Boxy Kingdom Review - Hop, Stab, Loot!

Hop your way through challenging dungeons in Dream Team’s new mobile game Boxy Kingdom. Created from the combined expertise of AAA developers Scott Miller (3D Realms) and Lee Perry (Gears of War), the new studio has endeavored to apply the polished design of high budget console games to the mobile scene. Their first foray into the mobile market with endless-hopper meets dungeon crawler Boxy Kingdom just may meet that expectation.

With straightforward and refined mechanics, humorous voice stabs and fun boxy graphics Boxy Kingdom is one of the more polished and thoughtfully designed games available to download in the App Store. This single player game blends simple movement with in-depth mechanics as seamlessly as it combines a Crossy Road inspired endless runner with a roguelike dungeon crawler. Easy to learn and challenging to master, Boxy Kingdom will likely appeal to players of all ages and skill levels.

Quick action and interesting obstacles give Boxy Kingdom an addicting quality. Whether it’s trying to beat your best score or racking up enough points for another hero, players will find themselves hitting the play button again and again for “just one more” run-through the ever-changing dungeons. All it takes is one great run to get you hooked and want to keep doing better and discovering more.

There’s a lot to explore in this seemingly small game. There are a variety of dungeons to hop through and more can be unlocked as you play more of the game. Each comes with a different combination of enemies and environmental hazards along with loot that is randomly generated to ensure every run-through is unique and interesting.

While each play will be a little different, the basics are the same. Tap to move North and swipe to move East, West, and South. The controls are intuitive and make getting started a breeze. They aren’t the always accurate and a swipe can be interpreted as a tap sometimes and vice versa. Missed clicks can be fatal in a game that’s all about precision and speed.

In each game, you start out having retrieved a valuable amulet (an homage to the original Rogue) and must escape the dungeon with it. Of course, there is no escape because Boxy Kingdom is an endless runner sort of game. Aside from getting as far as possible by avoiding pits, traps and enemies, there’s also a dragon that is chasing you down. The dragon is always about ten seconds behind you and if he catches up its game over.

Luckily you can gain more of an advantage against the beast on your tail by collecting loot throughout the dungeon. Loot is found inside chests and other objects scattered about the environment, it also can be dropped by slain enemies. This forces players to make quick decisions on whether to stop and backstab an enemym swipe to the side of them to pop open a chest or just keep hopping North on the path of least resistance.

Boxy Kingdom is always dangling high-risk high-reward scenarios in front of players faces. Trailing behind mine carts will result in a lot of coins in your bank, but the fast moving mine carts will be ready to mow you down in a one hit kill. Speeding through a ghost enemy may be the fastest way to get through a dungeon and onto greater rewards, but it will extinguish your torch and make the rest of the journey more challenging. In these ways, Boxy Kingdom is consistently presenting players with difficult decisions, which is what makes it rewarding and demanding. There isn’t always a best possible option to take, at least not one you’ll have the time to realize.

In addition to hazards like poison mushrooms with status effects, you’ll need an antidote to fix, pathways that crumble away behind you and rivers of lava to traverse, each dungeon is populated by a myriad of enemies. Frustratingly, some enemies or items in the environment can look similar, but after playing awhile, it’s easier to tell things apart. Each enemy has a different movement pattern, and some have special abilities.

Players can either avoid enemies or kill them with a backstabbing attack. Enemies can only be killed by attacking them from behind, so players can’t run through dungeons without thinking ahead and timing their movements well. The diversity of enemies makes each dungeon feel like an intricate chessboard.

To match the wide variety of enemies in the game, there is also a large selection of heroes for players to choose from. The game launched with thirty-five characters, and there are plans for more. Each has a unique theme, often inspired by characters from legend or pop culture, and special attacks and abilities.

Every hero uses the same movement, so they are easy to pick up and play. Some are certainly stronger than others while some are better suited to different play styles. Since there’s no multiplayer, however, this discrepancy doesn’t make the game unbalanced but instead incentivizes players to unlock better heroes.

Speaking of unlocking heroes, this is where Boxy Kingdom's in-app purchases come into play. As a free-to-play game, there are a lot of opportunities to spend money on in-game currency or items. Don’t groan yet, as the base game is completely free and can be played continuously without paying a cent or enduring waiting mechanics and currency cutoffs.

Instead of limiting how much you can play the game, Boxy Kingdom allows players to play as much as they like regardless of the in-game currency they have. This includes heart gems and coins both of which can be purchased in the store or acquired in-game. Currency can be used to continue a run after you die or get perks like double loot drops. You can also just straight-up buy heroes instead paying coin for a random one.

If you’d rather be thrifty, you can grind to earn in-game currency. Gems and coins are dealt out for completing quests as well as sharing screenshots of your runs on social media. If you want a challenge, then you can play with no continues and with the default heroes, currency free. There’s even an incentive for using the same hero frequently. The further North a hero travels the more experience they’ll accrue and reaching different level markers will give those heroes special attacks.

Dream Team’s freshman title Boxy Kingdom is a must play for those that enjoy the endless hopper genre of mobile games. The game will test your reflexes and your mind as you make a decision with every tap and swipe of your finger. It has a fast-paced arcade feel that will appeal to many players and addictive gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.

Boxy Kingdom is available to download for free from the App Store for iOS devices. It will be available on Android in the near future.

Boxy Kingdom was provided by the developer and reviewed on an iPad Air.