It is with a cathartic “Thank You”, Both diegetic and aimed at the player, which concludes the beautiful tale of Nippon Ichi Software, an illustrated story in warm and faded tones, which speaks of love, loss, and growth. This is a thank you that goes far beyond the “Thank you for playing” to which the videogame tradition has accustomed us. It is the gratitude for having leafed through the pages of a very delicate illustrated fairy tale and, above all, for having listened to his message of forgiveness and harmony, themes that, today as ever, still deserve to be internalized. The Cruel King and the Great Heronew effort of Nippon Ichi Software and title developed with a narrative and graphic style very similar to The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (here you will find our review) is a fairytale-like JRPG with a decidedly classic flavor that has landed on PlayStation 4 And Nintendo Switch on March 4, 2022.
- Title: The Cruel King and the Great Hero
- Platform: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
- Version analyzed: Nintendo Switch (EU)
- Kind: JRPG
- Players: 1
- Publisher: NIS America
- Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
- Language: English (lyrics), Japanese (dubbing)
- Exit date: March 4, 2022
- Availability: retail, digital delivery
- DLC: nobody
- Note: belongs to the same narrative and graphic vein as 2019’s The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince
We reviewed The Cruel King and the Great Hero with a Nintendo Switch code given to us free of charge by NIS America via Koch Media.
Once upon a time…
The small one Yuu she was orphaned after her real father, the hero of the legendhe sacrificed himself to defeat the dangerous Demon King. Grown up among monsters, creatures as grotesque as they are humanized, still frowned upon by men, the little girl was adopted by Dragon King, a black dragon who, behind his frightening appearance, actually hides a big heart. The world of The Cruel King and the Great Hero is not torn apart by war and trauma, but is nevertheless marked by it: peace, still imperfect, is threatened by the specter of the return of the dangerous Demon King, a hypothesis that, as the adventure progresses, will become more and more probable. That’s why the little one Yuucradled by the paternal affection of Dragon Kinghe trains hard, hoping one day to take over for his dad and rid the world of that dark threat.
The story, divided into days, does not aspire to tell star battles or epic tragedies, but respectfully follows the format of the fable, focusing on just a handful of characters and a unique moral message to convey. The simplicity of the story is therefore perfectly adequate to the experience that the developers wanted us to live, making the contained ambition of The Cruel King and the Great Hero a quality and not a limit … mostly.
Activating combat mode!
The combat system (turn-based and extremely classic) could have been better refined: the possibilities available to the player are many, from the use of objects to enhance statistics, accessories to wear with similar effects, and a good number of special abilities, however the fights are really too simple. Little Yuu has a skill that allows her, without consuming energy (the “mana” of the game, which recharges one unit per turn and is spent to use abilities) to study the weaknesses of enemies, and then be able to exploit them to your advantage. An interesting mechanic on paper, even if not particularly original, but which is optional for the duration of the adventure.
Among other things, it is inexplicable that the bosses, the only enemies capable of putting the player’s knowledge to the test, do not have any weaknesses, transforming the battles with the latter into a repetitive “attack-defend-healing object” loop. Random encounters are really hard to digest in 2022, especially considering the slowness of the protagonist’s movements. The backtracking, perhaps one of the most important mechanics in the game. Whether it is to interact with an object thanks to the abilities of one’s companions (whose stay within the party will be governed by the progress of the plot), or to complete a side quest (present within the game in a fairly generous number), to Yuu will be continually required to return to the places already visited, to discover new areas, often and willingly populated by more powerful enemies..
In this sense, the progression is pleasant, with a world that expands in all directions and which also justifies returning to the areas already explored, but when you find yourself continually leaving an area and returning to the central hub (thanks to a useful object) only to take advantage of the fast travel (once unlocked) to reach the goal faster, perhaps not everything has been calculated to perfection.
A fairy tale in motion
It is indeed fortunate then that the world of The Cruel King and The Great Hero, divided into different macro-areas, is so well done, with an artistic direction of great value and a splendid musical accompaniment, which manages to give rhythm and liven up even the most tedious movements. If there is one element of the production that stands out, it is precisely the aesthetic presentation. The hand-drawn style, already experimented with the previous title “The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince”, Returns to be appreciated, giving character both to the product and to its developer.
Above all, the design of the characters and enemies is surprisingoften and willingly variants of the same archetype, but differentiated enough, both in appearance and in character (for NPCs) and in skills (for enemies) to be able to always keep the player’s curiosity alive. Even the volume of content does not disappoint for the low price asked: completing the story and most of the side missions took us about 16 hours, and we expect these to easily reach 17-18 if you decide to complete the game at 100%. Secondary activities, quite traditional and totally optional fetch questshowever, not only offer the possibility of obtaining new equipment and resources, but significantly enrich the narrative fabric of the game, deepening the character of the characters (albeit in a ‘childishly’ delicate way), and the relationships that exist between the various races and species.
Once upon a time there was a brave hero who fought a terrifying dragon known as the Cruel King and in the end he came out victorious. However, instead of delivering the coup de grace, the hero decided to cut off one of the dragon’s horns, proclaiming: “You must atone for your sins!”. In the days that followed, the hero spent time with the dragon while he healed, and before they knew it, the hero and the dragon became close friends. One day, years later, the hero suffered a fatal wound, leaving his only daughter, Yuu. As the hero’s last wish, the beast takes care of raising Yuu to transform her into a great hero. From that moment on, she has watched over her Yuu, acting as her protector and guide in her many adventures so that one day she can become a great hero. However, these idyllic moments won’t last forever, as the inevitable re-emergence of the truth about the Cruel King’s past approaches, heralding new evidence for both the king and Yuu…
Purchase the Storybook Edition of The Cruel King and the Great Hero for Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 4 following these links for the price of € 59.99 . Available from March 4, 2022. Support Akiba Gamers by purchasing the game on Amazon through this link!
Who do we recommend The Cruel King and the Great Hero to?
With a simple but moving storyline, a distinctive style, and a more than discreet level of graphic cleanliness (except for some frame rate fluctuations, slowdowns, and some textual bugs), The Cruel King and the Great Hero definitely deserves to be played by fans of the JRPG genre, especially those of the first hour, who are not afraid of frequent casual encounters and a writing often and willingly rather prolix. The balance of difficulty calibrated a little too low and the light tones of the story make the product more than suitable even for the smallest players, who could, with the title of Nippon Ichitake their first step into the wonderful world of Japanese RPG (however, we must keep in mind that the game presents texts exclusively in English, an element that could hinder this type of use).
- A pleasant and moving plot
- A delicious style
- Excellent sound accompaniment
- Some burrs in the balance
- A repetitive level design
- Mechanics seen and magazines
The Cruel King and the Great Hero
A contained but effective JRPG
While continuing in the stylistic path traced by The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, The Cruel King and the Great Hero you take the risk of changing genres, keeping the horizontal scrolling setting of the predecessor, but abandoning the puzzle-platformer gameplay in favor of the typical mechanics of the JRPG. It is a choice with less courageous results than one could have hoped for, yet this choice allows the game to rise above its flaws, making the repetitive level design an expression of the iterativity that the genre brings with it. With some clever gimmicks, such as the alternation of different companions, with skills that allow you to reach previously inaccessible treasures, the developers have managed to give the gameplay an extra twist, hybridizing the mechanics of the JRPG with others that look in the direction of metroidvania. The dreamy style, the valuable sound accompaniment (also in the Japanese dubbing of the intermission scenes by the vocalist Akiko Shikata), and a more than advantageous price, given the amount of content, they pay off The Cruel King and the Great Hero a deserving product, expression of a saga still unable to say its own playfully speaking, but with appreciable artistic and narrative qualities.
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