Kingdom: New Lands

App Store Editors’ Notes

Love, but wish it was less buggy

I have been obsessed with this game pretty much for the last two months. Even though I've best it many times over, it's still fun and interesting. For the $10 I paid for it, it's provided more entertainment than just about anything else with the same value, and I much prefer it over all other video games I've bought in the last couple years. That said, I've been really frustrated by all the bugs. They don't happen every game, but when they do happen, the only way to describe the way I feel is 😖😩😭. Occasionally, a hermit will disappear, or my knights that were sent to the ship will, upon opening the game back up after a few hours, be in front of my castle. Little things like that. It's usually still possible to win with the bugs, but is a setback and pulls me out of fun gameplay mode. Is it still worth playing? Absolutely. Would it be better if these glitches weren't ruining things? Duh. Also, it wouldn't hurt if there was a way to cancel an action... not that I've frequently built a wall in the middle of the forest where I oughtn't have, or sent knights off to attack too early, or anything like that... For reference, I mostly play on Apple TV, but also pick it up on iPhone and iPad.

Amazing

Ignore the people complaining about the ios version vs the pc version or console version. Since I bought this on ios, I went on to buy it on steam as well and on my switch (much layer when they releases it there). I have not noticed a performance difference between them at all, it's likely the people complaining simply have older phones with older batteries in them slowing their processors down. It's an amazingly simple and crazy fun game. It's everything great about God games/building games and tower defense together. It's just so perfect. It's so addictive and there's so many cool things to unlock, various new buildings, New mounts that all do different things (like the unicorn that eats grass and poops gold, the bear that attacks, the deer/elk that will make deer follow you, etc.) The new lands update was amazing, and now they've gone and released a new one! I haven't had a lot of time to really delve into skull island but I have no doubt it will be just as amazing. These devs are a credit to the industry, it's so great to see committed devs who continue to produce new content and refine their game. You can tell this was a labor of love for them. I would buy any new games they release in a heartbeat based on their performance with Kingdoms alone.

Love the game but

I just think the game is just getting to hard and all. And also you should have the ability to make your own banner shield and your choice of gender. I also thought it would be a good idea to add a sandbox mode where you have unlimited gold and building is unlimited and also the ability to spawn your soldiers instead of making them come. This would improve the game and make more people play the game because the game is just endless fighting and you can keep spawning your men! All you should have to do is add a creative mode bar, a gender choice bar, and a shield banner creation bar. It’s really that simple so please creator if your reading this note add this cause I’d be obsessed with this game if you did add this because I always wished for this. Please also add a armor selection to change your gear,hair,horse and crown. Just add this cause when they see you added it then these people would be blood thirsty to play the game. I hope you add this cause this a game I always wished for. Please do it it’s my wish for this game

Excellent Concept, Stellar Execution, No Documentation

✅ The game is well made. The imagery makes fantastic use of pixel art. The sound design is top notch, with a great use of low-fi bit-tunes and realistic atmospheric noises. The touch mechanics are simple to use and eventually become effortless. 🚫 That said, the COMPLETE lack of documentation severely hurts the game. If I hadn't researched online, I would never have learned several important mechanics of the game. The designers' intent is likely to create an atmosphere of discovery, but often times I "discovered" a mechanic with no idea that I had done so. I grabbed a paper off a sign post... Nothing happened? Looked it up, it unlocks new mechanics in future sessions. I started making scythes for people... are they soldiers? Nope, I need to build farms for them. The entire game allows you to discover new mechanics, but doesn't explain a single thing. ✅ The cost is fair: a tremendous amount of work went into the game and it is flawlessly executed; I just wish it was documented. 🚫 Finally, my simplest, most petty complaint is that the horse is an asthmatic. It can run for maybe a screen and a half before complaining and slowing to a walk. I've "died" many times because my horse decided to take a smoke break during a "Greedling" raid. I KNOW that there are future steeds that I can find on future islands (because I had to rely on spoiler-filled wikis for instructions) but that doesn't help me when I can't get past the second island. ✅ In summation: the game is worth it if you don't mind a lack of documentation and don't mind spending 10 dollars on a very good but very obtuse game.

Be ready for a challenge

This game is amazing, but it doesn’t teach you how to play it just drops you in. If you want to make real progress without mucking about for hours to learn everything, you’ll have to use an online guide. You also have to be very meticulous with your purchases. Just because you can buy something doesn’t mean you should. Buying more walls will decrease the amount of rabbits spawning, hurting your profits early in the game. Buying lots of towers will station many of your archers in useless positions. Clearing a tree next to a recruitment camp or trader will permanently destroy them. There is no way to undo these purchases without starting from scratch, which can get frustrating. Sometimes an accidental button press that does one of those things will hurt you immensely, sometimes to where you’ll even need to start over. Once you get the hang of this game it’s great, there’s lots to unlock and you’ll have to master your own strategy as the game is fairly difficult.

Great game but...I’d rather the devs fix issues first, THEN add new content

Ever since recent update (skull island), the stone wall upgrade alter is randomly missing sometimes, very rarely do you get the archer or builder stone upgrades (on island 5 I got NOTHING once)...that’s crazy -why would the devs remove these things? I’m quite good at the game and have even beat skull island...but I’m thinking of the people that play for the first time like I did once before I knew the skills needed to win (even without arrow statues)...but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be included. Devs need to go back and fix this. Also, after watching pc play through, the iOS version runs SOOOO SLOW compared...cmon, with the powerful iPad pros and new iPhones you mean to tell me you couldn’t make it a steady/locked 60 FPS?? Don’t buy it - other games have been able to do 60 FPS on itouch 6!..with how much the game is, devs could go back and optimize the game to perform better on latest Apple devices. And lastly, there’s STILL an issue with sending knights and builders to the boat where it sits at the end of the screen; if you complete what I just said then you cannot save and exit the game or else YOU LOSE ALL YOUR KNIGHTS AND BUILDERS that you sent to the boat...this is incredibly annoying and there’s no reason this still hasn’t been fixed. Other reviewers have brought this bug/issue up since it was released. It’s a great game, but these issues need to be fixed to make it an excellent game.

Don’t listen to the reviews!

This game is phenomenal. I have too played on my gaming computer, and it runs like silk. However, it runs completely fine on my phone as well. I don’t know why people say it’s laggy, I’ve beat the game several times now, pc and iOS. The only time I had a small lag spike was on night 80 something island 4. I had decided to win after the greed kept getting through my walls with ease. The big breeders aren’t messing around. I had destroyed a portal on both sides but did so again, causing the greed to attack with literally everything they had, and nearly got though 3/4 my defenses. There were so many I don’t blame the game for lagging. “Oh god why are you doing this to me? So many Enemies!” The developers of this game, are more than phenomenal. There’s no words to explain how great they actually are. I had owned kingdom classic on pc before new-lands was even announced. After it released I was so excited to buy it... but they had already sent it to everyone that owned the original! Completely free! No only that but after a while they released FREE dlc! The devs are literally bankrupting themselves at this point. I love them to death. This is the way games are supposed to be. Anyways I highly recommend this game for anyone who likes a small challenge, are just want to support my favorite developers. It’s fantastic. Also if you need help or information, there’s a fantastic guide on the steam website, “kingdom new lands complete guide”. It has anything you need and more, and had been approved by the devs themselves. Happy ruling!

A one-of-a kind TD experience. UPDATED!

Update: I’ll be honest...I showed my wife this game after my initial review and I now RARELY get to play it :( . Every time I try to play...SHE HIJACKS MY IPAD! What’s worse is that she is much better than me at the game and by the time I get it back...the iPad needs to be charged. Nonetheless, she’s mentioned that that the addition of Skull Island is awesome and I concur (having seen her enjoying it on many occasions). Who knows, with any luck (for me), Santa will be bringing her an Apple device very soon ;) . Thanks again...I think. LOL! P.S. The Halloween update was also excellent...wish there was a way to change it back to the Halloween theme in the settings- WE LOVED IT! Original: Build your defenses and stave off evil elements in this engrossing pixelated beauty. Unlike all other tower defense games, this one literally brings you down to ground level in more ways than you can imagine. From the very beginning, each player starts as a proverbial infant. No matter your skill level, you'll be tapping on everything to see how it works and progresses. The game begins before your kingdom is built and it's a rogue-like, so get used to starting over but take your experiences as bits of wisdom because it's what you could do next time that makes this game so intriguing. The gameplay is nestled so comfortably in such an intimate setting, I often find myself forgetting that this is a tower defense game. For someone who has become bored with the genre, I am thoroughly impressed.