Kingdom Rush Frontiers is an interactive game developed by Ironhide Game Studio, a Uruguayan company founded by three people in 2010, which currently boasts a team of over twenty. You can recognize them by the Kingdom Rush Saga, available for web browsers (although not complete), for smartphones and on the digital video game distribution platforms Steam and GOG.
Gameplay
The dynamics and objectives of this genre are simple: the player must place various constructions along a path, to prevent the enemy from reaching a certain point. Failure to achieve this objective will lead to inevitable defeat, and the restart of the level played.
Generally, upgrades can be made to buildings, or they can evolve into new buildings, with increased defense and firepower. Always with the aim of preventing opponents from reaching the point. To fail in this arduous task, we’ll have the invaluable help of a hero.
This little avatar will help the player dive in, allowing him to imagine he’s in the game, and project himself into those few pixels that will give us the feeling of being the long-awaited hero who will save the world.
In-Game Heroes
To contribute to this immersion, the game offers a wide range of options: warriors, ninjas, pirates, warriors, wizards, martial arts masters, golems, dragons, and even monkeys. Although there is a wide range of options, greater representation of the female gender continues to be lacking, as male avatars predominate.
These heroic figures, like our battle towers, will be able to level up, learn new skills, and grow with us in this fun adventure.
Soldiers
Soldiers can’t afford to be mere cannon fodder in the game, whose sole function is to delay the advance of enemy units until units of archers, magicians, and gunners finish the unpleasant job. This great sacrifice of our units can cause a slight ludo narrative dissonance, since shortly after their death they will be replaced by exactly the same units (at least in the initial levels), or with small changes in appearance.
Despite this minor setback, the sacrifice of these soldiers will not be forgotten, as we will receive an achievement in troop training in a sort of monument to the fallen digital.
Graphics
For the graphics, there’s the aforementioned color palette, which gives it a cheerful, wild distinctive characteristic, contrasting with the title’s warlike tone. This makes it a game for all audiences, as the colors and graphics, rounded shapes, and thick lines give it a captivating look for all ages.
The game is fun and relaxed: the bright, cheerful color palette gives it a pleasant, deceptively childlike feel, as the game never ceases to represent a war, where our soldiers will die again and again.
Enemies
This doesn’t apply to the difficulty curve, as most levels suffer from the trial-and-error dynamic in order to complete them successfully. On many occasions, we’ll find unpleasant surprises, and enemies creating new avenues of attack, making us completely rethink the whole carefully planned strategy.
Similarly, we won’t know the composition of enemy waves until shortly before they appear, leaving no room for action or improvisation, as resources are limited and we need to know how to manage them wisely, or we’ll stand by helplessly contemplating how precious hearts, the life indicators, dramatically decrease to zero, causing us to lose and forcing us to repeat the level entirely.
Game levels
But it’s not all bad news in this respect, because as we pass each level successfully, we’ll be rewarded with up to three stars, which can be invested in upgrades for our towers and supports (the meteor shower and defense soldiers).
Once the three stars for each level are reached, we can replay them in special modes that will give us additional stars. These special modes will require you to pay closer attention to the screen than in Story mode, in which sometimes you’ll have to wait patiently for a few waves to pass to level up and upgrade towers.
All this dynamic will be done with a simple click, making it once again a game accessible to all audiences, due to its simple mechanics, although not the same with its difficulty curve, as I mentioned earlier in these lines.
Story mode
In the Story mode, we won’t have a succession of meaningless levels, but the study has been devoted to giving a theme and a story to each region and scenario. Before entering each region, we’ll be presented with a short story in comic format, perfectly uniting two narrative media.
On the other hand, before starting each level, there will be a small text introduction that will give us the necessary narrative context to put us in the role we have to play as a general charged with defending the place.
Languages
The game, which is developed by a Uruguayan team, is in multiple languages, although there are sometimes its own regionalisms, which can slightly break the dive when you first see it. Otherwise, the texts are impeccable, and full of references that will delight even the most veteran gamers.
To sum up, Kingdom Rush Frontiers is a game that hides a bit of strategic complexity beneath its cheerful, light-hearted exterior, and allows you to play both in long, multi-hour sessions and in small, fifteen-minute doses. A highly recommended game.
