I have two young daughters, which means that I read a lot of bedtime stories. I love picture books nowadays; they are full of fantasy and challenge everything I thought about fairytales. The influences of other cultures and global representations of authors benefit the world of literature. The spreading of books and media became much more accessible (especially regarding children’s stories). So, when The Cruel King and the Great Hero dropped, I was psyched since it looked straight out of a picture book. Want to hear a story?
A Bedtime Story
A fearsome dragon is known as the Demon King, and he once ruled over the entire world, that is, until a young, courageous hero dethroned him… Not wishing to take the Demon King’s life, the hero instead severed one of the Demon King’s two horns—the source of all his power. As the dragon lay dejected and wounded, the hero accompanied him in the days following as he healed. With each passing day, the Demon King became less terrifying, and before they knew it, the two —once adversaries— became friends.
However, on one faithful day, the hero sustained a fatal wound. He asked one final favor from his friend, the dragon: to raise his child well. Clutched in his arms was his infant daughter. The Demon King was never more sure about anything else in his life. This girl would be his chance at redemption. The Demon King kept his word. The girl would then be raised under the wings of the Dragon King; the former wicked tyrant turned father. The girl loved listening to tales of her birth father’s many adventures from the Dragon King, even wishing that she would become a hero herself one day. The Dragon King knew this day would come. “Yuu will become a great hero.”—If you were to defeat me one day, then so be it.”
An RPG right in the childhood
And, time for bed, good night, end of the review. “Nooo, tell us more!”. Oke fine, I’ll tell you about the gameplay and other elements I found interesting. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is an RPG at heart, and fans of Paper Mario, Final Fantasy, and other J-RPGs will feel right at home. It follows the standard formula of grinding your way through turn-based battles, in which you attack with either an attack or a special attack. You can also opt to use an item to heal/damage or flee the fight if the adversary seems too scary. However, The Cruel King and the Great Hero borrow a bit from Undertale to add to the unique gameplay mix (the ‘hero is a slight girl angle). You can opt to release enemies you are fighting if you weaken them enough (or satisfy them by finding out their guilty pleasure). Either way grants Yuu (and her current sidekick) XP and Shells to spend on items.
It sounds like the run-of-the-mill RPG. Well, it sort of is, but it offers the coming-of-age angle in a world full of monsters with a foster parent-dragon. Our friendly neighborhood dragon even follows Yuu around in the world (you can often see him lurking in the background) and helps Yuu activate specific special attacks. She probably thinks she is doing all the hard work herself, but a good old Dragon-dad keeps an eye on her, just like he promised. What follows is a journey through gorgeous settings where Yuu has to solve all sorts of problems. From finding a cure for a fox family to solving a crisis between bees and bears.
Acts of Kindness
Next to the fantastic main story (which I won’t spoil, work your way through it), Yuu can complete so-called acts of kindness (side quests). These acts delve into the colorful bunch of side characters you meet along the way. One of the quests involves finding strange edibles for a lizard named Nathan. Unfortunately, Nathan tried to eat me the first time I spoke to him, but luckily this is a game viewed from a child’s perspective – so the whole thing is solved with humor. And that’s the great thing about The Cruel King and the Great Hero – everything is done with flair and humor, so it’s a perfect entry for gamer-parents that want to introduce their children to the world of RPGs (and not start them off with Xenoblade).
The off-side
However, it’s not all great and goodie-yippie-yoohoo. The progress in-game feels slow and a bit stale at times. Yes, I recommend that you finish the acts of kindness before progressing through with the main story. But, this also means that you will have to go back and forth a lot (and I mean a lot). Even with monsters bane (repellent), you will have to battle through many random battles to gain the items you need for the acts. This is great for leveling your character, but it puts a lid on plowing through the game – which an excellent old-fashioned picture book needs a bit to function. I also found a few translation mistakes, which made the context weird, but nothing game-breaking. But, since it’s close to your bedtime now, I’ll wrap up the story and let you go off to dreamland.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a great RPG, both for the beginning RPG players and the seasoned players. It offers challenging gameplay but never gets too hard or too easy. In addition, it provides a significant element of ‘choose your gameplay, which comes with rewards if you complete certain assets. At the time of writing this review, I’m still knee-deep into the game and can’t wait to finish Yuu’s story – but as I said, it takes quite a bit of time to work your way through the story, and I want to enjoy this game at the pace the developers set for it. So, off to bed, you go so that I can continue my playthrough.
