Kingdom Two Crowns

 Switch
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Nintendojo
    Mar 29, 2022
    100
    Kingdom Two Crowns is easily one of my favorite games and keeps me coming back again and again even without updates. It’s a game where starting fresh can feel great, but progress and advancement is rewarding. It took an already engaging and memorable game, Kingdom New Lands, and developed it into a well balanced multiplayer experience. It’s three versions in one are a stellar deal and the Norse Lands DLC is so much more than a cherry on top. For fantasy, strategy, and indie fans, Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands is a must.
  2. GameSpace
    Dec 12, 2018
    90
    Kingdom Two Crowns is an ideal sequel, and the perfect console strategy game. There's nothing here that anyone can't pick up and understand, and yet the rabbit hole goes deep and the mystery slowly unfolds as you progress into the game's many lands. It's a great game for the solo player, and even better with a friend. Do yourself a favor, and pick it up and love it as I have.
  3. NintendoWorldReport
    Dec 11, 2018
    90
    Even though the experience is strictly two-dimensional, has no menus, and essentially no on-screen text, the deep level of strategy that cooks underneath is nothing short of mesmerizing. While at times the difficulty can seem very intense, and all seems lost, Kingdom Two Crowns is designed so you can rebuild your empire after the toughest of invasions or the coldest of winters - and all achieved by the simplest of decrees: to build, expand, and defend.
  5. PLAY! Zine
    Jul 8, 2019
    85
    A fun and interesting premise, that makes you play "just one more day“, shines in co-op but frustrates in single player mode.
  6. Vandal
    Jan 4, 2019
    85
    Two Crows is a fresh entry in the series, that keeps its core and expands it with new ideas. It’s different from the main episodes, but it is worth a try.
  7. Multiplayer.it
    Dec 14, 2018
    85
    With delightful graphics and a good gaming experience, Kingdom Two Crowns is the perfect game for your holidays on the couch.
  8. Switch Player
    Jan 14, 2019
    80
    Despite the many similarities to its predecessor, Kingdom: Two Crowns is a minimalistic town-management game that still holds many wonders. With the addition of couch co-op and many improvements, this can be seen as the definitive edition of the series.
  9. Cubed3
    Jan 9, 2019
    80
    Kingdom Two Crowns brings deceptively complex strategy and empire building to the Switch, in as well a presented package as you can find. While some obtuse and unclear mechanics may turn some players off, others will no doubt welcome the challenge, and embrace this new world which they ought to conquer. Punctuated by stunning visuals, and rewarding gameplay and discovery, Kingdom Two Crowns offers some of the finest strategy gameplay available on the Switch.
  10. TheSixthAxis
    Jan 7, 2019
    80
    Kingdom Two Crowns feels more like an extensive update than a new entry to the series, but the base game is still so immensely enjoyable that it doesn’t really matter. This is the perfect starting point for new players, and those who are returning might still be surprised by some of the secrets to be found.
  11. Digitally Downloaded
    Dec 17, 2018
    80
    It may not be for everyone, but if you’re thinking you might like it, you’re probably right, so long as you don’t mind the learning curve. Even with its slow pace, its charming presentation and looming challenge will pull you back for more.
  12. Nintendo Life
    Dec 13, 2018
    80
    Kingdom Two Crowns offers a hell of a view, but you may find its brand of light strategy too sedate if you’re not one to ‘smell the roses’. Give it a chance, though, and it really grows on you. Disappointing framerate aside, it’s a great introduction to the series, and valuable split-screen co-op adds a fresh, more relaxing dimension to its tower defence. If you bounced off New Lands, this won’t win you over, but if the last game piqued your interest but passed you by, Two Crowns is a much easier recommendation.

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best Switch Game of 2018

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 40
  3. Negative: 7 out of 40
  1. SSCheetah
    Dec 31, 2018
    4
    It's not an awful game, but honestly it just isn't very fun. The pace is infuriatingly slow (it takes forever just for you to move around) andIt's not an awful game, but honestly it just isn't very fun. The pace is infuriatingly slow (it takes forever just for you to move around) and you spend the majority of your time just waiting for money to come in so you can actually do something. Or you wait forever for things to build. It's like Clash of Clans or something.

    Many elements of the game are extremely frustrating. For example, once you build a guard tower or a ship, your archers are stuck inside that for the rest of the game, so too bad if you need them to defend your borders from enemy attacks later. The game also does next to nothing to explain to you what everything does. Some things are self-explanatory or can be inferred, but not everything. I spent a gem to unlock this hermit girl who was immediately attacked and kidnapped. Would've been good if the game could let me know spending that gem would release a kidnappable human BEFORE I wasted it. Learning the hard way is great IRL but this is a GAME, isn't it supposed to be fun? The pace gets even slower as you get close to conquering an island as people seem to stop spawning entirely, making it impossible to continue doing anything, especially if you have died and respawned with few workers already, basically breaking your game. (Unless I've missed something, once you expand past the spawn points for recruits, you can't get any more so if you have no builders at that point you can never build again.) It's a catch 22 because you need to expand out to win, but expanding out eliminates the resources you need to be able to win.

    Incredibly frustrating that this game feels so broken in its mechanics and there are so many ways you can get yourself in a situation where it's impossible to progress, or you spend 90% of your time waiting around for something to happen.

    Graphics are also quite lacking in my opinion. I grow very weary of this modern fad for everything to look like a SNES game. It's 2018 for goodness sake, can't developers make games that actually look nice?

    Finally, it's still early days for this game, but there are few bugs and glitches so even if you're interested might be worth waiting until the patch comes out in early 2019.

    I got sucked into buying this by all the extremely positive reviews here on Metacritic so I guess this review is a counterpoint to that. I'm sure it's great for some people but if you don't like slow-paced, frustrating strategy games that feel like mobile base-building games but with worse graphics, don't buy this. I feel like it has the potential to be something awesome (the fundamental concepts of resource management, defense and expansion, and simplicity of it are great) but somehow it just does't actually work together into a satisfying experience due to how easy it is for your progress to be blocked.    … Full Review »
  2. javo01
    Dec 16, 2018
    10
    Kingdom Two Crowns in a nutshell: minimalistic 2-player kingdom development/exploration/survival game with beautiful music and graphics thatKingdom Two Crowns in a nutshell: minimalistic 2-player kingdom development/exploration/survival game with beautiful music and graphics that will keep you hooked playing for many many hours.

    In this game you can become a monarch and build a kingdom up from its ruins. The controls are very simple: you can trot/gallop with your horse left and right, and you can drop coins/gems to interact with the world. For example, turning a beggar into a peasant requires you to give him a gold coin. Cutting a tree requires allocating a gold coin on it, and so on. You can upgrade your camp and buy weapons/tools for your peasants to have jobs. You cannot control your followers, they will do as they think best to accomplish the tasks you request (via investing gold coins on stuff), and sometimes they'll be dumb and not do exactly what you want, but I guess that's just a bit of realism right there. There is no undo button (or any buttons for that matter), so you must be strategic and think carefully before you build stuff around.

    Yes, the game is very similar to the previous version(s), Kingdom New Lands. But when something is working amazingly, why fix it? Same graphics, mostly same sounds, new music and objects in the world, more upgrades, a new variant (Shogun kingdom - mostly skin, but also some character roles) and a new playstyle, but above all, the most wonderful addition to the game is the capability for 2 players to rule the kingdom with a split screen! Now my wife and I don't have to take turns, we just play together and that is as awesome as anything can get.

    I am impressed by how smoothly the game runs on split screen. There are slight frame rate drops when you build really large armies, just as there were in the previous version of the game, but this hasn't hindered play for us at all.

    There are also a couple of bugs as I could expect from any recent release. The most notable one is the "hermit bug", where some key characters will wander off the camp when they shouldn't, or simply disappear right in front of your eyes. That can be frustrating, but we've only experienced it once, then read that others experienced it too. I'm assuming devs are aware of this and will fix this in a future update.

    I'm not saying anything else as to not spoil the fun of the game. If you haven't played this game and it piques your curiosity, I'd advice you to give it a shot and not look for much information online; figuring out what things do on your own will is so much more fun than reading about it on a wiki. That's how we've been exploring the new objects in the game and we've been having a blast. I'm sure most of you would, too.    … Full Review »
  3. nortoons
    May 1, 2020
    9
    This is one of my favorite games on the Switch, though I concede that it's not going to be everybody's kind of game. Strategy games don't getThis is one of my favorite games on the Switch, though I concede that it's not going to be everybody's kind of game. Strategy games don't get much simpler than this, yet I've found myself pouring dozens of hours into both the classic and Shogun campaigns. Perhaps it's because of this simplicity that the game has such long legs. There is a certain satisfaction to beating back the hordes of greed each night while methodically pushing your kingdom's borders a bit further each day.

    If I had any complaints, it's that the Skull Island and other individual campaigns are painfully difficult, while I find the main game more zen and relaxing. However, they at least give you something else to do. I also really prefer riding the gryphon over every other mount, so I guess I wish there was more of an incentive to use other mounts, but that's no big deal. I found the controls and gameplay to be easy to learn and never clunky or frustrating. Everything generally makes sense, though searching for some basic tips might improve your overall enjoyment of the game.

    It's something I enjoy returning to play now and then.    … Full Review »
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