Amid the countless games flooding Steam at all times, a new release this week is not to be missed: Queen's Domain. The action-adventure game from Freshly Baked Games takes more than a little inspiration from the earliest titles made by From Software, the King's Field series, but it manages to stand out from other modern fantasy games.
That's the takeaway from senior producer Jean-Luc Seipke, who goes into their impressions of the game in the video below. Jean-Luc is not a King's Field player but very much enjoyed the opening 10 hours of the game--an amount that somehow only equates to about 5% completion, according to an in-game counter.
The gorgeous retro visuals evoke a game released somewhere right between the PlayStation 1 and 2 eras, and is light on story overall, although it leans into environmental storytelling in a way that feels very true to the style of From Software.
Jean-Luc notes the gameplay may not properly sell why the game is such a joy to play. The combat is decidedly slower-paced than many other games, even requiring you to be at full stamina in order to deal damage. There's also no block or parry, instead requiring you to physically move out of the way of an attack to avoid damage. This results in a very deliberate style of combat, where you have to really pay attention to animations and be calculating with your every move.
What interests me most from Jean-Luc's rundown is the exploration. You eventually unlock a weapon, the Holy Sword Endu, which provides you with the ability to dash forward or backward in mid-air and can be upgraded to provide additional charges. What initially might feel like a linear world becomes something far more dense and interesting as you recognize the way the sword progressively lets you reach more and more areas as you poke and prod at its environments to see where it can take you.
You should be aware that it can be easy to lose progress, as there are no checkpoints or auto-saves. Die, and you're sent back to your last manual save. (If that's off-putting to you and are looking for something vaguely soulslike-adjacent, the newly released Phantom Blade Zero might be what you're looking for.)
Jean-Luc recommends Queen's Domain, and you can hear more about why (and see some very upsetting-looking bipedal fishmen while you're at it) in the video above. Queen's Domain hits Steam tomorrow, October 30, for $20 and is deemed Verified on both Steam Machine and Deck. A demo is available now.