Just when Cateia Games seemed to have their bag filled with too many Point-and-Click adventures, they’ve come up with a game that doesn’t quite fit their portfolio. As much as I was surprised seeing Kingdom Tales, a strategic time-management game, I was left with more after completing it. Not very long ago, I was fatally disappointed with their previous strategy game, Fate of The Pharaoh. I felt geared up to criticize Kingdom Tales at its worse. The game, however, didn’t let me do so.

Unlike most strategy games, Kingdom Tales starts a story and directs the player through numerous missions, till its end. This story tells of an ancient prophecy of an alliance between mankind and dragons. An alliance once broken by men is now in the hands of a brave King. As the King players must ensure the safety and happiness of his people and creatures, constructing structures and providing supplies. The King must seek out and explore new lands to find his way to the dragons. On this journey, he comes across fairies, druids and ogres, and must ensure their welfare with supplies and structures to proceed.

Gameplay of Kingdom Tales consists of two basic elements. Producing materials and building structures within the given time. A tutorial at the beginning of the game familiarizes players with the basics, and also sets of the story. It takes a total of 45 missions, in nine different scenarios, to complete the story. At the beginning of each mission the King’s advisor tells him what the inhabitants require, and the player must deliver those in time. There are rewards when these missions are completed within the allotted time, but the game continues even after the time expires, while players only miss out the achievements. Not every mission is for building communities, as some are for rebuilding wrecked structures, or gathering materials.

During each mission players gather four types of objects: gold, materials, magic power, and happiness. Gold is paid out by the inhabitants, once a player has built them shelter in the form of tent, cottage, house, or resident. Each of these structure types can be upgraded to a three-star level, costing both gold and material, but paying more gold when upgraded. All construction during the game requires a hefty amount of materials, with the only source for materials being the Stonecutter. There are four worker types to command to conduct city management. Bankers collect gold from houses and the market, architects build and upgrade all structures, archmages heal, and Heroes fight the creatures. They can be promoted to higher ranks once they have gained enough experience, once so, the momentum of their work increases. The inhabitants require a steady supply of water and food that can be provided by building a well and firm. As there is very limited space for constructions, one well and a firm are sufficient for providing all the houses. Icons for gold, water and food appear on top of each house, and when they light up, players click on them for collection. When a house runs out of food or water, it simply stops producing gold. Houses are the main source of gold, and when one house stops producing gold, the whole mission can be jeopardized.

As the story reaches its climax, difficulty also increases. Each mission comes with additional conditions such as constructing special structures, cleaning out the roads blocked by creatures, or gathering a given amount of supplies. This requires solid planning before mapping the constructions and keeping a firm eye on the production. The game isn’t only about constructing buildings, but requires constant click on the icons appear on top of the building. A blend of managing the constructions and clicking the icons slowly becomes the soul of the game. With so little time given for each mission, this truly is a challenging task to maintain. There are other types of buildings such as the Market that help increase  gold, or the Pavilion that decreases the demand of food and water. But with only a few given spots to build the structures, players must use them wisely for mapping the constructions.

Even though each mission comes with separate objectives, the game severely lacks in providing variation in terms of choices a player can make. When a player has choices for construction, but is forced to build only what’s needed. This is a basic measure of time-management, but when stated as a strategy game, this game feels more like a puzzler. Another drawback is the length of the maps. If Cateia Games truly intends to invite strategy fans, such as myself, to play their games, they must take the difficultly to a higher level. If I’m to enjoy a strategy game, I want it to test my skills to their maximum. It took me less than 6 hours to complete all 45 missions with every achievement unlocked, and I didn’t even sweat.

There are still elements in the game that can be considered enjoyable. Even though it’s easy to figure the tactics for completing each mission, playing them still felt fun. For someone who enjoys strategy puzzlers, Kingdom Tales can be the game for short-term venture.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed @SarwarRon