Kingdom Eighties is a game about defending your town from the living embodiment of greed and also about how cool the eighties were.
There’s nothing quite like nostalgia, the want to go back to a much simpler time when life wasn’t so hard, things were cheaper, and mullets were cool. However, thanks to shows such as Stranger Things, people can long for a time, like the eighties, even if they didn’t grow up then. Kingdom Eighties is a game that lets us experience the wonders of eighties nostalgia and also, like Stranger Things, throws in a fun cosmic horror twist.
Kingdom Eighties is developed by the small development studio Fury Studios. The studio is fairly new to the game development scene, first forming in 2019 as a subsidiary of the publisher Raw Fury, which published Gun Jam and the ever-charming Mr. Sun’s Hatbox. Fury Studios would go on to make the 2D side-scrolling tower defense game Kingdom Two Crowns in 2018. The game would receive quite a positive reception, with many praising its story and interesting use of pixel graphics. The game would then get a couple of DLCs, and finally, in 2023, it would receive a standalone expansion, Kingdom Eighties.
If you haven’t played the first game, it should be noted that the game has a very notable high fantasy aesthetic, and you would expect that to carry over in the sequel, but to the surprise of many, it does not. As you can probably tell by its name, Kingdom Eighties is set in 1980s America. That’s not to say that all references to the first games have been scrubbed; during the game’s tutorial, our character is given the same crown worn by the protagonist of the first game, a very nice touch for fans of the first game.
As stated earlier, Kingdom Eighties is set in, well, the 80s, and the game makes sure you are aware of that. From groovy soundtracks to film grain over cinematics, the artists and developers put plenty of effort into recreating a nostalgic eighties feel to the game. Pair this with that classic Kingdom pixel art style, and the game instantly feels like an old classic game you pulled out of a box that was tucked away in an attic. This, sadly, also means if you’re not a fan of synthwave and garish color combinations, you may want to give the game a miss, as Kingdom Eighties does not hold back.
Another thing to keep in mind with Kingdom Eighties is that the game is rather slow at first and you’re going to need quite a bit of patience if you want to experience the game’s story. The story in question goes as follows. You play as a teenager known only as Leader, who we first see racing away from the strange and ever-hungry Greed, who makes a return from the first game. The Greed seems to be trying to take over the town, and it is up to the Leader and their group of friends to put a stop to them.
Now onto the gameplay. Kingdom Eighties, much like its predecessor, is a 2D side-scrolling tower defense game, and it’s up to you to build and defend your territory. How do you do that? With child slavery, of course. Jokes aside, you can assign kids one of two roles: archer and builder.
Archers defend your base and hunt down enemies, while builders clear out obstacles and establish more territory. It is highly recommended that you have more archers than builders, as archers can scout ahead and defend themselves while builders cannot. You recruit kids by dropping coins for them to pick up. Once recruited, they’ll then choose an available role.
Coins are probably your most important assets in Kingdom Eighties, as they’re also your only asset. Unlike in other tower defense games, you don’t constantly have to gather and manage resources; instead, the only thing you need to worry about is how many coins you have on you.
You will need coins to do just about anything in-game, such as the aforementioned child recruitment, clearing trees, giving orders, and upgrading your base all require coins. That’s not to say coins are scarce; in fact, it’s quite the opposite, as depending on how many kids you have recruited, you will acquire a small fortune just by riding around.
Just keep in mind that your coins won’t last forever, as you will need to spend them on expanding your base. You will need to make sure that your base has adequate defenses if you want to keep the Greed out. The Greed hit fast and they hit hard, and if your defenses aren’t up to scratch, you will soon find yourself losing territory and all their bonuses, along with your camp being overrun with Greed. Another reason why you don’t want your defenses to go down is that your archers need cover to stand behind while they prepare their attacks, and if they can’t do that, then they can’t kill the Greed.
Now, you’re probably thinking as to why our blob-like antagonists are called the Greed. Well, you see, the Greed are, as you would expect, greedy and want that oh so lovely crown sitting on the Leader’s head. Without their shiny gold crown, the Leader cannot lead his friends, which means game over… For some reason. This doesn’t fully get explained, so just roll with it.
As for Leaders’ friends, they provide a variety of useful skills that will help you navigate around your territory and fight off the Greed. However, if you want them to help out, you will need to complete a short side quest for each of them. These aren’t that difficult and are usually just your typical fetch quest.
The first two characters we meet are Champ, your typical jock with a heart of gold, and Tinkerer, a girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. As stated earlier, these characters are supposed to help you out; Champ is strong and can push around a mobile defense tower in the form of a dumpster, while Tinkerer can build and repair things on the fly.
Unlike other tower defense games, Kingdom Eighties is significantly easier to get the hang of. The game strips away a lot of the micromanagement seen in other titles and gives you a gameplay loop that is simple and easy to understand. This does sadly mean that the gameplay can get a bit repetitive, but the game rewards you with its story, which keeps you invested enough to continue playing until the next chapter.
Overall, Kingdom Eighties is just fun. The game is easy to pick up and hard to put down; with the removal of micromanaging, the game is far more approachable for new players of the genre. The game features a cast of interesting characters with as much cheesy 80’s charm and humor packed into them as possible, and a radical synthwave soundtrack that will make you feel nostalgic for the old times and make you finally grow that mullet.
