference with just 'Goddamn'?
Right out the gate the game began with that OLD SCOOL Wonder Boy in Monster Land melody and I KNEW this game would hit my nostalgia and gameplay sensibilities in all the right places. And it does so IN SPADES.
This game is Metroidvania in every sense of the word. Large explorable world. Powerups galore. Exploring as you unlock new skills. And have I mentioned the colorful, vibrant world and excellent music tracks?
If you are even passively interested in games like Castlevania, Metroid, Zelda, Rogue Legacy, etc. etc. then you NEED to check this game out. Any system you can get it for, it's on basically everything. I played the Switch version myself.
Goddamn SEGA. Goddamn. When can I get more of this?
Edit: Composers are Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, Yuzo Koshiro, Keiki Kobayashi and Takeshi . Well damn no wonder the music is so good!
Huh, this games has serious difficulty spikes later on.
It also has the distinction of making me feel overwhelmed by Zelda-esque "dungeon" for the first time ever. It can get get really, um dense, with the sheer number of puzzles and shit to do.
Wait until you get to the later stages, the first hour or so is deceptive, it becomes very challenging!
What an incredible game this is. I know, I thought £35 seemed a bit steep as I was buying it, but believe me - this is worthy of the full price tag. There is so much content and the game just oozes quality. As an old fart, the second I heard the WB in Monsterland tune at the start and yes - there were hidden coins on top of the first house - I knew this was special.
I showed it to my, at the time six year old son and wow does this game have cross generation appeal - he loved it. Even better just a couple weeks before his seventh birthday he Platinum-ed it - his first. So proud. I can't recommend it enough.
I showed it to my, at the time six year old son and wow does this game have cross generation appeal - he loved it. Even better just a couple weeks before his seventh birthday he Platinum-ed it - his first. So proud. I can't recommend it enough.
Never even heard of this series before. Looks great though, might give it a whirl after I eventually finish Steamworld Dig 2
They are indeed both worth playing. I would highly, highly recommend playing Dragon's Trap first because Cursed Kingdom is simply better in every way. It will seem like a big downgrade if you play it second, just because it is a remake of a very old game and has much clunkier mechanics. Plus, Cursed Kingdom has remixes of some of the great songs in Dragon's Trap and other callbacks, so that will be nice to experience.
I disagree on Cursed Kingdom being better in every way, but I agree with you on the order. Monster Boy iterates on a lot of stuff from Dragon's Trap, and has some call backs that you will appreciate if you play it right after.
You're right, its overstating the case to say "better in every way." I should have been more precise and said that the overall mechanics and QOL are at a higher and more refined level in Cursed Kingdom, just because one was originally made in the 80s and one was made last year. Easy and intuitive gear/form switching on the fly, a good map that is for the most part easy to read, easy fast travel system, more refined controls/combat/hit detection, etc.
Agreed on the mechanics. You really see this in the boss fights, where Dragon Trap's are (understably) primitive where Monster Boy's tend to be more elaborate and taking decades of game design into account. Obviously just preference but I found Dragon's Trap to be a very tight, focused experience where Monster Boy has more areas that dragged or felt like filler. If anything it made me appreciate Dragon's Trap. I went in expecting to run into amd bang my head into lot of the kind of warts you get with a lot of 8 bit games in terms of design and mechanics. Monster Boy is still a good game worth experiencing though, don't get me wrong. And they complement each other well. I played both within a few months of each other, and they complement each other well rather than feeling like it should be one of the other.
I'm for whatever reason still playing this game, maybe because it pisses me off so much. I'm convinced the game only has decent reviews is because most reviewers did not make it through the majority of the game. The Volcano, Haunted Manor, and final bosses are all literally game breaking. The puzzles are so obtuse and abstract it isn't even logical and the enemy battles are downright cheap. Can someone possibly explain to me how the fuck anyone would think it's good game design to hide a boss mechanic within the system settings? What idiot made the call on that?
Let me restate: fuck this game. Don't be fooled by the appealing first half and visuals. The second half is absolute dog shit. I would never recommend this title to someone when you have games like Dead Cells, Celeste, and Hollow Knight in the library.
Let me restate: fuck this game. Don't be fooled by the appealing first half and visuals. The second half is absolute dog shit. I would never recommend this title to someone when you have games like Dead Cells, Celeste, and Hollow Knight in the library.
That would be me. I was involved (and approved) the entire game from start to finish so it was in my responsibility. I'm sorry that you dislike the 2nd half of Monster Boy! We put a lot of work and love into the game and our mission was to keep it interesting from start to finish. It really isn't the typical Metroidvania game with large simple hallways and maybe combat focus - we created a game that cherishes exploration and fresh ideas + giving the player an unrestricted chance to combine *all* abilities in an evolving game design over the 20-25 hours journey. The 2nd half requires to keep in mind a lot of things but I don't see any elements that are obtuse or cheap. You can always outsmart the game but admittedly, it's not easy. Monster Boy isn't a game that you play while watching a movie, it demands full attention of the player in the 2nd half. The Volcano and Haunted Manor require to concentrate and not rush through them. I can explain every single room and we tested them with players of all skill levels. I'm very proud of the team at Game Atelier and the game, as it's something unique and completely different compared to other games. The system menu idea that you mentioned is just a very short 4th wall break element that's part of our constant thrive to keep the game fresh. Maybe we don't hit the taste of each player every time but the overall game offers so many things and mechanics, I think it's very exciting to explore and the feedback we received from players (who finished the game) and press members (who finished the game) was thankfully very good. I hope we can transport this idea to even more to players the next time and make even more players happy with it. It's always our mission to provide a highest quality, meaty and exciting game for your hard earned money.
Thank you so much! It fills me with great joy to read your lines, especially because you had such a wonderful experience together with your son. Congratulations on the Platinum trophy, what an accomplishment! <3
Thank you very much! ^_^ This also goes to everyone else who shared so many positive impressions about the game. Love y'all! <3