Charming Single-Player Puzzle Game Red's Kingdom Hits Switch This Month

Nah, this is not generic. Red's Kingdom is a pretty charming puzzle adventure, with a fairly unusual mechanic. Basically, you continue in the same direction until you hit a wall or sticky patch, then select a different direction. Played through the main campaign on iOS and enjoyed it. It won't blow your socks off, but it's a solid game.

Again, Ios/Android stuff on the Switch... :/ It'll never end...

This kind of reminds me of Slayaway Camp (the mechanics not the theme) which I enjoyed quite a bit. $10 is too much for this, however if it drops to $3-5 in the future I would consider it.

I have finished it in iPad and I liked it a lot. Great graphics, puzzles, music, story. It is not the greatest game of all time but it's not generic or crap. It has a unique personality and I liked that it is different from other puzzle games. In switch it will have a proper control. I believe you will spent a lot of hours if you want to achieve 100%.

Is anyone else getting "Adventures of Lolo" vibes from this one? Reminds me a lot of that one albeit with high resolution visuals.

@Rafke @Colbalt The game does look generic, but to overlook a game just because it happened to be on mobile is a mistake. (The game's also on Steam...) Red's Kingdom has it's issues. Backtracking can become tedious having to redo puzzles, but I thought the game was neat. I would recommend the game on mobile where its sliding mechanic works perfectly.

@Cobalt I certainly hope it never ends. There are some utterly fantastic games on mobile that are there simply because of the economics of developing whose proper home is console. When they arrive they should be celebrated, not denigrated because of their origin.

@PanurgeJr

Why the hell, you'd like to play an Ios game on your Switch ?

Owww I get it, yeah I get it... YOU LIKE TO PAY 9.99 something that cost 3.49... Yeah this is it... You feel better when you pay the Switch Taxe, isn't it ?

Like paying almost 3 TIMES the normal price, gives 3 TIMES more satisfaction to you... I'm sure it's something like that !

@Dayton311 Yes, it's just like Slayaway Camp, another game that started out on Steam and iOS. Actually came out before Slayaway Camp, though - at least on iOS. Similar game, different vibe. It's not twee, just friendlier. Think Little Big Adventure meets Slayaway Camp. It's decent. Feel sorry for it - if Yoku's Island Express had come out on iOS first, it would get the same unnecessary backlash.

I wish people would stop saying "metroidvania" to describe backtracking...
There is nothing wrong with backtracking. Hell, when Symphony of the Night was new, they called it backtracking... most reviews I read back in the nascent days of the internet never even mentioned metroid.

C'mon people. At least just say something like "interconnected world with no levels," or "go-where-you-want gameplay and exploration."

Next time I read "metroidvania" to describe a game that is literally NOT a samus/dracula crossover, I'm going to shave a cat.

I don’t mind indie games when they’re done right (Celeste, Golf Story, Hollow Knight), but I do wish that we’d see less of these headlines (not every indie game is headline-worthy) and more of the Doom/Wolfenstein/Crash/Dark Souls variety). A year-and-half very successful years later, such announcements shouldn’t still be so few and far between.

@Cobalt So which is it--you shouldn't buy iOS games because they're bad, or you should buy iOS games because they're cheaper?

Seriously, you're arguing opposite points at the same time. Amazing.

@PanurgeJr

My complain is that you don't need to have an Ios game on the Switch because if you wanna play it, play it on your phone/pad directly.

It's made for your phone/pad and it's 3 times cheaper...

Simple to understand, isn't it ? ^^

@Cobalt I need it on my Switch if I want proper controls and to use my 40" HDTV. Surely I should be allowed to do that, right?

I noticed this when I was downloading some games earlier. Looked pretty good, but after seeing the trailer, I find the puzzle concept in it's adventurous style quite interesting. I am indeed looking forward to this when it comes out.

Looks well made, hope it does well for the developer/s

Looks like my kind of puzzle adventure!

@PanurgeJr

I'm gonna stop with you after that , man.

1st, you know that you can have EVEN BETTER CONTROLS on phones/pads today than the joycons... Do some research in case you're the only one on Earth who don't know that.

2nd, you know that you can plug your phone/pad on the TV.
If your phone/pad is an Apple > AV lightning HDMI
If your phone/pad use Android > HDMI or HDMI Slimport.

So, you're just a PR who defend that disgusting SWITCH TAXE and you'll go all the way just to prove your nonsense. You know, it's because there are people like you that those practices exist. Think about it dude, think about it...

Hi, hope everyone is well and having a great day!

Hope I'm allowed to reply here..!

I was one of the small team who worked on this game and we're all huge Nintendo fans who are super excited it's coming to Switch! (the views in this post are just 100% me though, and don't necessarily represent the views of my employer!)

First of all, reading all your lovely (generally positive) comments has made us very happy and encouraged! Thank you all!

To shed some light on the game for those who like to know more about it - it's an open world exploration/adventure/puzzle game where every single room is a movement puzzle, with lots of unique mechanics and various items to discover and play around with. I'm positive you'll really enjoy solving each room, exploring every last nook and cranny, and progressing through the story!

As for the more critical comments, those are really welcome too, as they can be a catalyst for good discussion.

Just to address some of those comments:
@aznable
I know, I know. I do agree the term Metroidvania is overused! It's a pet peeve of mine too. It can be a useful blanket term which brings to mind that specific type of open world exploration where you might use items you find in one place in order to open paths somewhere else, etc. Please don't shave a cat! :')

@Rafke
I'm sorry you felt the game looked quite generic. But you know, that's totally ok! The graphics of a game are always a very subjective thing so I respect your opinion there even if I don't personally agree - I think they look quite nice!

@Cobalt
@PanurgeJr
The "Switch Tax" thing is quite an interesting subject to talk about I think. It's a good conversation to have.

It's really easy for someone to say "this game is more expensive because it's on the Switch! Switch Tax!" but it really isn't that simple.

There are a TON of factors which go into setting the price, it's not just because it's a different market (though that's always worth factoring too):

When we originally made the game we set out to make a console quality title on mobile phones because generally speaking it's a heck of a lot easier for small teams to get their games published on mobile than on console without being backed by a huge publisher (We're super grateful to Rising Star for publishing this btw!)
Additionally during the process of porting a mobile game to Switch, a huge amount of things had to be redone - graphics were remastered or redrawn from scratch, many gameplay elements as well as the entire frontend were reprogrammed, etc.
Doing all of those things costs more money before you even release the game.
After releasing the game, without going into too many specifics, the publisher has to make money from the game, the developer has to make money from the game, and Nintendo have to make money from the game too.

tl;dr console development costs a lot more than mobile development, even when you're doing an enhanced port!

I think Rising Star have set a pretty fair price for this though, especially considering the length of the game (this is the game plus all the extra DLC we released post launch on Steam and iOS. It honestly takes me hours to play through it even though I know all the puzzle solutions already!)

If anyone has any queries about the game or anything, feel free to reply me on this, or on twitter "@rayjt9", and I also run Cobra Mobile's twitter "@cobramobile" for more official business.

@rayjt9

I understand that as a developper myself, but it doesn't change the fact that there are so much games to play everywhere that the price is becoming an essential point.

If as a gamer I wanna play Red's Kingdom, I'm gonna play it on my pad not on my Switch. Now, if Red's Kingdom was a Switch exclusive and I was interested to play it then OK. I would have no other choice.

Ow and another thing about the "Switch Tax" ^^ :

How come on a multiplats such as Crash Bandicoot or Dark Souls for example, the price is always lower on PS4/XONE than on Switch ? Kind of 10 to 20€ difference...

I have an idea on that but I prefer to keep that for myself...

@Cobalt I'm not 100% sure about the bigger titles like that, but I certainly have some theories on that one too...

Disclaimer: I don't set the prices on any platform! So this is just me and my view on it from working in the industry.

For me (having rigorously playtested each version) the Switch is the "definitive" one, with all the custom and reworked graphics as well as the ability to dock it, use the pro controller, etc. Having said that, if you prefer to play it on your pad computer, I still recommend that! I think it looks lovely on the iPad with retina display. Really vibrant.

I honestly think that Red's Kingdom is worth the asking price on Switch for all the added features.

The issue of pricing is so complex. It can become quite a tricky balancing act, especially with regards to different platforms.

It's unfortunately one of those things about multiplatform development, where due to the nature of the mobile market there's an expectation things have to be super cheap. If we had priced it similarly (~9.99) in the iOS App Store it likely wouldn't sell any units whatsoever (I'd guess that's why the Steam price was higher than the iOS price at launch too. It's currently 9.99 on Steam too.)

I guess I think of it as "a 9.99 game which had to be made cheaper for mobile" rather than "a mobile game which had to be made more expensive for console."

@Cobalt Your argument that a phone provides better controls than a controller is silly. Your claim that I must be some sort of PR agent here to trick people into spending higher prices is insane. I mean that literally. You are inventing a conspiracy to explain what you perceive to be happening. That is textbook paranoia. I'll do my part and no longer trigger it.

@rayjt9 Thanks for the response. Whenever people quote mobile prices to complain about Switch pricing I ask "Have you ever considered that console pricing is fair and that mobile games are underpriced?" and have never gotten any response other than dismissal. Perhaps you'll have more luck.

@PanurgeJr

God, do an effort...

@PanurgeJr
I think that's quite an important issue. The mobile market is such that you can spend years of your life making something really high quality and finally release it at £1.99 and people will still say "isn't that way too expensive?"

I do wonder if that's why there's quite a low quality bar for a lot of games I see aimed at the mobile market. The cost of entry to the customer is so low (or even free) that development costs will presumably have to be low too, to minimize risk, otherwise the devs might not be able to make enough money to fund their next game.

The flip side of that is that they can reach a much wider customer base, I suppose!

@Cobalt I did. Your claims have begun to come across as paranoid and I tried to make you aware of that. Act on the information as you see fit.

@PanurgeJr

Work your brain...