Retro Review - King's Field

It's been more than two weeks since I did the last Retro Review and I've been a bit busy with some family matters and this week I've also been a bit unhealthy. However I have been playing a little bit some video games, but the one I am going to talk about today is a game from a developer that is currently one of the best in the industry, FromSoftware, known especially for being the creator of the Dark Souls saga games, also for having made Bloodborne and the next game titled Elden Ring. Therefore it is a video game company with quite a long way in the industry, however, this company has even much more old games under its label and one of them is the one that today I will talk to you a little. A game that can be seen that served as the basis for what was in the future Dark Souls, has some similar aspects, although in general it has its big differences.

Today's Retro Review is about: King's Field.

Like the games of the Souls saga, in King's Field the story is developed and explained as we advance in the many dungeons that we will find and talking to the various NPCs that have some pieces of the argument that forms this game, so, It is quite easy not to know very well what is the story of King's Field if we do not pay attention to our environment and what the characters tell us throughout this adventure. King's Field places us in a rather dark medieval world, full of creatures of different types which we must defeat, throughout the game we will be inside catacombs and dungeons plagued by this type of enemies, because this game belongs to the "Dungeon Crawler" genre. This type of narrative in which the game does not directly explain the central plot, but we have to solve it ourselves by obtaining information from NPCs or some items that under its description have some clues about the plot itself. This is something quite common in the games of the Dark Souls saga, as in Demon Souls or Bloodborne, but also in games like Hollow Knight they apply this same particularity of telling us the story indirectly. Something that somehow or another makes us go much deeper into the world that the game wants to show us. (Although to be honest, I did not pay attention to the story of this game even though when you start the game shows you a small introduction where they tell you something about "the savior Dragon or something like that).

Graphically it is not a game that stands out much, however, it is a game that maintains its own essence and characteristics, as dark colors and shadows predominate, logically having scenarios such as dungeons, cemeteries and quite dark places, all this to give an atmosphere of decadence, mystery and darkness quite typical of FromSoftware games, being a feature that is still maintained in current games. King's Field takes place in a medieval time, so we will find all the elements related to this type of setting, something that, similarly, is something that is still maintained in the games of the Dark Souls saga, Demon Souls and even in the next Elden Ring, except for Bloodbourne, which has a much more different aesthetic to these other games (although it maintains that dark atmosphere so characteristic).

Being a game set in a medieval era we will also find creatures related to this style. The game is completely in 3D, but with their respective graphical limitations, it is a game that was released just when the PlayStation 1 had little time also to go to market, so it is logical that does not have such a high graphical level, even so it remains quite well over the years. But above all, it is noted that it is a game that could be considered within the "Souls Saga" due to its gloomy and desolate atmosphere.

The music is what you would expect from a game with a medieval setting, music that fits very well with the dark aspect and plot of this game. They are quite good and very varied, although logically they are not at the level of FromSoftware's current games, it is still a soundtrack that fulfills its purpose very well.

King's Field OST Playlist

Evidently this game not only aged in the graphical aspect, but also in the gameplay aspect and this can be noticed very easily just the first seconds in which we enter this desolate world. King's Field, as already mentioned is a game of the genre "Dungeon Crawler", with its respective elements of exploration, puzzle solving and adventure, in which control over our character will be under a first-person environment where we will perform all relevant actions to complete it. From fighting enemies, searching for items or solving puzzles, it will always be from a first-person perspective.

However, in terms of fighting it is a fairly basic game, so it is extremely simple, but for that same reason, the fighting system of this game has aged quite badly, so for a person who is not used to playing games of this style, it will easily seem a "bad" game, although it is not at all. Despite the fact that this game has aged a lot, it still maintains that atmosphere of mystery, desolation and darkness, so characteristic, plus the music at this time plays a very important role in the gameplay.

Because the mechanics of this game today are very old-fashioned, it has a rather slow battle system, even frustrating at times, plus in terms of improving our character are quite limited, so it's RPG element is quite scarce in this game.

King's Field despite everything mentioned and the obvious aging of the game, especially in the gameplay and graphics, is still a work created by one of the best game development studios today, FromSoftware, so without any doubt it is a proof of how a company and game developer has improved over the years and has created some of the best games in recent years. But honestly, I don't recommend playing King's Field unless you are very curious to try it or because you are a person who, like me, likes retro games a lot.