Kingdom Eighties Preview – Kids on bikes vs. the Greed

thesixthaxis.com:

Kingdom Eighties answers the question ‘What would happen if you mixed Kingdom with Stranger Things?’. That boils down to Synthwave vibes, arcades and high schools instead of the medieval fantasy settings we’ve experienced so far. Within moments of starting our hands-on demo it’s clear that this has to be one of the most effective reskins for a game I’ve ever seen, and if you’re a returning Kingdom player, and perhaps one that’s a fan of Stranger Things or the 80s, every action is likely to be accompanied by an exclamation of amazement or joy.

Want to check out Kingdom Eighties for yourself? A game demo will be made publicly available during Steam Next Fest, starting on 19th July.

The 80s’ aesthetic starts with that Synthwave soundtrack and hops straight into the classic transportation of the era, the BMX bike. You ride left and right on a 2D plane, expanding your base of operations and defending against the arrival of the Greed. Unlike the previous Kingdom games there’s no hobos to recruit to your cause here, but you can co-opt smaller kids to help you out. They’ll still become archers (wearing classic Robin Hood fancy dress) or repairmen, but it may come with a slight pang of guilt about child labour. Still, they don’t die if the Greed get hold of them, so it’s all clearly just for fun, and not a safeguarding issue at all.

Instead of constructing walls like a wooden fort, your base’s defences are built from traffic cones and road blocks, and instead of a central camp you’re operating out of a High School. You don’t tend the fields, but you can set a kid off on an electric mower to earn some cash by doing chores, or have a nearby house operate a yard sale. Though it doesn’t look quite the same, this is still fundamentally