Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

 PC
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. PC Invasion
    Jul 29, 2019
    70
    Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has a lot going for it, but its frustrations and pacing issues are a detriment to the overall experience.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 38
  3. Negative: 1 out of 38
  1. Fuz
    Aug 21, 2019
    8
    So. I completed the game, here's a quick review.

    Bottom line: I love it, it's amazing and it has great design for the most part. But it has    So. I completed the game, here's a quick review.

    Bottom line: I love it, it's amazing and it has great design for the most part. But it has problems, and it can be pointlessly irritating without never really being difficult.
    The art style is fantastic. It falls occasionally in the "flash vibe" that I find extremely offputting, but it's very limited and the wonderful art direction and amazing animations completely make up for it. It's really pleasant to the eye, with the detailed characters and vibrant colors that never go off-theme. Beautiful.
    The controls are pretty thight and responsive, you always feel completely in control of your character - except in a few certain particular situations that can lead to frustration (more of this later). Combat is pretty simple, you click and you thrust your sword, plus the various trasformations have puzzle-solving abilities that can also be used in combat. Old school, simple, effective. I like it, but it's probably a matter of taste: my friend found it too simplicistic and didn't like it at all. I put an accent on "thrust" and this is important: since you don't swing the sword (so you don't make an arc) but just hit right in front of you, combat against flying enemies can be pretty annoying. Especially when they decide to hit you going through walls. Quite annoying.
    The game starts like a classic platform-metroidvania... but this is somewhat deceiving. The more you progress, the more the accent is put on the puzzles and less on the platforming and exploration. After a certain point, every room is a puzzle room. The game changes A LOT after that certain point. And that point is the volcano. Man, **** the volcano and whoever designed that **** Anyway, this big change is the biggest downside in my eyes, since it makes the game kind of stressful and some "easy" connection room would have helped in relieving the stress of the constant puzzles. Let's add that the puzzles are often an exercise on frustration with no real difficulty, just plain "trial and error" that can get extremely annoying without really adding anything worthwile. Examples: as I said before, the controls are thight but not while jumping and "bouncing" on enemies, and there are a few puzzles where you are asked to do just that that quickly lead to frustration: jump, jump, you fall, you go back up, jump, jump, you fall et cetera. Both me and my friend found this really annoying and pointless. And let's not even talk about the puzzle where you have to freeze the fireballs. There's a puzzle where you follow some currents underwater, it's technically quite easy BUT if you are just a pixel too high or too low you get sucked in by another current and dragged all the way to the beginning. Irritating. Sometimes you really feel that the game is trying its best to just irritate you for no reason.
    Another little thing that annoyed me quite a lot: you find the last upgrade for the best gear at the very end of the room before the final boss' room. Really, what's the ****ing point? This leaves zero space to enjoy that hard-earned gear.
    I realize that, me being me, I talked way more about the downsides but overall the game is great fun, it's cheerful and light-hearted, it's most of the time a joy to play and explore and I liked it a lot... just be careful that can sometimes be an irritating chore.

    P.S.
    **** the volcano.
    Oh, by the way. My friend left the game at the mansion (the zone just after the volcano) because he were annoyed by the mirror puzzles: in his word that was pointless busywork and he just didn't care anymore.    … Full Review »
  2. MaxmilianKohler
    Sep 23, 2019
    6
    Would not recommend for most people.

    Keyboard/mouse controls are bugged and frequently don't register inputs. The game is probably better    Would not recommend for most people.

    Keyboard/mouse controls are bugged and frequently don't register inputs. The game is probably better with a controller.

    Other annoying bugs in the game.

    The bugs make it so that some solutions seem impossible until you see them solved and you realize you just have to keep trying to overcome the bug.

    The further I get in the game, the more I'm convinced the people who made this game are a** holes.

    They also waste your time with stupid stuff at some points.

    If you like doing things over and over and over and over and over and over again, this is the game for you.

    Frequently nondescript and often nonsensical. There is a useful instruction booklet that is not included inside the game menu. I discovered it after "completing" the game.

    I don't really like the aspect that you can be trying to "solve a puzzle" not knowing that it's not solvable till later in the game.

    If you just want to relax and have fun I wouldn't recommend this.

    If you're desperate for an extremely cryptic multidimensional puzzle game to challenge you, then you'd probably like this. If you think life isn't hard, frustrating, and stressful enough so you need games to make up for the missing hardship, then pick this one.

    I interpret this game as the developers making a personal attack on my well-being.    … Full Review »
  3. SNESFanForever
    Jul 31, 2019
    10
    Played it until the 100% on Switch before. This game is so fantastic I had to buy it day-1 on PC to 100% it again. Monster Boy is one of myPlayed it until the 100% on Switch before. This game is so fantastic I had to buy it day-1 on PC to 100% it again. Monster Boy is one of my favorite Metroidvanias of all time so don't miss this adventure-filled pure gem!… Full Review »
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