Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

[Hero-of-Time]

I finished this today and here are my final results.

It's an absolutely fantastic game and easily one of my favourites of the year. 

The OST for the game is probably the best I have heard this year. There were so many catchy tunes and most of them will be sticking with me for a long time.

Make no mistake about it, this is a true sequel to the previous games and not just kind of spinoff. There are so many nods and references to the previous games that pop up and each of them brought a smile to my face. 

Spoiler

 

The guys who created this should be very proud of their end product. It's a brilliant sequel and one I encourage everyone to give a go.

[Hero-of-Time]

I put a few more hours into the game to try and get 100%. 

I'm missing 2 things but they are currently glitched. I've collected them but the map still shows them as hidden away. The producer of the game has done a great job communicating and helping players over in the Era thread and he said it's a known glitch. The PS4 patch arrived last night and fixed it. Hopefully the Switch patch will be released early next week. 

That's me now done with the game until the patch arrives. Again, fantastic game. I'm pretty tempted to double dip and grab the PS4 version as well.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2018 by Hero-of-Time

[MindFreak]

I'm finding it a bit difficult to see if something has been taken by me or not on the map. The icons are both very small and don't really tell if I've taken the item. 

Had a glitch under water where I couldn't get out of a jet stream. Had to restart but didn't lose anything as the game saves often. 

Got through the Volcano area and the area after that. Now I'm searching for the entrance to the next area but don't have time to play for the time being. I think I'm at about 10 hours. Is there somewhere to see the completion percentage? 

[Hero-of-Time]

You can see map completion and a bunch of other stats on the map screen but I don't think you get a total percentage until you finish the game.

[MindFreak]

@Hero-of-Time I've got three relics now and on to the next area. Is that the last part of the game? Should I go back to clear stuff or is there time for that later? 

[Hero-of-Time]

7 hours ago, MindFreak said:

@Hero-of-Time I've got three relics now and on to the next area. Is that the last part of the game? Should I go back to clear stuff or is there time for that later? 

There still a little bit to go before the end. As for mopping stuff up, you can do that before or after the last boss. The game doesn't lock you out of getting 100%. 

[Hero-of-Time]

The patch came out for the game and I was now able to finish it off properly.

Theres a nice little tease at the end of the game for getting 100%.

[MindFreak]

How have you collected so much gold?? I completed the game yesterday with a completion of 91.5 %, 19 something hours and 71 Elixirs used, short of 300 deaths. I collected all gold armor pieces and upgraded most of my stuff. Still need to find 10 gems. 

[Hero-of-Time]

6 hours ago, MindFreak said:

How have you collected so much gold?? 

 

[Grazza]

 

Just a reminder that there is now a very enjoyable demo for this game.

[S.C.G]

2 hours ago, S.C.G said:

Quick question...

There's no good reason for me NOT to buy Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom is there?

I should get it now for a decent price while it's still available. (physically)

Yes... I'm trying to talk myself into buying another Switch game.

Edit - it's OK... I convinced myself to get it, got it for £37.50 boxed with the extras in "as good as new" condition, too good to pass up.

Well, due to getting a good deal on a physical copy of the game, I'll hopefully soon be joining the conversation on this fantastic game once I've played it. 

[MindFreak]

Good choice! One of the best games last year.

[Grazza]

I picked this up as it's 50% off, but have to say, I'm not enjoying it so far.  As far as the monster world genre goes, it hasn't grabbed me anything like as much as Dragon's Trap or Aggelos.

 

The first transformation is not a lot of fun - I guess the developers wanted you to feel vulnerable, but it's not doing it for me.  Before I've even encountered the 2nd boss, I've picked up three "magic" powers, which soon run out and you have to grind for more.  Every screen seems like an environmental puzzle and it's just a bit of a drag.  Hopefully it'll improve, but so far it's definitely not worth £17.48.

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Grazza said:

The first transformation is not a lot of fun - I guess the developers wanted you to feel vulnerable, but it's not doing it for me.  Before I've even encountered the 2nd boss, I've picked up three "magic" powers, which soon run out and you have to grind for more.  Every screen seems like an environmental puzzle and it's just a bit of a drag.  Hopefully it'll improve, but so far it's definitely not worth £17.48.

Stick with it, the later transformations really open up the game with what you can do, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how fun the last 2 transformations are. I kinda had the same problem with the first two transformations, but then I got the Frog one and that's where I started to really enjoy the movement.

I still prefer the Dragon's Trap remake overall, but Cursed Kingdom is still a solid game. More Metroid than Wonder Boy, admittedly, but that's no bad thing.

And I just want to point out how much I love the artstyle, there's a particular boss in the second half of the game that looks stunning. Again, I prefer Dragon's Trap's artstyle over Cursed Kingdom, but that game is beautiful anyway, so it was always gonna be stiff competition in the looks department.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Ronnie]

The eShop seems to constantly have sales on, I guess for reasons like that

[drahkon]

Okay, here we go. There are a couple of games that I'm interested in buying this month, but I'll only allow myself to buy one.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is on the list. Do I need to know any of the previous games (I assume there are some?) to really enjoy it (i.e. story?)?

It's on sale for about 16€ on the Switch and I'm tempted  

[MindFreak]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

Okay, here we go. There are a couple of games that I'm interested in buying this month, but I'll only allow myself to buy one.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is on the list. Do I need to know any of the previous games (I assume there are some?) to really enjoy it (i.e. story?)?

It's on sale for about 16€ on the Switch and I'm tempted  

It's a spiritual successor to Wonder Boy from the 90s. Mainly The Dragon's Curse. But you don't need to have played that or them in order to enjoy this, it's completely stand alone. And it's a great game. 

[drahkon]

Thanks @MindFreak 

Just found out that there's a demo available. Gonna give it a go and see what it's like.

[Grazza]

29 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Thanks @MindFreak 

Just found out that there's a demo available. Gonna give it a go and see what it's like.

 

Keep in mind that the full game feels very segmented compared to the demo and, in my opinion, doesn't flow all that smoothly.  I'm on the 3rd transformation and still not really feeling it.  I'm assuming you know about Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap, but I'd also recommend Aggelos much more over Monster Boy.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Grazza said:

Keep in mind that the full game feels very segmented compared to the demo and, in my opinion, doesn't flow all that smoothly.

Doesn't bode well then, because I'm not feeling the demo...it's obviously a game that harks back to platformers of the old days, i.e. mostly to the original Wonder Boy games. I do appreciate their existence, but I'm not really interested in these kinds of platformers anymore.

[Hero-of-Time]

4 hours ago, drahkon said:

Doesn't bode well then, because I'm not feeling the demo...it's obviously a game that harks back to platformers of the old days, i.e. mostly to the original Wonder Boy games. I do appreciate their existence, but I'm not really interested in these kinds of platformers anymore.

I wouldn't really call the game a platformer. It's really a Metroid type game. 

If you aren't getting on with this due to it feeling like an old game then I wouldn't touch Dragon's Trap. Monster Boy at least feels modern with its game design whereas Dragon's Trap is VERY obscure at times and does feel like a Master System game but with a new coat of paint.

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Dragon's Trap is VERY obscure at times and does feel like a Master System game but with a new coat of paint.

Isn't that exactly what Lizardcube were going for?

I mean you're right, if you don't like Monster Boy, you're probably best off staying away from all the Wonder Boy games.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Isn't that exactly what Lizardcube were going for?

Totally. I'm just giving him fair warning. 

[Grazza]

It’s fair to say this game took me a while to get into, but I have now completed it, and am glad I did so.  I really do enjoy the “monster world” genre, from playing Dragon’s Trap on my friend’s Master System, and its Mega Drive sequel; to Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, its own brilliant sequel and more recent, indie efforts like Aggelos.  So I was a bit surprised I wasn’t as enthralled by this one as I might have been.

 

After enjoying the beginning section as a human, the game does its best to make you feel vulnerable.  As Pig Man, your main assets are a butt stomp and the ability to sniff out secrets, which are legitimate enough moves, but there’s also a plethora of magic spells to consider.  You can use fire, wind, lightning and bomb magic, which until very late in the game are limited to your pig form. Quite early on, I felt overwhelmed by all the possible moves and tactics that could be employed to move through the first zones.  The snake is next, which like Shantae’s monkey, allows you to access small spaces.  This type of thing is never going to be many people’s favourite form, but it does have a place in these games.  Still, though, I was finding it very difficult to move around.

 

Things changed with the next transformations.  Swinging from hook to hook as Frog Man, the game finally had a mechanic that I was really enjoying.  Same goes for dashing on water and through blocks as Lion Man. And who wouldn’t want to play as a flying, fire-breathing dragon?  Crucially, and unlike the pig and snake, these forms can also start to wear the many weapons and armour sets available. And so, I set about exploring the map and finding all the secrets.

 

The game is, of course, mostly inspired by Wonder Boy, with a pinch of Metroid, but I was surprised to see it also takes an enormous amount of inspiration from Zelda.  Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is extremely puzzle heavy, so much so that I personally felt it outweighed the other aspects. The puzzles are difficult, and at times incredibly obscure, with it sometimes seeming there’s one every screen to halt your progress.  They slowed me down so much, I could never really get into the flow of the game or play it at a good pace. My personal view of the monster world genre is that they are about exploration, and can afford to be quite simple in other areas. Still, other aspects of the difficulty, such as bosses and races, were very well judged.

 

I was a bit confused, and still am, by how officially this is linked to the Wonder Boy franchise.  Early impressions suggested it was an homage, but the further you get into the game the more explicit references there are.

 

Overall, whilst Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom didn’t become one of my favourite monster world games, I did enjoy it more and more as it went on, with it providing some much-needed escapism.  The graphics and controls are really good, and I will miss playing as Lion Man and Dragon Man in particular. It looks like there is at least the intention for a female-led sequel (Monster Girl?) so I must admit, I for one will be keeping my eye out for it.