The Kingdom franchise has been around for several years now. A 2D side scroller resource management sim was first released back in 2015. It gained a ton of popularity for its simplicity and addictive gameplay. I definitely enjoyed each of the released games but never played them all long enough to beat them. They were fun, but honestly, the aesthetic was meh for me overall.
When Kingdoms Eighties was announced, I was absolutely interested. The 80s-style Stranger Things vibe was enough for me to wishlist the game on Steam and to wait for it patiently.
A big thing for me was I knew that this game was going to be perfect for the Steam Deck, and I needed more games at the time to jump on it. When the game launched back in June of 2023, it was an instant buy. I downloaded it on my Deck and it was a deep obsession of mine for days. I put the game on normal difficulty and just binged it. I was playing it while I cooked dinners, was lying down in bed, and even took it with me on the road when I was working. It was such an easy game to pick up and play on a portable device.
You play as a kid at camp when the well-known Greed enemies show up and start terrorizing the camp and nearby city. As a young kid who apparently has some sort of connection with the past rulers of the previous games, are the only one who can lead the charge to defeat the Greed and take back your town. You’ll do this by upgrading your fort with turrets and walls, recruiting other kids to run the camp for you while you collect the coins, and also expand outwards, taking more territory for yourself, and unlocking new secrets and modes of transportation. Instead of horses, there are bikes and skateboards. The further you expand out, the easier it will be to find the boss area and take out the spawns of the Greed. You’ll also recruit other kids that will help you on your journey. Like the athlete, the nerd, and the engineer.
The aesthetic is what really got me. I love the vibes and the music. I had also just finished the latest season of Stranger Things at the time, so I was all about it. I believe this was actually the first game that introduced cutscenes, and visually stunning ones at that. There’s no proper voice acting, but it really doesn’t take away from anything for the game.
I really enjoyed Kingdoms Eighties. It was fun, easy to play, and a quick run at that. I was able to beat the game over a few days playing relatively passively. I didn’t unlock all the achievements or secrets, but I’m fine with that. There have been several new updates for it, mostly in the form of challenges that they call Mix Tapes. It’s been a while since I played the game proper, but maybe after all this time I might jump in and throw the game on easy mode and just run through it at my leisure.
If you have played the previous Kingdoms games, I think you’ll really enjoy Eighties. It’s short and sweet, looks amazing, and plays fantastic. Especially on the Steam Deck. If you have the option, I absolutely recommend playing it there.
The Tired Obsidian 
Leave a comment