Super Fantasy Kingdom Ticks All My Boxes - Impressions

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Hooded Horse has been killing it lately, and I'm one of their biggest fans. That brings me to Super Fantasy Kingdom, their newest published title, which we were lucky enough to get advanced access to ahead of its Early Access launch. As with virtually every title published by Hooded Horse, I am having a blast with Super Fantasy Kingdom, and I cannot wait to play more.

Super Fantasy Kingdom comes out of the gates swinging. It combines some of my favorite gaming genres to make a delicious sundae. Simulation? Check. Base Building? Check. Autobattling heroes defending your fantasy town from enemy monsters? Check. Exploration? Check. Roguelike elements with plenty of things to unlock? Check. It looks rather simple on the surface, but I was impressed with the depth level it offers. And with an art style that reminds me of dotAGE, I got hooked.

The game's opening is fairly standard. You're introduced to a pretty, isometric kingdom shrouded in darkness, and it is your job to return this humble realm to greatness. Your hero king must survive, or the game ends, although all heroes fight independently. From there, the gameplay loop reveals itself well. This is a real-time game with a pause function, so you won’t be in any danger of being caught out.

Super Fantasy Kingdom allows players a fair bit of freedom, although the tutorial does an excellent job teaching players the basics. Buildings are created on land plots or can be bought with resources on the map in exchange for gold bars, and they do what is expected. Quarries mine stone, while lumber yards gather wood. You’ll need a lot of wood to build houses and hire more workers, and the house prices double every time. With the expansion mechanic, players extend the size of their realm in exchange for stone and Glory. How do you get glory? Killing things!

The day/night cycle goes by quickly, and you’re up against a growing horde of monsters to kill. You fight off enemy threats by recruiting heroes through world events and positioning them on the front line. Imagine my shock when a Goblin King boss swaggered up to my fledgling kingdom! I was caught unprepared, and despite the valiant effort of my fighters, he overpowered me. My king died, and a lovely screen popped up, telling me I was defeated. Fair enough. After losing my soldiers, my little village was doomed against a horde of self-producing goblins.

In future runs, you gain plenty of things to unlock like new heroes, increased resources, and more followers. All of this is unlocked organically through gameplay, which I found engaging. There are good signs that Super Fantasy Kingdom works on the Steam Deck. I tried it with stock settings, and it worked out of the box, although I had to use the WASD and Mouse controller profile. It even runs great at a 3W TDP setting, making this a fantastic battery-light option for your Steam Deck.

To conclude, I'm loving Super Fantasy Kingdom so far. I was a big fan of the demo during Next Fest, and so far, it is living up to my expectations. I cannot wait to play more.

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