Queen's Domain Is More than a Tribute to the King's Field Series - It's a True Successor

Before Souls-likes, there was King's Field - proof positive that FromSoftware held a powerful creative spark right from the start. A series of tense, first-person action dungeon crawls with slow, measured combat, spooky vibes, and great exploration. The past few years have seen a swarm of indies attempt to recapture this magic, and while some (like Lunacid, Verho and Labyrinth of the Demon King) have come close, only one has truly exceeded the originals for me: Queen's Domain, out today, and developed by tiny two-person indie outfit Freshly Baked Games.

Now, this isn't a full, scored review. Even compared to the original KF series, this game is big, and compared to most of the indie imitators, enormous. The developers estimate it'll take most players over 40 hours. Given that I've only encountered a third of the game's massive bestiary in 14 hours, that estimate feels accurate. But I reckon I've played enough to have a good feel for the game - enough to recommend it.

The setup here is classic, minimalist King's Field style. An ancient necromancer queen has risen again and is plotting something on a distant island. Several expeditions (including one led by the king himself) have been sent out and been lost. Now all that's left is for the wildly under-prepared prince (you) to try and clean up that mess solo. Of course, your ship sinks on the way there.

While there's a drip-feed of narrative and the occasional oddball character to meet, this is primarily a game about wandering alone through monster-filled labyrinths, carefully dodging attacks and traps while hunting for any treasure that might balance the odds. And oh, what labyrinths they are, each region feeling like a shift in gear, providing new horrors and escalating until you've conquered them; the difficulty curve partially resets in each area.

This sense of escalation is simultaneously at its most frustrating and most dramatic during the first couple of hours of Queen's Domain. That initial exploration is like tiptoeing through a minefield. With healing at a premium, even the weakest enemy (a mutant fusion of giant rat and ladybug - there's some good, weird designs here) can take a big chunk out of your health, and laser-shooting eyeball plants can melt your health bar in seconds while also hanging far out of reach.

I've known some people to bounce off the demo because of that, but once I found the knife belt (letting me pick off the plants with a regenerating stock of throwing daggers, and chip away at smaller enemies with projectiles), it felt like a huge increase in power. See, the combat here is truly old-school. Outside of some unusual edge-case weapons available later, there's no blocking or parrying here, or quick I-frame dodges. You've got a slowly charging melee swing, a single special attack per weapon (which drains all your stamina), and your off-hand throwing weapons, and all need to be used to their fullest.

Combat is a matter of careful positioning and spacing, picking the right damage types (you can equip three melee weapons, three ranged weapons, and three stat-tweaking accessories at once) to be able to stun enemies out of their more dangerous attacks, and thoughtful resource management. There are character stats, but this is an action game more than an RPG, but a slow and measured one, and gratifying once I found the right rhythm for each fight. But the fun twist comes in once you find the Holy Wind Sword, and the game reveals its more Metroidy side.

I genuinely was not expecting so much platforming in Queen's Domain, but I can't deny that it works great. On top of regular combat moves, finding the wind sword gives you a generous dash attack which can be used while jumping to clear long gaps. As I've progressed, I found more wind gems, each allowing the sword to hold an extra air-dash charge. And with each one, more areas that just seemed like distant backdrops came within reach, opening up new paths through old areas, so long as I can climb high enough and time my dashes just right, and there's always something rewarding (or surprising) lurking just within sight.

And the more I explored, the more I realized that the level design here is exemplary. The world here is both enormous and densely woven with zero loading zones, and even a few shortcuts that let the brave and foolish delve into high-level areas early. Everything connects to the island overworld zone, with paths looping back onto each other, shortcuts opening up, and secrets seemingly tucked into every dark corner or handily pointed out by the many skeletons lying around. Hunting for secrets is always rewarding too - even a small healing item feels significant here, and a new weapon with some unusual magical attack always feels like it opens up new possibilities in combat.

Every new area feels distinct too, with its own fresh set of monsters and environment textures and rhythms of movement and exploration. I've already found myself returning to previously cleared areas in classic Metroid style, hunting for hidden alcoves and bonus paths leading to additional treasure, bonus fights, and surprises. The classic King's Field games had good exploration, for sure, but this is the culmination of decades of institutional-level design knowledge, and my brain is bubbling with mental maps already.

The environment art in general is excellent too. Great high fantasy architecture backed up with good, crunchy, pixelated textures. It feels almost cruel that the game scales down the resolution by default to replicate that low-fi retro look, but you can turn that off and see the game at its native resolution, which still looks retro, but less afraid of its own handsomeness. Surprisingly, the game even has full ultrawide support, hitting a very nice balance between old-school visuals and modern design.

Another area where the game far outstrips King's Field is in the major bosses. Weirdly designed, many phased slobberknockers that require constant movement, using the wind sword to dash out of danger, or even to air-dash over large ground shockwave attacks. My favorite fight so far has been against the Necronomicon (not a spoiler - it's in the store-page screenshots), an evil floating spellbook that mutates into a half-dozen different fleshy forms over the course of the fight, each demanding a radical shift in tactics, and beautifully animated to boot.

The enemies in general are a joy, starting with classic standbys like skeletons and fishmen, and escalating to weirder chimeric fusions like ant-deer hybrids and cave-dwelling occultists with massive mechanized meat-grinder maces. The store page boasts over 100 enemy types, which is true. There are almost 200 of them, in fact, each new area introducing a whole fresh set of threats.

While some of them are variants and mini-bosses based on smaller sorts, there's shocking variety here, and they're excellently animated, their moves well telegraphed enough to make evasion intuitive, if not easy. The bestiary (full of lore and detailing what each creature drops) having a completion percentage also evokes Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to me, and that just feels like a cherry on top of a very rich cake, and I want to gorge myself on everything is has to give.

One last area where Queen's Domain has impressed me is that despite the constant escalation in power, from levelling up, from finding new treasure and gaining new movement options, I've not felt like I'm outgrowing its world as I've done in other games. Enemies that once were menacing can eventually be one-shot, but they can still deal respectable damage. Past areas do not feel 'cleared' or 'conquered', just somewhere I'm confident to move through. Plus, some areas do get restocked with additional or more dangerous foes later, as the story progresses - a nice touch.

So far, the only part of the package that isn't quite up to dethroning FromSoftware's best is the music. Don't get me wrong - the soundtrack in Queen's Domain is capable, and each track feels like a natural fit for the environment. The first main theme just screams 'mysterious jungle ruins,' and when I stumbled upon a haunted library, the music resonated with that specific imagery very well. But the melodies themselves feel a bit weak and meandering.

While evocative, the music didn't really do much for me, and it makes for unobtrusive but forgettable background audio. Even after 14 hours, I can't hum any of the music in Queen's Domain, whereas I can summon up most of the notable tracks from King's Field 4 on demand. It's far from a major flaw, but it stands out that this is the one part of the game that's merely 'okay' where everything else is stellar. But other than a tough initial learning curve, that's where my complaints begin and end.

Queen's Domain launches later today for a shockingly low £16/$20, with a 15% launch discount too, plus likely discount bundles. It's also launching across PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox consoles, plus it has full Steam Deck support. Considering the game's vast scope and overall quality, that makes this one a comically easy recommendation. Unless something catastrophic happens near the end to sour my mood, this is just a fantastic game.

And if you're still on the fence, don't forget the extensive demo. Just beware of that initial learning curve. It's worth it to persevere.