Kingdom Eighties was provided by Raw Fury for review. Thank you!
Kingdom Eighties is a standalone expansion to the micro-strategy series. Defend your town against the oncoming Greed, a mysterious force threatening your town. As The Leader, a young camp counselor, you will have to build your base, recruit your army of neighborhood kids, and fend off the monsters trying to steal your family legacy. Hit the streets, build your defenses, and get ready to fight for your family and your town.
Kingdom Eighties does a couple things I am excited to see in this serious that I feel really elevates the experience. The inclusion of a story that goes along with the game is awesome, making it really interesting seeing the lore expand. The visuals and style the game has is a fantastic move too, bringing in vibrant colors and scenery from the 80s.
The gameplay is still very similar to other games in the series. You use coins you collect to build out your base, recruit kids, buy weapons, and unlock buildings. You will have to manage your coins though, strategizing and figuring out the right upgrades to spend first. There are also some new mounts and technologies you can spend and unlock, which can help you complete your tasks or move around faster.
Some of the visuals can feel a bit cluttered though, like it being hard to see which children have been recruited or not at times, and the story/game is a bit on the short side. While this is marketed as an expansion, and it is cheaper than the other entries into the series, it can still feel a bit too expensive for the content, but it is still a unique experience where, if you enjoy games like this or the series, this will be a worthwhile entry to play. With that in mind, it is also fantastic to play on the Steam Deck.
Without any changes, or limits, Kingdom Eighties runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck. Just playing out of the box, the game was able to keep 60 FPS with an average of 8W - 10W drain for 4+ hours of battery life. There were a couple spots I saw some pushes to 12.5W drain, but these were temporary!
The game also supports 16:10 resolutions, so no black bars on the top or bottom of the screen, has full controller support, and cloud saves!
Kingdom Eighties is a visually pleasing entry into the side-scrolling micro-strategy series that hits a lot of the right spots with the content it provides, but there just isn't enough of it. The addition of the story is quite nice and the new aesthetic is fantastic, even if it is a little crowded at times. It also runs so well on the Deck without changes, making it a Best on Deck game.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Kingdom Eighties is a fantastic looking entry into the series that runs perfectly on the Steam Deck, but it isn't without its flaws.
