Legends of Kingdom Rush Review (PC)

Gerald Lightseeker moves towards the big enemy ogre and then drops his Shield of Retribution around my Ranger, making sure that an enemy archer cannot hurt him. My Barbarian them makes short work of two low-rank opponents and moves towards a priest that can heal enemy units. Finally, I drop a fireball with my Arcane Wizard to weaken a group of three enemies that are moving toward Gerald.

It’s not the opponent’s force time to move and I hope that the armor of my Paladin is enough to keep them occupied, with my shield as a backup option for the Ranger. Next turn I plan to focus on the big ogre, even if that means taking some damage from his underlings.

Legends of Kingdom Rush is developed and published by Ironhide Game Studio. I played on the PC using Steam. A version of the game is also offered on Apple Arcade. The title mixes turn-based battles with a modern rogue-lite structure.

The story is limited, focused on adventurers who need to battle a wide variety of foes, including a cosmic threat, to save their kingdom. Fans of the Kingdom Rush setting might get more out of the narrative, but I never felt any sort of connection to the heroes or their universe. Even named heroes, like starter Gerald, fail to stand out from the ranks. The writing is mostly decent and some of the jokes elicited a smile.

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But the focus of Legends of Kingdom Rush is on the gameplay. The player party, which can include up to four heroes, will spend most of their time engaged in combat against a variety of enemy forces. The action is turn and grid-based. Characters have one move and one attack, with gamers also able to choose when and how to deploy special abilities. The game rewards good planning and careful execution. Try to limit the number of enemies that can hit during their turn, make sure to use environmental hazards to your advantage, and deploy powerful spells at the right time.

When they are not engaged members of the party travel through a randomly generated map, filled with points of interest that will be familiar to players. Merchants offer useful items (healing is always a priority), blacksmiths that can boost armor, other heroes to recruit, and more. Some of the nodes, as well as random events, ask players to choose between heroes that will contribute a die to a roll to determine success or failure. It’s an interesting mechanic that is not developed enough, unfortunately.

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Battles and random events deliver rewards that include hero experience, used to level them up to boost stats and get access to extra special abilities for the run. Permanent unlocks are linked to levels of mastery that increase by using a particular hero. Legends of Kingdom Rush also locks most of its cast at the start, challenging players to achieve certain milestones to get access to the likes of Bravebark (100 adventure nodes need to be explored). The developers really want players to move through the same adventures again and again to get to see everything their game has to offer.

The best parts of Legends of Kingdom Rush are the tactical battles, especially after each character has gained at least one level and special ability. Some difficulty spikes seem unfair, but the balance is solid most of the time. Enemies come with their own quirks and it’s a pleasure to exploit their weakness and use special powers to keep as many of them out of the fight while dealing with the rest. Unfortunately, there’s very little in the way of innovation, in or out of combat.

Legends of Kingdom Rush has a decent presentation but does not impress in any way. Information about characters, enemies, and attacks is easy to read and understand. The campaign maps have some fun details. Everything is functional and there’s nothing that impressed me. The comic book-like story scenes are pretty cool. The sound design is on the same level, and I quickly replaced the soundtrack with my own playlist to make the action move exciting.

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The Good

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