It's incredibly easy to overestimate the impact King's Field had when it was first released. It came out, didn't do too badly for itself at all, got a couple sequels on PS1 and PS2, and in the US at least that was it. The series did better in Japan, but it was hardly a sales juggernaut. But then King's Field evolved into Demons' Souls, Demons' Souls became Dark Souls, Dark Souls became Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, and somehow a weird little first-person RPG became the basis for a hugely-popular genre of action gaming. Even so, King's Field and Dark Souls had their differences, most notably a difference in player perspective, and if nobody else wants to use that viewpoint it seems only fair that Queen's Domain should pick up the brutal first-person fantasy adventure crown.
Queen's Domain released today on Steam and all the consoles, given a warm reception thanks to last winter's excellent demo. A prince washes ashore on a dangerous island with nothing but the clothes on his back, but a little exploration turns up the remains of a lost expedition that was meant to explore the ruins. All they've got for the prince is a rusty sword, more dangerous due to the risk of tetanus than any slicing capabilities, but it's still a heavy chunk of metal to beat the giant ladybug-rats and dragonflies infesting the path ahead. The island is by no means friendly to the unprepared, and as a level-one nobody the prince is most likely going to die quite a bit before experience lets him advance.
Like most games in its genre, Queen's Domain works from central save points that connects to multiple twisting paths in surprising ways, all of which have critters that are going to grind the poor prince into a fine paste. Death isn't the "reform back at the fire and make a run to get your stuff" that people are used to, though, but rather dead is dead and now you get to reload the last save. What this means is the first few encounters are going to end badly, and then you get a sense of the combat and how enemy attacks work, and get a little farther. Get a few levels, save and restart, and soon you've got a foothold on the world and can engage in proper exploration.
Combat is primarily melee-based, and you can equip three weapons at once and switch between them at will. The weapons are divided up by damage type, with edged (like swords) for Slash, blunt (clubs and maces) for Impact, and pointy (spears) for pierce. Defeating an enemy adds it to the bestiary, which lets you know its resistances and weaknesses, but so long as you're not using a weapon the enemy is strong against combat generally won't be too difficult. Once you get the hang of it, of course.
Just hitting the attack button is a bad idea, because even with a faster weapon combat is meant to be deliberate. You need to hold down the attack to charge it, while also luring the enemy to make its attack first so you've got a good window to strike back. Thankfully, charging doesn't slow down movement speed, so a little care in positioning will leave the enemy wide open without leaving you at a disadvantage during the setup. Additionally, ranged weapons are available for limited use, great for pinging distant threats or pulling aggro when you'd rather not fight three monsters at once.
While there's no shortage of combat, the real draw of this type of game isn't just hitting things but the environment you're hitting them in, and Queen's Domain has a fantastic island to explore. Caverns and crypts, soaring towers, paths along cliffs over the ocean, a cozy shop run by a duck-obsessed shopkeep, and plenty more keep the mood adventurous. Secrets, of course, are plentiful, and even pickups out in the open may not be all that obvious seeing as the occasional gleam of a coin is less "yellow paint" and more "there if you're paying attention". Queen's Domain is an intricate, dangerous world that seems far more unfair than it turns out to be, once you've figured it out, rewarding to explore and maybe even, with a little perseverance, evetually conquer.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://hardcoregamer.com/going-on-a-lovely-brutal-island-stroll-in-queens-domain-release-trailer/
