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When the word platformer is mentioned among the gamer population, the first associations are the games where you must employ all your jumping and fast reaction skills to solve some hard courses set for you by the developers. Jump, duck, sprint, dash, and miss those actions for not a small amount of time, and that's pretty much everything that is about those games.
King of Meat is indeed a platformer, although a bit different and unusual one. You'll solve many platforming challenges, yes, but those will be set inside specific dungeons where you'll be tasked to pass a large number of deadly traps, and what's even more interesting, you'll be able to do all that alongside your friends all the time, in teams of up to four players.
Apart from platforming challenges, King of Meat features very sophisticated combat that even the most refined combat-related titles wouldn't be ashamed of. Add a pinch of refined British humour to the pile of these game characteristics, and the final product is poised to thrive, or is supposed to, if not for some game-breaking shortcomings.
Aren't You Entertained?
So let's start from the beginning. King of Meat doesn't feature a very sophisticated story, or more truly, the story exists, but I don't believe anyone will be interested in it. You'll be put in the shoes of the Contender, a character who was pulled out of prison to participate in bloody arena fights with a single goal in mind: to entertain huge masses and distract the people's attention from the real political problems in the kingdom.
Everything about the story is told in the very introduction of the game. After that, everything is just dungeons, traps, platforming, fighting, winning and losing. Once one dungeon is done, the next one awaits.
One good side of the storytelling, though, is the very good voice acting and the aforementioned charming British humour. Throughout your gameplay, you'll meet a lot of new characters; some of them will be classic NPCs that just fill up the empty space with only a single comment once you start a conversation with them. On the other hand, you'll meet a lot of merchants, trainers, and many other interactable NPCs, and every single one of them will be voiced.
It is really amazing how those NPCs, even though they don't have animations, only a still image you'll talk with, are such well-built characters with special characteristics and everything, and all that can be achieved thanks to great voice acting.
Since the story isn't the most important part of this game, I don't have the intention to talk about it any further. The shining star of King of Meat is, without doubt, its amazing gameplay, so let's give it proper attention.
The Dungeons Full of Fun and Bugs (Not the Real Ones)
As I mentioned earlier, King of Meat is some sort of platformer with very sophisticated combat. Seriously, the combat in this game is so well-designed and so flawless that you'll never get tired of it.
At the very beginning of the game, you'll receive a stick (part of the game's adorable charm) and an old shield made of rotting planks. As you progress through the game, you'll be prompted to participate in new events and visit new dungeons.
Each dungeon has three rewarding levels: bronze, silver and gold. Depending on how well you perform during the challenge (how many points you score, how much gold you gather), you'll score one of the trophies. The higher the trophy, the more gold you gain, and after the dungeon finishes, you'll be able to spend this gold on new gear.
After finishing a dungeon, you'll always return to a hub area where you can spend your money on new weapons, new outfits, and many other things. The game is designed as a looter; only the loot isn't collected, but rather bought with the money you get as a reward for finishing levels and dungeons.
The combat, as I said earlier, is very good. You'll use classic attacks with weapons and shields, use blocks and parries, dodge enemy attacks and use many special attacks assigned to various commands. In essence, the combat system is so well made that you'll genuinely enjoy every encounter, and there will be a lot of them.
The enemy variety is impressive, too. Different enemies will use different attacking patterns, so you'll be forced to learn. However, the combat is quite forgiving and won't punish you like some Souls-like titles and similar games. There are plenty of healing items lying around, and if you're quick, you'll rarely fail during fights.
For the range combat, you'll be using crossbows, and many explosive and other items will be pickable for throwing around and producing even bigger mayhem.
However, not everything is rainbows and butterflies in this game because King of Meat has some serious issues; keep in mind, however, that this isn't the full version of the game, and many things are bound to be changed in the future.
The biggest problem the game has now, in this state, is the field where it should be shining the brightest, and it is the multiplayer segment. Though it cannot be held against it, as I said earlier, the game is still in a phase that is bound to undergo numerous changes until it reaches its final shape.
The developers were kind enough to give us multiple codes to try the game in co-op, but due to some technical difficulties, the only way I was able to play was solo.
Luckily, the entire game can be played solo, but playing with friends and especially trying the other people's creations and self-made dungeons was something I really looked forward to. Unfortunately, I couldn't try those modes, but I'm really excited to try them all once the game reaches its final stages.
The other game-breaking issue that happened very often to me (maybe other players were luckier than I) was that the game used to freeze after finishing a dungeon or even the tutorial missions at the very beginning of the game. Once the dungeon is finished, the game won't allow you to continue to the hub or even leave the score screen.
The only solution I'd be able to do was to kill the game from the task manager, and by doing so, that particular dungeon would be lost, meaning I'd have to repeat it again and pray that this time it actually passed over the scoring window. I'd not mention it if that was an isolated case, but that happened several times, and I must say I was genuinely pissed.
Even the Graphics Serve a Good Humour
From the visual standpoint, King of Meat is a charming game with graphics reminiscent of a high-quality cartoon. The Contender and all other NPCs and enemies alike are designed to support that particular humorous tone. All the outfits, weapons, and everything else in the game scream comedy all the time while playing.
The dungeons are designed in that particular humorous manner, too. The combat and traversal animations are hilarious as well. For example, when you kill an enemy, or it falls into one of many traps, once it dies, it turns into pieces of steak, or if the enemy is, for instance, a skeleton, it becomes a pile of bones that start to fly all over the place.
I was a little bothered because the game doesn't support the ultra-wide aspect ratio. While playing, two black bars were poking my eyes all the time, and I couldn't get used to the sight. Apart from that, the performance on my PC was more than okay, with the game running around 60 FPS in the hub area (more populated) and around 80 FPS in dungeons.
Final Thoughts
King of Meat is a title with extraordinary ideas that will surely show their true potential once the game's full version hits the shelves. The idea of combat/platforming-related gameplay set inside dungeons (self-made ones included) in up to four-player co-op is just genius, and once it reaches its playable state, I'm sure King of Meat will be a true hit.
In this state, however, I was deprived of full enjoyment, although I believe, once everything is settled and the full version is out, for such a creative and original concept, we should be prepared for tonnes of fun because I believe King of Meat is capable of bringing us that and even some more.
