Ancient Kingdoms – Nostalgic Love Letter with Room for Improvement

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• DEVELOPER: Ancient Pixels
• PUBLISHER: Ancient Pixels
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: RPG
• RELEASE DATE: January 15, 2025
• INITIAL PRICE: 15.79€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Ancient Kingdoms promises a return to the golden age of 2D RPGs, in the style of Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger, with its distinctive pixel art charm and classic role-playing foundations. Set in the expansive world of Eratiath, the game pays a sincere homage to the past while charting its own course. Two months after its Early Access launch, the question remains: does it fulfill high expectations, or is it still an unpolished gem?

Retro World That Feels Like Home

From the very beginning, Ancient Kingdoms flawlessly captures its aesthetic. The 16-bit era-inspired pixel graphics are a true love letter to SNES classics, with lush forests, dungeons, and picturesque towns packed with detail. Every sprite and background feels hand-crafted, providing that familiar, cozy feeling of classic RPGs. The world of Eratiath is teeming with secrets, ancient ruins, catacombs, and hidden nooks, encouraging you to explore every corner. Even in the Early Access version, five unique biomes are available, each bringing a new and content-rich experience.

It is particularly impressive how inhabited the world is with diverse creatures, from skeletons and goblins to mythical bosses and mini-bosses. The world is carefully designed, without empty spaces or a sense of hollowness; everything is thoughtfully placed, creating a dynamic and living environment. However, the biggest drawback is that everything feels a bit static. Enemies do not leave their designated areas, even if you try to lure them, and although collectible items reappear over time, adding a slight dynamic, the NPCs do not contribute much beyond shops, quests, and crafting opportunities.

The dialogue is functional but not deep. Although the worldbuilding hints at complex stories of ancient gods and lost civilizations, that story is just beginning to unfold. Currently, there is little incentive to fully immerse yourself in the dialogues, explore the characters, or gain a deeper understanding of the NPCs and the world. However, the development team is dedicated to listening to player feedback, which suggests that the story might be enriched over time. Still, the strength of the game lies not so much in its narration as in the gameplay itself.

The Gameplay is Familiar, Yet Refreshed

At its core, Ancient Kingdoms is a classic 2D RPG. You can choose from six classes—Warrior, Archer, Cleric, Thief, Wizard, and Druid—which are tied to races like Elves, Dwarves, or Goblins, offering diverse playstyles. The combat system is based on tap-targeting, emphasizing tactical timing and a combination of real-time action with strategic use of abilities. One feature players will likely appreciate is the simplified enemy management; instead of constant mouse clicking, you just select a target and use keys 1-9 to activate skills. Moreover, there’s no need for “spamming” keys, as combat functions automatically.

The game excels in open-world exploration and multiplayer mode (up to four players), which is a rarity in retro-style RPGs. Teaming up with friends to clear dungeons or trade loot is reminiscent of old LAN-party days, but modernized for today’s co-op audience. With a promised 40+ hour runtime and continuous content updates, the game offers plenty of content. However, the Early Access version also shows some weaknesses: balancing issues, occasional bugs, and a relatively small community, making it difficult to find teammates outside of the Discord server.

However, my biggest issue with the game is the repetitive nature of the gameplay. The main culprit is a weak progression system. While skill management is well-executed and the attribute system is decent, the inventory, crafting, and weapon management leave a lot of room for improvement. For example, I chose the Archer, and the first bow I got through a quest was great, but it took me several hours to replace it with a better one, making some enemies unnecessarily difficult. Crafting is also problematic; you need to find recipes, but the interface doesn’t clearly show how to craft them correctly. The inventory is limited, and although you can expand it, the process is tedious, especially since quests don’t reward you with much gold, and many items are frustratingly cheap.

Still, the game has its highlights, such as the epic and legendary items that significantly improve combat, and armor that provides substantial defense when equipped. Also, it’s worth noting that this is not really a solo game. Of course, you can play it alone, but Ancient Kingdoms truly shines in multiplayer. It feels like playing an MMO in an RPG format, and the company of friends significantly speeds up and makes exploration more fun. I also liked the fast travel system, which allows you to bind to cities and teleport using scrolls. While the game offers a lot of content, it is still not fully fleshed out in the details; it looks polished but not outstanding.

Early Access Meets Expectations

Although the game offers plenty of room for exploration, it often feels under-rewarding. As mentioned, you can find various chests, hidden collectibles, and respawning resources like flowers or herbs, but they rarely leave a sense of real progress. Many locations feel empty, with little valuable loot to discover. While quests bring a decent amount of XP, they sometimes offer nothing but XP points. Although fighting enemies brings rewards and treasures, it often feels insufficient to maintain a sense of advancement without occasionally repeating the same areas for extra grinding.

So far, during Early Access, I haven’t encountered major problems, but the game occasionally feels somewhat unbalanced, especially in terms of how the leveling system doesn’t always track progress through quests. Don’t be frustrated if you start dying often; the game is designed to be challenging, and boss fights can become quite intense. The gameplay itself has cozy elements; it doesn’t demand constant, high-intensity action. Instead, it’s about exploring the world at your own pace using just a few keys for navigation and interaction.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a deep single-player experience, this is probably not the game for you. Ancient Kingdoms is designed to be enjoyed with friends, offering a stable and balanced progression when played in co-op mode. The combat and exploration are well-executed, but this is an indie title, and that’s not bad; just don’t expect a huge level of detail or complexity. Ancient Kingdoms is simple, but addictive enough to keep you coming back for more.

Review copy provided by the publisher