Kingdom Eighties Review

Awesome entry in the Kingdom series. I was amazed by the detail in the artwork and was very happy the achievement list is more doable than previous Kingdom games. ~15h to 100%, 2 playthroughs needed.

At this moment Kingdom Eighties is only out on Steam, it will release later on the other platforms.

Approximate amount of time to 100%: 15h
Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
Is there a good guide available: I wrote this achievement guide
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: Yes, but the game is short and you need to play at least 2 times through it
Grinding Achievements: No, except for spending 50 days on one island, but that is mostly waiting with moving to the next level after you beat the enemy. Gladly the game doesn’t pause when in the background, so just keep it running.
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: Yes, but a very doable one. Complete the game in 50 days, on easy I only needed 21 days when trying to get this achievement.
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes, there is an achievement for beating the game on hard and on cursed difficulty. the difficulties stack, so beating it on cursed will also give you the achievement for hard.
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No

Yay, a new game in the Kingdom series! I love Kingdom: Two Crowns, so I was very hyped for this one. I have seen complaints that it is a reskin, but I don’t feel it is. Also, have you seen how many details went into the artwork for this entry? I’m glad it is a separate entry, as that comes with a new achievement list, and not just an achievement for beating the game.

What stood out to me the most is how much love went into the artwork. so many small details and it looks all so awesome. I’m more of a nighties kid but I still could feel the vibe this game went for. I also love that each new level had new artwork and a new setting. It wasn’t more of the same, it was clearly a new place they moved to. However, I’m wondering if this might confuse new players. As the Kingdom series isn’t known for its explanation and is more of a trial-and-error type of gameplay. And then having buildings that do the same as in the previous level but look a bit different might be confusing.

With more focus on the story, I would say this is a good entry point for new players. Also because the difficulty isn’t as brutal as in some of the early Kingdom games. And for the veterans, it also sprinkled in a lot of hints to earlier titles and they will be referenced during the game. However, one complaint I have is that the text in the cutscenes is quite fast and there is no voice offer. My main language isn’t English, so I’m not a fast reader and I have missed the endings of sentences. I also saw this on a playthrough by a YouTuber that they couldn’t finish the text in time before it already moved on.

The achievements for Kingdom Eighties are quite easy compared to earlier entries, and I’m personally a fan of that. They still will challenge you, but they are doable and it gives you the feeling that you can reach that sweet 100% completion. I was surprised that you can’t go back to earlier levels, as in previous entries you could. So this means there are a bunch of missable achievements. But the game is short and you have to play at least through it twice: Speedrun (within a little over 3h, but on easy it took me only 1,5h) and completing the game on the hardest difficulty.

I had so much fun completing Kingdom Eighties and I’m so amazed by the beautiful pixel artwork and still the addictive gameplay the Kingdom series always has.

This review for Kingdom Eighties was written on 28 Juni 2023, based on the current Steam version of the game which has 31 achievements at the time of writing this review. This information can be outdated, for example, when the developer adds or removes achievements or releases (new) DLC.