For the King?
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| Source // Nintendo |
We've all been there. We've all dreamed about ruling the world with an iron fist. It'd always be a better place if we were in charge, bossing the citizens around like the little tyrants we are. But we've never quite had a game that gives us that same feeling.
Sure, we can be powerful warriors that might as well be rulers, or command grand armies, and even build entire cities, but nothing captures the daydreams of a young kid quite like Little King's Story, a game described as - brace yourselves - a real-time strategy life simulation role-playing game for the Nintendo Wii.
Give me the crown already.
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| Source // Nintendo |
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| Source // Nintendo |
Fun Times
Little King's Story was one of that last titles for the 1001 list that I found out in the wild, in a charity shop in Edinburgh somewhere. Stockbridge, if memory serves. The guy behind the counter forgot to put the disc in when he was selling it to me.
Anyway, it was a title that I knew nothing about and, to be honest, it was the kind of game I wasn't exactly keen on. It did, after all, look like a kids game, and it was on the Wii.
It starts off with some painterly intro movies and an actual child voice, if I'm to believe my own notes from however many years ago this was - probably 2020, but we all know how long that year was. I couldn't tell you if these screenshots from the eShop are from that intro, but they give you an idea of the art style which is soon to change quite a lot.
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| Source // Nintendo |
You are King Corobo, and you're either bored or miserable, I don't remember at all. The point is, your kingdom is rubbish, and you desire treasure. You're not an adventurer, though. You're a king. King's do not do 'getting treasure', someone else does all that. You, as king, just reap the rewards of everyone living underneath you, of which there are many - and they're yours to command.
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| Source // Steam |
And therein lies the core mechanic of Little King's Story. Walk up to a citizen, any one of them, and ask them to join your party and they will. Better yet, command them to fulfil a certain role, such as soldier or farmer, and they'll do that too, each job having its own abilities and skillsets for you to make use of as you point your sceptre and bark out your orders.
Break through this obstacle to expand the kingdom's borders, attack that fearsome monster to defend the citizens from attack. Meanwhile, you hang safely at the back watching the action unfold and your power grow.
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| Source // Steam |
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| Source // Nintendo |
Your citizens aren't slaves, though, and will, through the aid of a suggestions box, try to influence you towards creating a certain building to train new job applicants, for example. According to the 1001 writeup, you're even given quandaries such as build a church or face God's wrath, which is quite the conundrum for a five-year-old child to mull over.
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| Source // Nintendo |
Frustrations
Now, I never got that far. I played Little King's Story for an hour or so, surprisingly, but my notes are generally words to the effect of "this would make much more sense if I knew why I was doing any of it."
I was exploring my surroundings and slowly working out how various units worked, and even encountered some giant crabs to run from - or maybe they were normal sized crabs and we're teeny tiny Pikmin-like people, I'm not yet sure.
But at no point in my lengthy introduction to the kingdom did I get the point of Little King's Story. I couldn't even tell you the plot, save for a young boy dreaming he was king.
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| Source // Nintendo |
Skimming the plot section of its Wikipedia entry does raise an eyebrow, though, but in more of a "Huh, interesting" way than an "I've got to play that" one.
Final Word
I really can't tell you much more about Little King's Story than that. After an hour of playing I was surprised I had played as much as I did, so it must have been somewhat interesting, probably because of how weird it was, not quite RPG, not quite RTS.
Controls? I don't read any notes saying I had any complaints, so I guess it wasn't full of Wiimote nonsense. The only real issue I had was not really knowing what to do, or aim for. I suppose that comes with a bit more of the plot taking place, and some more exploration to some further afield, well, fields.
I came out of my time with it thinking it was a chill game, something you could just have on and keep busy with, and when the 1001 write up lists Harvest Moon as an inspiration, it starts to click a little more.
Little King's Story is escapism. You're the boss, go make your kingdom the best in town. You may micromanage the locals and have to pay attention to their suggestions, but you ultimately do what you want to do, unlike Animal Crossing, for example, and it's done with an RTS/RPG hybrid that works.
I guess I'll have to play more of this to see what I think for sure because most of this is coming from old notes that don't tell me enough about what was going on in my own head. The only problem with that is that I can't be bothered to get the Wii out. A game has to be really good to warrant that much effort, and Little King's Story is interesting, certainly, but just not interesting enough.
Yet? Who knows. Things might change in time. I might want to rule the world but need the practice.
Fun Facts
Some of the monsters you face come from a community contest where people were asked to design an 'Unidentified Mysterious Animal'. I don't know if I've encountered any winners yet, but I was absolutely laying the smackdown on some turnips at one point...
Little King's Story, developed by Cing, Town Factory, first released in 2009.
Version played: Nintendo Wii, 2009.