Kingdom of Arcadia - PS5 Platinum Review

Kingdom of Arcadia is an old-school pixel art 2D platformer where you control a character called Sam who has been sucked into his dad's old arcade machine. The only way to escape from the video game world is to fight his way through a variety of castles and dungeons, finding magical scepters which can unlock teleporters back home.

For Platinum, the game requires you to complete the first 2 worlds (10 levels, plus 2 boss fights) and collect 10 secrets which are often hidden behind breakable walls. As you slay enemies, they'll drop coins which can be used to purchase upgrades to your health, sword and throwing weapon. The game is fairly well balanced where any of the upgrades will prove beneficial, but you do need at least one of each upgrade for trophy purposes, however fully upgraded throwing weapons are a great help with boss fights and ranged enemies so personally I'd prioritise them.

The Platinum is unlocked after completing the first 12 levels providing you do all of the misc trophy requirements too, but there's still plenty of the game to see if you want to keep playing after that.

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Overview

• Release Date: 14th April, 2021
• Publisher: eastasiasoft
• Developer: Spoonbox Studio, Ratalaika Games
• Date Started: 16th April, 2021
• Date Completed: 16th April, 2021
• Version Played: Digital
• Price: £4.99 (PS4 & PS5 Version Bundle)

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The Good

• The game is a lot of retro-styled fun.
• Once you've collected coins, secrets or activated switches, they stay collected even if you die. This means that if you get far through a level and die, there's often a shortcut unlocked to get back quickly. You can also farm coins by killing enemies, dying and replaying some of the level.
• Two Platinums for £4.99 is decent value for money.
• The gameplay and controls are simple and smooth and some of the levels are quite large.

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The Bad

• There are a few glitches which blocked my progress. Certain rooms will lock once you enter and require you to kill all of the enemies before they unlock, however if you manage to kill one of the enemies before you actually fully enter the room, the game doesn't seem to count the enemies correctly and the doors won't unlock once the rest of them are dead meaning you've got to go back to the shop to get out of it and restart the level over.
• If you have a turbo controller and mash Square when buying items, the shop will actually charge you multiple times for items that you can't afford. I ended up on -1000 coins at one point and had to play quite a lot of levels just to get back to 0. Basically don't do this!
• The writing and dialog either hasn't been translated properly or is just fairly poor English, but you get the general gist of what is happening.

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Hardest Trophy

• Magic Scepter 2 - Get the second magic scepter.

This trophy requires you to beat the 2nd boss which is quite a difficult fight. The best solution is to max out your throwing weapon and make sure you have at least 30 of them, then just avoid his attacks a few times and spam him with axes and he'll go down pretty quick.

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Helpful Tips / Bugs / Glitches / Exploits

No actual exploits, but using a turbo controller will allow you to swing your sword and throw daggers much faster. You can also farm coins quite easily by killing enemies then restarting the level either by dying or warping back to the shop and back. If anything is too challenging, just farm coins and buy upgrades. When you get hit by an enemy you become invincible for a few seconds which is often enough time to run past any hazards or kill most enemies so don't be afraid of getting hit and using that to your advantage.

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Platinum Difficulty Rating - 4/10

I did die quite a few times. I wouldn't say this was exactly an easy Platinum. With a bit of time and some grinding coins for upgrades it gets much easier but if you're trying to rush through the game as quickly as possible, it can be quite challenging.

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Platinum Time - 2 Hours

I played through on PS4 first and assumed that would make it quicker and easier on my second run on PS5, but the levels can take around 10-15 minutes to finish without deaths. You might actually be better off replaying some of the earlier levels a few times to pick up some extra coins for upgrades. Lucky players might be able to get the Platinum in under an hour but it's more fun and easier if you take it a bit slower.

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Platinum Enjoyment Rating - 8/10

It was quite challenging. Certainly more than some of the other cheap indie games I've been playing recently, but I did enjoy it. It felt rewarding to unlock upgrades after slaying enough enemies for coins and thankfully it didn't require the whole game to be completed for the Platinum.

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Overall Game Rating - 8/10

There are a lot of games similar to this, but given the smooth controls and the fact your work isn't completely wiped out by dying, I thought it was quite enjoyable. It's definitely one of the better platformers I've played on PS5 and I'd recommend it to anyone.

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Platinum #553

Here are my most recent Platinum Trophies up to and including this game.

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