Review: For The King (PlayStation 4)

For The King is a strategic RPG that blends tabletop and roguelike elements in a challenging adventure that spans the realms.

Pros:

• Cardboard/papercraft graphics.
• 1.44gb download size.
• Platinum trophy.
• Tutorial tips can appear as you play but can also be turned off.
• RPG board game roguelike gameplay. Its a mix of genres.
• Turn-based combat.
• 6 adventures (game modes)- For the King, Frost, Into the deep, Dungeon crawl, Hilderbranes cellar and Goldrush.
• 3 difficulties- Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master. Technically you get a fourth difficulty, Custom where you can tweak certain parts of your adventure.
• Supports–Solo, Local co-op and online Co-op (uses room name and password set-up)
• Customize character from clothes to style to colors.
• 4 initial character classes–Blacksmith, Hunter, Scholar, and Minstrel. Each has unique skills and attributes.
• Lore store- Earn lore points by defeating named bosses and clearing areas. Use those points to buy new features/characters/areas in the store.
• Turbo mode speeds everything up.
• For the King, mode is your story/main mode where you are a team of 3 and must do quests to beat the area bosses.
• Hex based game board.
• Earn EXP and level up to increase stats.
• Random events happen all the time.
• Boss battles.
• Chaos- The overarching enemy, you get a timer to show when it will spread and when it does it infects the board and makes enemies stronger and more bad stuff happens.
• RNG- The only mechanic that never changes. Everything is governed by RNG from your move limit per turn to combat to resource gathering to encounters.
• Focus- you can earn/buy/find the focus that allows you to adjust the RNG chances in your favor somewhat.
• Loot drops from enemies and you can equip from the reward screen.
• Can trade items between players.
• Clear Hud and map screen.
• Massive world.
• When a player dies you can revive them or pay to have them revived at an altar.
• Quick to grasp mechanics.
• Fun to play.
• Co-op works really well.
• A lot of Replayability.
• Each game mode plays so differently that it feels like a collection of games.

Cons:

• Difficult.
• RNG because obviously.
• A lot to take in.
• Tutorials feel late and broken up so much so it feels wasteful.
• Fiddly menu layout, a lot of small options and hard to tell where you are.
• Small text in places.
• Navigation of the board is painful.
• Combat is very one note.