Why Kingdom’s Return is an Isometric Dream and a Side-Scrolling Chore
Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster drops you into a world where rebuilding a shattered realm is the only way forward, mixing a cosy kingdom-building vibe with sharp 2D action on PS5. You’re constantly balancing the urge to perfectly place your next building for those sweet stat buffs against the need to dive into dungeons for more materials. It’s a game that looks like a dream with its blend of modern pixels and slick anime cutscenes, but the stakes feel heavy as every death sends you right back to the drawing board.
Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster PS5 Review: Specs & HUD
- Download size is lean: The game only takes up 894.4MB on your PS5 SSD, so it won’t kill your storage.
- Trophy hunters rejoice: There is a Platinum trophy available with 27 trophies to collect for the completionists.
- Constant health tracking: You see enemy health bars all the time alongside damage and block numbers popping up in the 2D sections.
- Mana management: Your mana bar is always visible, and abilities show exactly how to cast them on screen with their associated mana costs.
- 2D intel: Side-scrolling sections give you a fly-over of what to expect and an active enemy counter so you aren’t going in blind.
- Six save slots: Plenty of room to experiment with the different character classes or start over without losing everything.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
The goal of the game is to rebuild the kingdom and create and construct buildings, design it all yourself and depending on the placement of buildings, can give buffs or affect other buildings. It’s all on a grid-based system, and you do get tutorials and help, so don’t worry too much. In between levels, you have a hub menu where you can visit your castle, take on missions, save the game, and access all the item and character management menus. Missions will show rewards, location, a bit of story or background, and any special conditions.
I love the game world, you go into a mission and go tile by tile in the world, represented in 3D on an isometric view, you can see towns, enemies, etc., and then when you connect with them, the game goes into a 2D side-scrolling. Combat is dependent on character, as you are either melee or ranged and can hold down the shoot button. You get a block button to time it. Collect and earn materials and resources, and you can break boxes and kill enemies for a chance. After every encounter, you get a breakdown of exp and money earned.
It’s a game that you instantly get and know what to do. As you level up, your stats go up and levelling up stays all the time; dying doesn’t change it. You get CP points to put into the class circle, which is where you unlock new abilities. When in the map, walking around (the 3D part), you can use items and potions to heal. When you start on the map, you can pay gold to transport straight to the mission area. Think of life like a run; as soon as you die, it’s over, and you start again. When you die, you get a list of all items you collected, and then go back to the hub menu.
Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster PS5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Awesome graphics style: The game features a great mix of Anime art for interactions and modern pixel art for the gameplay that looks sharp on PS5.
- Fast loading times: You won’t be sitting around waiting; the game snaps between the hub and missions almost instantly.
- Visual variety in scenes: Cutscenes can be Anime art, pixel art, or occasionally presented in a boxed interaction format.
- Environmental backgrounds: There are great-looking locations, but it is just for background, as every level plays out the same.
- Visual clarity issues: During levels, you cannot always tell what can and cannot be hit or destroyed, which is a bit of a pain during the action.
Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster PS5 Review: Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Four character classes: You can choose between Imperial, Wizard, Alchemist, and Zipangu, plus you can name your character.
- Full remapping: You can remap the controls on the DualSense to suit how you want to play.
- Skip the fluff: You have the option to skip cutscenes and character interactions if you just want to get to the rebuilding.
- Extensive help: Tutorial pop-ups appear as you play, and you have a main help menu for both the game and building elements.
- Class circle progression: Use CP points to unlock new abilities and customise your playstyle within your chosen class circle.
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Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster
Summary
GOOD STUFF:
I love the game world where you go tile by tile in a 3D isometric view before diving into 2D side-scrolling action. The graphics are awesome, featuring a really nice mix of Anime art for interactions and modern pixel art for the gameplay. It’s a game that you instantly get and know what to do, and the fast loading times on PS5 keep things moving. Rebuilding the kingdom on the grid system is cool because the buildings you place actually give you buffs. Plus, having four classes like the Imperial and Wizard with their own CP skill circles means you can customise how you handle combat.
BAD STUFF:
Combat does get boring as it takes a while to mix it up, and enemies can be cheap, or you find that putting a block on has a slight delay. It’s a lot of grinding and repetition, and it takes way too long to unlock all the fun abilities and variety. It’s also annoying when you have breakables at the end of a level because it just ends with no warning after you trigger the finish. I found finding dungeons within the 3D map confusing since the game doesn’t actually tell you about them, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what you can even hit or destroy in the environment.
FINAL VERDICT:
Kingdom’s Return: Time eating fruit and the ancient monster is a bit of a mixed bag that looks great but feels a bit hollow. While the kingdom building and art style are highlights, the sheer amount of grinding and repetitive combat kills the momentum on PS5. It’s a functional action-adventure that’s easy to pick up, but the lack of variety in level play and the clunky dungeon discovery make it feel like a chore at times. If you don’t mind a slow burn and some cheap enemy hits, there’s a decent game here, but it definitely needs more bite.
