King of Meat Hands-on Preview
King of Meat, from the “best indie studio you’ve never heard of” Glowmade, beckons brawlers and builders seeking fame and glory. Courtesy of Amazon Games, I’ve experienced what they’re cooking over there in the UK. I’m here to tell you what to expect when the game is unleashed upon the Earth.
King of Meat is a combat dungeon crawler game in which you or up to four players battle enemies, solve puzzles, and platform through a theoretically infinite arena of dungeons. The confident sense of art direction immediately caught my eye. The game takes place in the world of Loregok, a high fantasy setting with a corporate twist inhabited by all manner of mystical creatures.
King of Meat is the only game show in their world. Inspired by reality, corporations thrive off of the show’s popularity by selling contestants a plethora of gear and legal magic, and magic happens to be illegal in Loregok. I like King of Meat’s art style. It’s a cross between a comic book and a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s colorful, whimsical, and complements the ironic, absurd sense of humor.
The primary game mode is designed for solo or up to four players. You traverse dungeons comprising rooms presenting many challenges in the “Komstruct Koliseum”. Some rooms are focused entirely on combat, while others present you with puzzles. Multiple classes of skeleton enemies attempt to best you. Some are cannon fodder, others carry shields, and there are more formidable ones in stature, armor, and weaponry.
Hack ‘n Slash ’em All
During the demo, I got to play with a sword, battle axe, and crossbow. Combat’s essentially hack and slash with some depth. Each melee weapon has a primary and heavy attack, glory moves, and a series of combos that are unlocked the more you use them. The crossbow functions as expected, enabling you to take out ranged enemies from afar. It also serves as a puzzle-solving tool.
Combat style is subjective, but enemy types warrant particular strategies. Combining primary and heavy attacks alongside teammates is fun, but glory moves amplify the hectic nature of combat. A couple I was able to wield included launching an AOE vortex that brutally consumed everything in its vicinity. Another move opened a portal to another realm, raining down a giant horse hoof that repeatedly stomped everything in the area. You can also use the environment to your advantage, from knocking enemies into traps or the abyss below, tossing bombs, or exploding flammable barrels.
Horse Portals!
Between the combat mania, my teammates and I solved some simple but enjoyable puzzles. Some rooms required us to hit targets with our crossbows to open doorways or clear obstacles. Others had us platforming to areas to hit various switches. Combat can be hectic, and I found the puzzle rooms to be a nice breather between the intensity. You and your teammates are only permitted a certain number of respawns. If you run out and fail the dungeon, you escape with some XP but forgo the more lucrative rewards.
If you’re in the mood for a challenge, you can take on survival mode, where the game throws relentless waves of enemies at you. There’s a set timer; the longer you survive, the more experience you gain.
King of Meat isn’t designed to be a competitive experience. You can compete with your teammates by comparing individual scores at the end of each match, but your respective scores don’t affect you individually. Each player in the party is collectively earning points toward the total score of a match. Ultimately, you’re all striving for the gold trophy. The more creatively you play, the higher the score and trophy you earn. That results in more experience and currency gained to invest in your character practically and cosmetically.
Express Yourself Any Way You Choose
Between matches, you hang out and upgrade your character in the “Ironlaw Plaza” social hub. The cast of corporate characters reside here, and they all sell something. Fortunately, their goods are valuable. While weapon types have specific abilities, your weapons and gear look is purely cosmetic.
Some vendors sell armor pieces and complete sets, others sell weapon skins, and some sell magic that comes in the form of glory moves and perks. I’ve only seen the sword, battle axe, and crossbow. In an interview with Johnny Hopper (Studio Head and Co-founder) and Mike Green (Design Director and Co-founder), they informed me players can expect more weapon types in the future. As you rank up, new combos are unlocked for your weapons and new perks to equip that aid you in the Koliseum.
Generally, King of Meat is an expressive experience for players. The cosmetics are eclectic, but one of the most amusing aspects is three-dimensional stickers. They can be anything from googly eyes to spray-paint designs and horns. What’s wild is you can place them anywhere on your character, and I mean anywhere. The developer I played alongside shared, “You can only imagine the things I’ve seen.”
Fortunately, you can unlock everything with the in-game currency you gain by playing. Glowmade has shared that the corporate vendors will regularly update after the game launches. However, they did share that a monetized shop will be included should players prefer to purchase items sooner with real-world cash.
Do It Yourself
Now, if that were the entirety of King of Meat, we’d have a solid, chill, cooperative game to enjoy with our buds. However, the game’s remarkable dungeon builder sets it apart. The game will launch with many Glowmade-created dungeons, but players can use the create mode to build their own from scratch. You use the same intuitively designed tools the devs use to forge anything you can imagine.
While I didn’t get to try the tools myself, I have seen them briefly in action. Several existing games feature great building tools. King of Meat seemingly joins those titans by allowing players to express their creativity uninhibited. Glowmade plans to regularly feature the best the community has to offer.
All this said it’s left me wondering: What does it all add up to?
If You Can Imagine it, You Can Build It
King of Meat is designed to be a potentially infinite cooperative experience packed with creativity and expression. It harkens back to the old days when you played a game for the joy of it. Sure, there’s a maximum level and abilities to unlock, but to me, the enjoyment stems from the whacky experiences you share with fellow players from moment to moment.
During my hands-on time, I had a pretty good time. I enjoyed experimenting with the combat and solving a few puzzles. I had the most fun with platforming, which reminded me a bit of Fall Guys in that area. However, while I like that the game supports solo or cooperative play, my teammates and I rarely needed to work together on the easier difficulties.
Thankfully, there are several tiers of difficulty. We had a chance to endure a few of the more challenging dungeons and were obliterated by what we faced. I can imagine myself having the most fun with teammates who are down to communicate and strategize overcoming those more brutal arenas.
The slice of the game I experienced mostly played well. Controlling your character feels smooth and responsive, with satisfying feedback during combat. No aspect of the mechanics felt inhibiting. We did encounter a couple of crashes during our demo, which is to be expected as the game is in active development.
The Future Looks Bloody (And Bright)
Johnny Hopper and Mike Green informed me they have many ideas for the game’s future post-launch. The community will be the lifeblood of King of Meat. Their creations will fuel content weekly and potentially influence the game’s direction as it evolves.
There isn’t a release date set, but King of Meat will launch for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox X|S, and Nintendo Switch. It will feature cross-play and cross-progression across every platform.
***Travel, Hotel, and access to preview provided by Amazon Games***
