Pros:

• All builds and styles of play are incredibly viable
• Gameplay is crisp
• Surprisingly well-optimized for the size and the engine behind it (UE5)
• Live map such that you see loot and mobs from the sky
• No downtime, you go from action to action to action if you want and get beefed up on a random boss journey
• Blends some of the best aspects of other games into a fun beast
• Exploring is incredibly rewarding, there is ALWAYS something hidden there

Cons:

• Function over form: the unifying theme of graphics isn’t there yet, most things work phenomenally well but those expecting a baked-in visual theme may not feel this meets those requirements
• Story progression through quests is limited and lore/story items are not in the world yet. It’s pretty interesting (especially with Aldric’s history) but it’s not completely implemented yet
• Limited number of vendors in the world right now, mostly vendors for spells, talent points, and attribute points


Heroic Kingdom embodies the spirit of early access. As someone who plays a fair amount of early access games, the developers for HK are more than a cut above the average in terms of focusing on the right things. Every community-facing element is run and managed directly by the devs. They are actively working on the game every single day to the point where you can regularly speak to them directly, watch their development process in real-time, and stream your gameplay to them so they see how folks play and experience the world.

This game is a love letter to fans of souls-likes, build customization, and looting. The re-playability is surprisingly akin to a roguelite. I started a game to run a Poison-Bleed build, found a Fel damage unique and spent the next 20 hours playing as a Corrupted Meteor summoner. I’m hoping to get back to Poison-Bleed but now I’m going to play a Void-Holy archer. No two play-throughs are the same, even if you build the exact same.

Visuals and graphics haven’t really found their unifying theme yet, though the graphics are solid and performance optimization is incredible for it running on UE. The weather effects and live map are very cool. I don’t see live maps often and this is woven into the game pretty naturally and immersively.

Content I can’t even comment on at this point. Every time I open Steam the game has an update that addresses numerous things, content is added 2-4 times a week typically. You can chat, ask, and/or recommend updates directly with/to the devs. Plenty left to be done and they’ll be the first to say there’s a lot more to go. But I dumped 50 hours into this game over 3 characters, and there’s at least 3 other builds I’m waiting to do, but I’m wrapped up in the current character at the moment.