Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
82
Metacritic
89
Steam
87.392
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$11.99
Release date
25 July 2019
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
89 (2 068 votes)
Recent
80 (20 votes)

A legendary series returns with a grand new adventure! Enjoy a colorful action-adventure game made alongside Ryuichi Nishizawa, creator of the original Wonder Boy in Monster World series.

Show detailed description

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7,8,10
  • Processor: Intel/AMD Quad Core
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GPU with 2GB VRAM available.
  • DirectX: Version 10
  • Storage: 5000 MB available space
  • Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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Refi Van
Refi Van

Awesome game.
Music, graphics, gameplay, ALL were great.

The story is simple and straightforward, but enjoyable nonetheless.

My only problem with this game were two times, where I got stuck in place and couldn't move in two specific areas of the game and had to reset to a save point so I could try again and progress, but other than that it was possible to finish the game 100% without a problem 👍

26 hrs of fun gameplay.

Joversi
Joversi

Shitty clunky version of something like Shantae, with dogshit controller support. If you want to be frustrated immediately, please buy.

MegaMrFreeman
MegaMrFreeman

I had fun with this game at the start, but the further you go into the game, the more you notice this game's problems.
-CLUNKY CONTROLS.

Who designed it so you would have to change forms DIAGONALLY? Trying to change forms on a keyboard is a literal pain, because that means you have to click two directional keys at once, and sometimes the game wont even recognise which direction you're trying to select, so you HAVE to either change forms by clicking the button and stopping on the right one, or keep mashing two directional keys and hope for the best.

-FORM CHANGING BUGGERY.
For some bizarre reason you cant change your form in middle air. Why not? Also, sometimes you have to change the forms quickly (and as explained before there is mcfuckery going on with the changing controls), Or at least it appears so.
Example: In volcano stage, there is an area where you have to drop down on a lava geyser as a snake. Obviously you will take damage if you do. Naturally you would think "Okay, I will drop down as a snake, change in middle air into frog/lion with ice boots and I will land safely". Guess what? You can't change in middle air.

So what do you do? You are somehow supposed to figure out that you have to stand on a pixel of land, and THEN change and that makes you drop down. The game didnt even explain such things or mechanics, you're supposed to figure that out yourself. Somehow.

Then there is a section where you have to do the downward jump on enemies, land on a platform which quickly falls down, on it, you have to change to frog, and quickly grab the string and propel yourself up. Trying to change yourself on a quickly disappearing platform is impossible. If you take too long and you change too late, the platform falls and for some reason you cant use your tongue above you to reach the string. Instead the tongue shoots forward. And stuff like this happens a lot in volcano.

-CHECKPOINTS.

Level design up until volcano seems to be....good. Great, even. When you start playing in the volcano, you start noticing this level tendency:
You fight some enemies --> Checkpoint --> You go through obstacles and enemies --> You find a puzzle (which also contains enemies or hazards which kill you) --> you fiddle with the puzzle and by accident you die.

And after you die, you have to go back, waaay back, fight the damn monsters, go through obstacles just so you could fiddle with the dangerous killing puzzle and hope that you wont die and wont have to do everything all over again. Volcano is basically where I gave up on the game. Doing the same thing over and over and over again. Also, the damage is also sometimes inconsistent with your player sprite, it sometimes feels like you are taking damage when you shouldnt, especially when you are in lion form.

At least put the checkpoint BEFORE the puzzle for gods sake. I understand the game is trying to be progressively harder, but doing stuff like this makes the game unfair and frustrating.

Conclusion is, I gave up on this game. The controls and lack of checkpoints on volcano makes it hard to progress. I really dont feel like completing this game, which is a shame because the first half of the game felt fun to play.

Speedhands
Speedhands

This game is freaking awesome! I got this on a whim because I was bored. I"m not a fan of the Wonderboy series in anyway but this game is one of best Metroidvania style platformers I've ever played. I 100% the game too. I was sad when it was over, that's the sign of a GREAT game. Music is outstanding. The graphics are so vibrant and colorful. I wish more games would use BIG bold colors like this. It's worth exploring and collecting everything in the game. This is a must buy for anyone who enjoys Metroidvania's

Playernator
Playernator

Amazing game, definitely should be played if you enjoy metroidvanias, Simple and unpretentious story, with a great game play.

Apparently Kid
Apparently Kid

Solid metroidvania. Good animation, lots of different forms and unlockables and items, youre always discovering a new power or upgrade or item or ability. Decent difficulty and varied bosses. Sometimes can be confusing with the layout or how to get something/somewhere but overall quite fun. Story is meh. 8/10.

Grimm.
Grimm.

what a masterpiece of nostalgia, reminds me of classic Sega games, specifically feels like it pays homage to a Master System favourite of mine called Psycho fox, has the same premise of using different animal forms for different tasks. Beautiful artwork, music & characters.

Been humming the theme tune for a solid week.

T1C0
T1C0

Amazing game, I almost asked for a refund, because I didn't like the platforming and the combat is weird in the early stages, but thankfully I already played more than two hours that time.

I keep playing, what a wonderful game! Every environment is unique, it's all so beautiful, but what really made me love this game are the puzzles. All the puzzles feels so natural, it's so good, I don't remember the last time that I played a game with puzzles well made like this.

I hugely recommend it!

Stevcorp
Stevcorp

Monster world + Dragon's trap = this game

easydor
easydor

Good continuation of the Wonder Boy/Monster World formula. Where this game excels is the different ideas and concepts it combines for puzzle and level design at the expense of small bugs and annoyances. The gameplay has its limitations in combat and overall I found myself getting a bit too often frustrated.

Still a very laudable effort, however you might find other metroidvanias better suited to your needs unless you are a fan of its unofficial (?) predecessors. Check out the demo or for another comic-like adventure I'd recommend Shantae and the Pirate's Curse which might feel more generic but has tighter execution.

MattRetro
MattRetro

Awesome game! A great tribute to the original Wonder Boy games

SpicyBoi 🌶
SpicyBoi 🌶

I cannot in good conscience recommend this game despite truly trying to enjoy it. The graphics look great and the idea seems awesome in theory, though in practice this is essentially just a worst version of the average Shantae game due to the glaring gameplay and difficulty issues.

Controls are finicky and prone to being jammed or not responding, especially with regards to the warp menu and all equipment/form change menus as well. While save points are very common, this is countered by the fact that there is a brutally steep difficulty spike in the volcano area where everything kills you in 2-3 hits at best unless you happened to find basically all the hidden heart containers. But even with those, most times respawning only gives back 5 hearts maximum so it won't be that much easier anyway. The unresponsive controls and difficult to dodge overpowered enemies and hazards, along with the sheer length of the volcano make it the worst part of the game by far. 2-3 hours where I was only going forward to see if it gets better afterwards.

Thankfully, the game does get back to some level of decency after the terrible volcano, but there are still plenty of enemies that do a lot of damage as well as a select few cheap puzzles that you'd take 30+ minutes to pass without a guide (looking at you star matching puzzle). These cause the game to still be a drag and have made it far less fun than it was for the first 3-4 hours where I was blissfully unaware of how tedious it would become.

I think I have gotten far enough in the game without finishing it to confidently say that the plot this game has is definitely not worth through the effort of going through all the annoying areas and fetch quests. I bought this game on sale and I still don't think it was a great investment. Just pick up Half-Genie Hero instead, similar price with metroidvania style exploration and animal transformations, but far less rage inducing even when it gets difficult.

The game isn't all bad, I will probably still see it to the end if the final part is at least semi tolerable (though that is a big IF). The music is decent, the animation and character designs are cool, boss ideas and how they are defeated are unique. It's a shame because with proper difficulty balancing and weaker enemies this would be a great game. Unfortunately the bad gameplay design choices are so glaring they taint the entire experience. Not the worst game ever, but far from the best. Certainly don't spend $30 on this

Nyamew
Nyamew

Pretty much one of the best games I've ever played; I haven't had so much fun with a game where after ~35 hours into it, I started a new game after finishing it just because I wanted to keep playing it.

Commander Kris
Commander Kris

This rescued the Wonderboy series.

Ofer
Ofer

I couldn't recommend this game enough. It's a masterpiece at what it does and my kids love it.

Stones
Stones

old school greatness with a fresh paint job. love it!

Evil_Squirrel
Evil_Squirrel

game is more frustrating than difficult. the controls do not support the platforming that the game wants you to do.

Renschnitzel
Renschnitzel

Amazing Game. No padding, no slowdowns, only Gameplay. Every 15-30min you get something new to play around with, weapon, armor, animalform, upgrade, gamelaymechanic, etc. Also has a really good upgrade system. This Game deserves more recognicion for not wasting any time and letting you play right from the start till the end. Cant recommend it enough

Mogwai_Ren
Mogwai_Ren

Aggravating, and sort of addicting.. Fun puzzles, great graphics.

SinSin
SinSin

Hard and really fun. Perfect for those who likes challenge

BK-201
BK-201

A pretty good little game. Very reminiscent of the old from 20-30 years ago. The combat is a bit simplistic and some puzzles aren't as clear, but over all a good game. I had fun.

Wurja
Wurja

It's a very nice revamp of the old games, it has the same feel to it and stays true to its roots. Very enjoyable and I would play a sequel and look forward to more games like this one.

sup3rskrull
sup3rskrull

best game ever! I really want more games from this developer! They've made an awesome game with perfect gameplay, story, characters, and everything else. I've been waiting for a 2D platformer on 32:9, and this game loos amazing on that aspect ratio. I also own this game on the Switch. This is how much I love the game. Thanks a lot! I

8BITSEYLA
8BITSEYLA

This game is not for everyone.

vitorsoarest
vitorsoarest

A great game that pays homage to the original franchise, but updates it and brings a very fun and challenging game! Really recommend as this game is short and has lots of content.

GuleHat
GuleHat

Some mean puzzles aside, this is a fantastic game. It's good to see that the developers aren't afraid to build upon the classic games that inspired them.

Ranged_Archer of annihilation
Ranged_Archer …

This game is way better than expected. I was expecting some completely linear side scroller but the level design of this game is more like 2D Metroid. Lots of back tracking and map reading and power ups. Actually this game IS Metroid with a toon world skin on it.

Vincelot
Vincelot

Super cool game with nostalgic moments and references to the old games!
Shifting to different animals to solve puzzles and reach areas you couldn't before was a smart idea. I really enjoyed it especially half way through the game where it becomes more challenging.
I highly recommend it if you liked the old Wonder Boy games or any metrovania game in general.

rhymedragwithdrag
rhymedragwithdrag

It's true - Monster Boy perhaps doesn't feel all that much like its Master System ancestor to play - but what may initially seem like an issue actually turns out very much in Monster Boy's favour.

I grew up with 'Wonder Boy III - The Dragon's Trap'. I loved it. Thanks to a smashing "remaster", also available on steam, I still enjoy it today. However, we should probably acknowledge that for all its innovations, there were (literal) stretches of the original title that amounted to walking down long corridors and lancing the same baddies over and over again, like a medieval 'Kung Fu'.

Monster Boy has effectively taken the best bits of the original - the character-switching, the prescient Metroidvania-isms - and largely replaced the decrepit "action" parts with more engaging gameplay - some more platforming, MUCH more puzzling.

What we have is a surprisingly long adventure with a fair difficulty curve, a huge amount to explore and some of the best puzzles in any 2D title I have ever played.

Highly Recommended.

Leaf
Leaf

I listened to the game's soundtrack for 15 hours in my room,
What am i doing with my life.

Daniel Vibez
Daniel Vibez

Unplayable. My jump action won't work. Wish I could play your game. Tried this game a while ago and all actions worked fine. Wonder what happened? Plz help.

Ryngak
Ryngak

A great 2D platformer/adventure game. While some of the puzzles can get a little obtuse or become various flavors of "bash your head into walls to find out which one is fake," the combat is good and overall I would highly recommend this to anyone that's a fan of the genre.

arikdahn
arikdahn

This game is great all around. The music, graphics, puzzles, and integration of individual puzzles into the whole of the game is among the best there is. You owe it to yourself to support these developers and buy the game. It runs great and I only experienced minimal glitches. It's a difficult game at times, but it's forgiving. The only part I felt was unfair was the fact that the lion form takes damage from the downward thrust onto lava when wearing the ice boots. The human form doesn't have this issue which leads me to believe it is an issue and not intentional. Otherwise the collectables are great and I could hum the music all day long. Really great game. One of the best I've played in a long time.

adam
adam

Had a great time playing this game actually. I really, really, enjoyed it all the way up until the point where I had to explore the Haunted Mansion. From the center room is you go left then left through the next room too then up you're in a room with a door on a bookshelf and if you go left again you'll see a statue that glows purple when shot by fire. What's behind that door over the bookcase? I don't know. My game comes to an abrupt and crappy end if I try to use that door. Crash to desktop. It's too bad, I like the game and would love to give it a thumb up but you can't hardly recommend a game with CTD problems.

Manu
Manu

Awesome game, waiting for a new one.

rammerthered
rammerthered

This game was a lot of fun! The art style is cool, and the gameplay is very rewarding, plus some of the puzzles are actually difficult, something you don't find outside of puzzle games very often. If I have one complaint, it's that the difficulty curve felt a little off. The game can be very pretty difficult at times, but once you start getting the good equipment, even the later levels are a breeze. Especially the final boss, I beat it on the first try, and that included all of the experimenting to figure out how to hurt it. But overall, I'd definitely suggest this game!

Vantier
Vantier

Game looks incredible and starts off great. But past the honeymoon phase the game is incredibly bland and clunky in pretty much all ways. Level design, combat, equipment, spells, transform mechanic, dialogue. It is all just kind of ehhhhhhhh. Its not terrible, its just not good or very interesting.

I started to kind of lose interest about 7 hours in and ended up trying to push through to the end because I was well past the refund window, but about 80% of the way through I literally just lost all motivation to play and wasn't having very much fun anymore. Nothing really drastically changes at the end, I just didn't feel like wasting anymore time when I wasn't having fun.

Here is my current list of Metroidvanias I would recommend over this game...

Blasphemous
Bone Appetit
Dad Quest
Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition
Environmental Station Alpha
Gato Roboto
Guacamelee! 2
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Champio
Hollow Knight
The Messenger
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moo
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outland
Teslagrad
Tiny Dangerous Dungeons
Xeodrifter

jetmason007
jetmason007

A wonderful remaking of a sega classic

uni1313
uni1313

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a beautiful platform game that reminds me of my games on NES and SNES. This type of games is rare on PC and Steam.
The game looks cute but is not for small children as some sections can be very difficult. The game is also very original and has little game sections that reminds you of the pixel era of gaming.
The game supports ultrawide resolutions, I tested 2560*1080. It’s recommended to play this game with a controller.

Highly recommended!

iboT
iboT

Do not buy this game if you are planning to play with a Switch Pro Controller as it is not working. Even after 2 years since release, the developers do not consider it as necessary to fix this problem so this is a big thumbs down for me! :)

Divine Guardian
Divine Guardian

I had never played any of the Wonder boy/Monster kingdom games before this, and this game inspired me to track down and try out the entire series. Excellent game!

Digimon OR Unknown monster
Digimon OR Unk…

Woah. This was quite an adventure. And now I shall review the game. Was it fun? Cool? Challenging? You want to know? Let's start, then...

This game is definitely great step ahead from Wonder Boy, which I reviewed last time. This game is literally what Wonder Boy failed to be. Great epic adventure, where You have multiple different characters to play without being unnecessary linear.

I don't even know where to start describing it, but generally You have special powers and every form can do different things, but apart from that You are basically free on how You play the game, when You use certain character etc. You are not locked behind certain character, because they want You to play that character to pass certain moment. Especially that You are free to swap characters whenever You like as far as You have unlocked them. Game doesn't feel like You are limited only because You have to use certain character. No, I never felt that way.

Puzzles are fun. Sometimes they are way too hard, though. I mean... can't say it without spoilers, but... some of them were really cunning and You couldn't figure it out just like that. Actually it's one of the few games I had to use guide to do some things. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad side of the game. Because i love puzzles that makes You think. It's more satisfying when You solve something like that. But some of them were like... How would I even know that I have to do that?

Gameplay consist of much combat action combined with puzzles and platforming. You have certain skillset that is linked to Your form, but also weapons and equipment that only some of Your forms can use, magic, that almost 1(actually 2) characters can use and some characters have completely unique powers, not only skills used for puzzles/platforming, but also to fight.

Visual style is stunning. I'm not sure if it was inspired by or it's coincidence, but this game reminds me much of Dust: An Elysian Tail. Music is nice and soothing but also dynamic and atmospheric. Depending on the place or what You do, different music would play.

Finally, I love that achievements are actually linked to progress towards Your 100% in game. Many games have very annoying achievement system, that tells You to do boring, tedious actions or ridiculous stuff, just to get the achievements. I can understand secret places that gives You achievement, but if there is achievement that tells me to play the game in very annoying way, I hate it and won't bother doing this. Monster Boy in other hand has all achievements linked just to what You do while playing the game. But it doesn't mean that it's easy to get them all. I spent almost whole day (23.7 hours) to finish this game. Probably it's possible to play quicker (especially if You are not doing 100%), but this is what took me for first playthrough using guides when I was stuck.

Also, I have to say this, but there are secret areas. And even knowing that there is item here (it's possible to show not opened chests on the map), some of them aren't that obvious. Sometimes it took me very long to find a way, when I saw an [?] on the map. I knew there is something there, but the way was not always obvious.

And that's what I call a game with a challenge, both with combat and platforming, as well as puzzles. This game has fair difficulty. Sometimes it's harder, sometimes not, but it's not something ridiculously hard. And platforming games should be hard anyway. Will I recommend it? Do You still ask that? Of course I will.

queso3d
queso3d

Great metroidvania, good amount of difficulty, sweet artwork and engaging gameplay.

Go get it

Poltergasm
Poltergasm

Well, it has been 2.6 hours, so I'm past that point of no return now. And you know what? I'm fine with that because I'm really enjoying it so far. Charming hand drawn graphics, nice soundtrack, polished gameplay and you've got a recipe for a good time.
For those who have never played this type of game, it's not your typical level 1, level 2, level 3, etc. It's one big world (like a metroidvania in a sense). There's a bit of backtracking, but you have portals and shortcuts using the different morphs to get you around, so I never found it bothersome at all.

During your journey you'll collect orbs which allow you to transform into different creatures. Once unlocked you're able to transform to them at any time. You'll find you actually need to in order to complete some of the puzzles. Fortunately I didn't find them too difficult, and I'm not that great at games, despite how much I play them.
The save points/checkpoints are rather generous. I never found myself too far away if I ended up dying.

They get extra points for the free demo you can try out. In the demo you play in your human form, but it ends just as you grab the pig transformation, making you yearn for more. Well played, Atelier, you got me.
If you're wondering, your progress transfers to the full version if you purchase it, so you won't have to replay that island again. Once again, a really nice surprise.

You've got nothing to lose by trying out the demo, but honestly, it doesn't really do the game much justice because you don't have all the transformations and access to the rest of the world. Still, it'll give you a general idea of gameplay and art style. It was enough to reel me in.

Let's talk price for a second. Is it really worth £24.99? I want to say yes, but even then, I usually have a hard time justifying so much for a platformer. Hollow Knight is 14.99. Shantae and the pirate's curse is 14.99, which seems like the average asking price for these kinds of games, so personally I think 24.99 is a little steep.
Having said that, I don't regret it.

Mikael
Mikael

Awesome game! Game design here is so сonvenient and practical! I hope developers will make another chapter

beEZ
beEZ

A masterpiece! There is nothing negative to say about this game. I wish there was a second part.

Droiagon
Droiagon

A platforming game for children. This is meant for kids of today to play games like those we had back in the Nintendo/SNES days.

Bright colors, art, and a story for children. You really have nothing to look for here if you are over 18.

VT
VT

Such a great game.
Lots of nostalgia, story is entertaining and funny at times.
Collectibles and upgrades extend the games play time and are fun to try and obtain.

MicroToNKa
MicroToNKa

I do not remember the last time I enjoyed such a game, it brought me back to the nostalgia that I was missing, and as you can see that 98% of the achievements in the games i own i did not complete, yet this game is an exceptional case, and in short, Monster Boy is one of the games that force or encourage you to complete it 100%.

sabeerareeb™
sabeerareeb™

A really fun metroidvania lots of content and its just fun
Looks fantastic and plays like a dream
Its just the right difficulty not too hard or easy

Killyourpride
Killyourpride

It's rare that I fully complete a game with all the achievements but this one compelled me to. I grew up with the Monster World series on Sega systems and there's so many wonderful little easter eggs for fans of the old games and a complete re-balancing of what made those games frustrating.

I would hope for a continuation of this series because that was some of the best 30 hours of gameplay I've had in a long time and want to play more of it

Shaman LizardKing
Shaman LizardKing

I'm a big fan of the series since the Wonder Boy games on Sega Master system, therefore I am not only biased but also have high expectations. I've played ~15h hours and I'm really impressed by the game. The graphics are beautiful, the music is great with some remix of the Wonder Boy III music. The level design is well thought out, with a good balance of pure platform stages and puzzles. The difficulty is just right for not making me rage quit but still want to move on with the story. The gameplay with the different animals is really fun.

It comes highly recommended.

pedrorp
pedrorp

Amazing level design and amazing soundtrack. Will definitely buy the sequel on day one

Brusque Lee
Brusque Lee

Monster Boy's soundtrack is a masterpiece. I'd forgive someone for thinking they were playing a Falcom game. I had to look up its composers. Yuzo Koshiro (Ys, Etrian Odyssey), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales, Dark Souls), and Michiru Yamane (Castlevania) all worked on this. JFC. No wonder.

The gameplay could use a lot of adjustments. The radial menus are overall pretty bad, and made switching monster forms and equips way less fluid than it could've been. Shields and weapons both have about a 20% chance of just not doing anything when they should. Hitboxes and timings could be tightened up a lot. I don't want to waste too many words picking nits. There's nothing really ruinous here, just a lot of common problems that are a bit lazy for something that's otherwise this high caliber.

The puzzles are the core of the game, and are much better. There's a tiny bit of guide bait if you're going for 100%, but it's mostly off the beaten path and not required. The main guts of the story require enough thinking to be satisfying to solve without hard walling most people for centuries. It's a good balance that's not always easy to achieve.

This visuals are good here too. Maybe not as strong as the music, but still top-tier hand drawn, pre-rendered, 2D parallax stuff. This style never stops looking good, so developers will keep using it.

Overall, Monster Boy is right up there with stuff like Shovel Knight and Dust. There's no very good reason not to play this if you like what you see.

UXU
UXU

Muy bueno!. Muy lindo para jugar.
Es, quizá, más Puzzlero que otras entregas de la saga, pero esta bien equilibrada la mezcla plataforma/puzzle.

Storm falcon
Storm falcon

I love this game. Makes you feel like you are playing an original Wonder Boy game with Nice modern graphics. At times, it can be a little frustrating but that is part of the charm of these games.

Hagane
Hagane

Great Game, beautiful artsy visuals. Cool entry onto the saga, a bit underappreciated, but you get your fun on here.

Exploring all the mazes and swapping characters never gets dull. Music is really good, is more of the monster world's compositions plus some original that totally rock. A bit curvy, and hard to keep track of sometimes but still fair, lots of convenient collectibles, the kind that also make you a stronger player not just codex things.

If you're into the genre and this franchise it's an easy recommendation, but beware behind the goofy hand drawn visuals lies a very challenging adventure both to your brains and control reflexes. Great game BA

Michael
Michael

I had a great time playing this. There's a lot to do, and a lot to collect!

jhaelen
jhaelen

Great old-school platformer with nice puzzles, fair placement of save points and bosses that can actually be beaten.

gametuanbao
gametuanbao

100% ending true got cool monster boy

Tom
Tom

This game felt a bit disappointing at first, I thought of a game for kids too simple. How wrong I was !
It got more and more interesting, with lots of good ideas, puzzles, hidden treasures, equipment and colorful areas to explore. And developed by a french team :-) A great game !

hansi_ruebe
hansi_ruebe

So Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom has to be one of the greatest Metroidvaniaa there is to play. Everything is designed very carefully and well thought trough. This game is near to a 10/10 and I can only recomend it!

Niko
Niko

This game is a lot of fun with a fine amount of challenge though never getting frustraiting!
I mostly went through the game one or two hours at once before taking a short break, which I think is a good way to play this, giving yourself a bit of a breather once in a while especially after more difficult sections to recollect yourself and jump back into it with fresh energy.
The art is lovely much like the music with the gameplay not lacking behind in quality either, with the different transformations as well as equipment mixing up the gameplay regularly.
Overall Monsterboy is very much worth the price and a great recommendation for anyone who enjoys platformer and metroidvania style games.
Though do use a guide for some riddles and collectable locations if you don't feel like searching overly long for them.

Absolution
Absolution

Play this game if you don't like yourself.
Like seriously. The game is annoying at many parts and it's all puzzles. Not to mention that most of the songs are just taken from the first game and remixed. The soundtrack is pretty good, but it gets annoying.
AND IT'S ALL PUZZLES. It stops being satisfying when you're just solving puzzles all the time and switching every two seconds between your forms (which are all pretty much just used because it's required for a puzzle)

318838
318838

Wow! was not expecting much from this game

Its a superbly made 2D platform in my opinion which is a joy to play and took me back to my childhood playing games like this years ago.

amazing game-play and mechanics with puzzles, and great boss fights make this a must
if you like 2D platform games - and overall a good challenge to the end.

Sparky
Sparky

Great game, very enjoyable. Highly recomended.

Rolim
Rolim

Even though it can be sometimes challenging, I had fun with this game.
It has amazing music and art style. Gameplay felt also great, loved the gear you can buy and upgrade, bosses were fun to fight, finding all the treasures across the world, etc.
Overall was an enjoyable experience with some minor parts either were a bit to hard or confusing.
Made me miss the old retro times when games were more simplistic.

Small Issues I had:
It might have been from my side but been using switch pro controller it, every time it saved or went in an area that needed screen transition it would not allow me to move for 2 seconds or so which would put me back on the previous screen if it was upwards, or worse keep me moving in the direction i was holding.
Also when I opened the game sometimes it was in window mode, idk why but yeah.

Sushi Monster
Sushi Monster

Great metroidvania if you're a fan of it.

+ Great use of equipment + monster powers to solve puzzles
+ Charming art style
- Combat could be improved I guess? Very difficult to hit enemies that are diagonal or above you. Most boss fights are just a dps check to see if you can click the attack key fast enough.

Eocene
Eocene

The best of all the modern Wonder Boy/Monster World games (and also the only one that isn't a remake).

VividyVavidy
VividyVavidy

haha dude what if we took Shantae but made it actually good lmfao

madtaz64
madtaz64

My biggest complaints are that the latter half felt like it dragged for a little too long, and some of the puzzles were unnecessarily difficult to figure out. Even so it was still such a good fucking game. The gameplay is fun, the graphics are really pretty, the music is top notch.

I read somewhere someone calling it the Sonic Mania of the Wonder Boy/Monster World franchise and man were they right. There are so many awesome little nods to various games in the series it's hard to keep track sometimes lol. Such a beautiful love letter to the franchise.

Mister Dude
Mister Dude

As of writing this review, I am currently playing through from the beginning after having beaten it once and enjoyed it for the most part. The reason I am thumbing it down is not because I think it is a bad game but because it is not perfect by any stretch and I want the average to reflect that. This game does some very annoying things which bring it down in my book, but it's still fun. So let's begin.

Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom plays very much like an old-school platformer with RPG elements. It is the successor to Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap, which itself was a Metroidvania years before Metroidvanias were even a thing. Gameplay wise, it feels very similar to Zelda but in a 2D setting. You start with three hearts and can find more scattered about to achieve a maximum of twenty. You have your basic sword with weak attack and limited range, though you lose the ability to use it early on once you're cursed with your first animal form. There are also a total of five spells to learn, two of which aren't really magic, but utilities like a boomerang and bomb. Yet more shades of Zelda.

Exploration is nearly always fun, and there are loads of secrets to uncover if you're dedicated enough to find them. Even on your first time through you can find many without scouring too hard. Once I regained the ability to use a sword, shield, armor and footwear in the frog form I had already, from exploring and backtracking, found enough loot that I could upgrade my newly purchased fire-sword to do more damage and shoot fireballs at full-health, and raise the defense of the crimson tunic (reminiscent of the red mail from Link to the Past) to maximum defense. Very gratifying indeed.

Each new animal form (pig, snake, frog, lion, and dragon, obtained in that order) have their own set of abilities you'll need to use, often in tandem, to progress further into the game. In addition, certain spells and accessories have their own abilities that must be used for accessing new areas. It all works together to make the game unfold in a way that rarely feels unintuitive or artificial. One part I struggled with early one were the magic truffles which you need to consume to gain new magic. I think the Steam version of this game differs from console versions because I've seen Youtube videos where you need only brush away the leaves to uncover the truffles whereas on PC you have to ground-pound the area just to reveal them. This stumped me at first and I only found the one I needed to progress after trial and error as I was committed (at first) to figuring out the game on my own without consulting a walkthrough (more on that later).

If you like puzzles then boy-howdy is this game full of them. The act of platforming is often more cerebral than athletic, and simply making your way from one area to the next while utilizing your abilities is itself often a logic puzzle. Many areas will come down to simple trial and error, and get more frustrating as the difficulty ramps up further into the game. These at least keep the game from becoming boring but can leave you feeling fried after long sessions. I mostly enjoyed the puzzles and was able to get past them before my frustration reached a boiling point.

But all good things come to an end, for now it is time to discuss what this game does wrong and how it manifests towards the end to turn what was formerly an enjoyable, well paced experience into a grueling chore with sometimes pointless rewards.

I said before that I was committed to trying to solve all the puzzles and figure out where to go without a walkthrough. Well, I broke about 90 percent of the way through in the haunted manor level. This area is already enough to break a lot of people, but what got me was some stupid rolling ball puzzle where it looked like you had just barely enough room to make a jump with pixel perfect timing. After failing several times, I looked up a let's play and it turns out there was another way to do it that's far easier and doesn't involve perfect timing. My fault for getting tunnel vision, but the layout of the manor and constant deluge of enemies was already keeping me from thinking straight. It's easily the worst area in the entire game.

The next part was after the area boss in which you have to ground pound a spot in the boss room with no indication you're supposed to do so just to retrieve the object of your quest. I've said before in a previous review that I hate unintuitive stuff like this.

But it gets worse.

The penultimate dungeon contains one of the worst boss fights I've ever seen. How bad is it? Well, a commenter on Youtube said it was as bad as The Bed of Chaos from Dark Souls. I concur. The fight itself is just one stupid puzzle that continually punishes you while giving virtually no indication of what you're supposed to do to win. F--- it, whatever, consulting a video on Youtube again just so I can get past it since there's no instant win button.

Once you're past that nightmare, the true bad guy reveals himself, and it's just some random generic dark lord. I mean, I know this game is just light-hearted, silly story telling, but c'mon, at least give some foreshadowing for the epic villain reveal. Then you enter the next area, and--WHOA, did I say this game was light-hearted and silly? F--- that noise, we've gotta send the young hero into an astral realm of cosmic horror that looks like something straight outta Darkest Dungeon. I bought got neck whiplash from the sudden tonal dissonance. Granted, it's not as bad as the eclipse from Berserk, but close to it, and with no build up.

At this point, you've regained your human form along with a dash maneuver that allows you to dodge attacks with careful timing. And it's at this point you remember that your human form can not only do a four-hit combo attack but also slash upwards, something neither the frog, lion, nor dragon forms could do. I guess humans have more dexterity, but what pisses me off about this is that game teases you at the very, very beginning with these useful combat moves only to take them away and not give them back until the very end. Do you know how many airborne enemies there are in this game? Do you know how useful an upward slash attack would've been for dealing with them?

Whatever. You make your way through the final area until suddenly the game decides to gate keep you from progressing further until you've collected the pieces of the golden sword and golden armor and reforged them. You find pieces of golden equipment (sword, shield, armor, bangle, boots) scattered about the game and are able to forge them into equipment once they're collected, but I hadn't found enough of a single item to forge even one. Now the game is telling me I can't wrap this up until I've done some backtracking. This is like wanting to see the series finale of a show only to be shown a clip show episode. It's a cheap, lazy way to pad out the run time.

What they ought to have done at the very, very least was had you defeat the final boss, then roll credits, then do post game content to collect the remaining pieces of the golden sword and armor so you could do another dungeon to fight the real final boss and see the true ending. This was very frustrating and by then I had checked out and just wanted to get it over. Back to Youtube to let an LP handhold my way through to the end. At least I only needed the sword and armor.

Once you've done that, the game decides to let you proceed further. The final boss isn't very hard, but fighting him is, again, like a puzzle that takes trial and error. I was so done I just followed the walkthrough like a paint by numbers. And when it was all said and done, the impression I got from Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom was that development got lazy and possibly rushed for time towards the end. Still, an overall good game for fans of the genre.

bgnogan
bgnogan

This game is trash because of he snake boss. One of the worst designed boss fights of all time.

Big thumbs down

danman
danman

I'm a visual person and this game looks gorgeous. Plays as you'd expect. I like that it's not frustratingly challenging but fairly balanced and it keeps introducing new mechanics just before you get bored of the old ones. Has a friendly and humorous vibe throughout.

LIAM NEESON
LIAM NEESON

I thought this game was for kids, at the first 2 hours of gameplay, but the longer I play, the longer I think this game is actually challenging, and I'm getting attached to it...

my only complaint, maybe the design, and I feel toward the end of the game, some character will get less usefull/useless, because the character not getting any boost/added function, and some other newer character is more functional than the other.

but everything went unexpectedly nice and I would recommend this game if you like platform type of gameplay.

Mankanshoku
Mankanshoku

Amazing game! A cute metroidvania with very nice graphics, good level design, funny story and nice gimmicks for each character. Some are, of course, more useful than others but still it's an amazing game and easy difficult overall. Super recommend!

lain366
lain366

Nice game with cool gameplay. The ending is epic! :D

SmittyShmee
SmittyShmee

If you ever played Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap and loved it, this game is for you.

unkiwii
unkiwii

I can't wait for ALL Wonder Boy/Monster World franchise games to be done this well. Excellent game 10/10. Hope to see more from these developers.

aidang5678
aidang5678

Great, but there are some flaws to it, such as having to find 3 relics in random spots with little to no clues. It does start dragging on later into the game.

Hermenegildo das Casas
Hermenegildo d…

Amazing game. This game become one of my all time favorites metroidvanias.

Played on linux with proton.

crystlshake
crystlshake

A beautifully animated metroidvania with quite a few secrets. Some of the challenges were pretty tough for optional stuff and a boss or two but weren't too frustrating once I figured out what I needed to do. Most of the collectibles are pretty straight forward if you are paying attention to the environment which is nice, though I wish that there would have been a treasure hint option to just indicate the area instead of the exact block- though some of those still took some time to figure out. Likewise with three pieces of the gold equipment, it would have been nice to just get a clue on where to look for the non-sword and armor ones. I ended up completing the game with just shy of 100% in about 21 hours though I don't know what I might have missed.

Grimfarrow
Grimfarrow

I had a lot of fun with Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom, and am very happy to see a brand new entry into this fabled series. The game does so much right - beautiful 2-D graphics, wonderful music, and the classic Monster Boy formula nailed down to a tee. That said, admittedly I cannot help but compare this game to the recent Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap remake, and despite being a significantly more substantial game in terms of size and length, I have to say that the remake ultimately edges out this new entry, mostly because I personally prefer the music of the remake (one of the best scores in recent memory) as well as its watercolor aesthetics. More importantly, Monster Boy does have some weaknesses:
- the game can get buggy, with Jin getting stuck or boulders getting caught and cannot move in the pinball-ish section of the haunter manor. Just feels like the remake had a bit more polish to it
- some of the hidden secrets are so obtuse that I really don't know how you can ever solve it without following a guide. Some come to mind, like the three colored windows or the infamous corked well. Personally I would have liked puzzles to be solvable from the logic of the game. Likewise, some of the secrets just feel totally random, like shooting a fireball into thin air to reveal an invisible platform and a chest in Skullrock Beach...how are we supposed to know that??
- similarly, boss fights can get frustrating since some bosses have multiple forms, but there are at times no clue as to how to beat a certain form. I got super stuck on Nabu because I had no idea what to do with the water barrel, as there were zero clues that Nabu would have to be doused by water to be sober (huh??)
- ending seems very abrupt and rather unsatisfactory. Granted, the Wonder Boy remake's ending is also brief, but it had more charm to it. Even the rolling credits were more interesting in that one, with photos and tidbits as it rolled along, while this one was plain as can be.

Despite my gripes, this is a very good game, and also an outstanding metroidvania even though its gameplay actually harks back to 1989 - two console generations before Symphony of the Night. The graphics and sound are top-notch and has plenty of charm. Now here's hoping that the tease at the end of the game turns into something, and please don't gatekeep the Steam version until way after all the other launches, please?

Highly recommended. 7/10 (I tend to score harsher as I use the full scale).

-OSIRIS-
-OSIRIS-

Just only one word to describe this.
Tomba.

Yeaah if you like tomba, you have to play this game 👍👍

Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

IS great game, completely scratches that metroidvania itch. The devs did a beautiful job of this. It's not too hard, puzzles are great, and its a good chunk of time.

10/10 would play again. Hope to see the same dev team doing a sequel to the wonder boy / monster world series. I think they've definitely earned it with this GOLDEN GEM OF A GAME!

Everything is great. Why haven't you bought this and played it yet?

jackarse1422
jackarse1422

This game has a ton of layers. More layers than any Metroidvania game I have ever played and I think that's because of how many characters do specific things. The map seems massive, soundtrack is fantastic, and the artwork is phenomenal. The only downside are bosses are too easy but it's a really enjoyable and tough platformer.

Honestly, was really taken aback by this one.

Merticois
Merticois

It has it's pacing/frustration points but overall it's a great game in the same vein as Wonder Boy in Monster World. If you like old school action platformer rpgs with a highly polished art style, this may be a good game for you to play!

luzonfe
luzonfe

great game for all who love fantasy and metroidvania

Anonymous
Anonymous

Little rough to start the game on linux -- have to use ALT-TAB on controller .. but once it gets started it's a lot of fun.

Moon
Moon

Best wondervania of the century.

Cosmic Calico
Cosmic Calico

If you love metroidvanias, you NEED this game!

The music, puzzles, powers, transformations, all of it is incredibly well thought out and the hidden stuff is mind boggling.

jamaass
jamaass

I bought the game because I love the Wonder Boy series. Unfortunately, I can't recommend it. The second part of the game is mostly puzzles, and they require more trial and error than thought. There are some bugs (teleporting sometimes crashes the game), and most forms and equipment are too weak to be useful (but the game sometimes forces you to use them on puzzles).

Not really the game I was expecting, since puzzles never were the focus of the Wonder Boy games.

Toast
Toast

For a game with so much charm and promise, it is unfortunate that loose controls and poorly designed levels turn it into nothing more than a lesson in frustration. I guess this game can be for you if you enjoy failing over and over again, half the time due to unresponsive controls. As an example, I am 14 hours into the game, and still cannot consistently quickly switch forms. I know exactly which direction on the wheel each form is, but unless I carefully hold down the switch form button, carefully maneuver to the form I want while making sure it is lit up, then let go of the switch form button, chances are I will be in the wrong form. There are also countless instances of jumping / charging coming out a split second late, which clearly results in a die and retry.

As other reviewers have stated, the worst part is the Volcano level -- savepoints are far and in between, and only heal you to half health, meaning you essentially have to complete a long, multi-screen sequence with traps and inconsistent enemies making at most 2 mistakes. It is no surprise that speedrunners have chosen to essentially glitch through this section than play it as intended.

Pros:
+ Beautiful hand-drawn graphics
+ Charming light-hearted setting

Cons:
- Loose, inconsistent controls
- Some terrible level designs

Ephy
Ephy

100% completion under 30 hours, Main story about 15 hours If the game was twice as long I would be still playing it.

The story is pretty simple, but the dialogues and the cartoonish animations makes it really interesting and fun to watch.

The music is absolutely wonderful and makes the game even more engaging.

The levels, secrets and special parts makes every rooms, and place you visit and revisit super fun and every new room include more challenge. About that, the game can be frustrating at time not nothing too complicated to solve but some very very well hidden completely optional stuff.

Boss fights are very well made, thought and very different from what I've ever seen. Some fight are very hard to figure out, but when you start switching between all your forms you'll end up finding most of the clues.

I not only recommend that game to everyone, but I really hopes those devs make more game like this one!

midnightdragoness
midnightdragoness

Review originally posted to Dragon Quill. Comments are enabled there.

A shapeshifter Metroidvania where the hero, and the titular kingdom, suffers the terrible curse of being turned into monsters with awesome powers. Amusingly, everyone takes this surprisingly well; when you show up to the town square shortly after the cursing happens, everyone is just continuing business as normal while happening to be animal-people. The characters and different forms are all beautifully animated and have a ton of personality — I particularly like how the pig’s crouching animation is just loafing on his side.

The game is very linear and has a few rather obnoxious hidden rooms, but otherwise it is an excellent Metroidvania. The monster forms give you access to tons of cool abilities and shifting between them is a breeze. My only substantial complaint is that the magic abilities feel underutilized; since they’re exclusive to the first form, you get all of them very early on and then don’t have much reason to use them after getting the better forms. I would have liked if every form could use magic so it could have remained a mainstay. I also would have liked if the final boss had an additional stage that was just a free-for-all brawl, instead of just being a series of rather obvious puzzles centered around each form. But these are minor complaints! Overall, very cute and fun.

kenckyong
kenckyong

Simply fun searching all the items. Bosses fight are easy, just pay attention to surrounding.

The Lame Ghost
The Lame Ghost

Don't be fooled by the cute aesthetics, this game is nasty. I'm a soulsborne veteran, and this game made me salty.

Good game tho

krf5801
krf5801

I been playing Wonder-Boy games my whole life and this one feels just the same. Only better!!!!!

moonshine
moonshine

It's a cool game and worth it if you're into challenging metroidvanias, but be warned, this game has some pretty frustrating design choices.

Pros:
- Diverse gameplay and strategies through the various animal forms is fun
- Focuses on puzzles, many of the puzzles are satisfying and well made (not all, see below)
- Amazing sound track
- Lots of secrets to explore

Cons:
- Balancing is weird: some areas are quite hard but many bosses are too easy
- Some puzzles and boss mechanics are _way_ too obscure and frustrating as a result until you figure it out. I might have dropped the game if I didn't follow a guide. One boss requires you to go into the game's settings and enable a language to "translate" their text. Seriously?
- A couple puzzles with janky physics
- Too many crowded platforming sequences with aerial enemies swooping and knocking you to your death and annoying stuff like that
- 70%+ of the enemies in the game are flying but you can't swing your weapon upwards. Like literally half the combat difficulty comes from this :/
- Enemy respawn and puzzle timers are too short in areas making it unnecessarily punishing

Anyway, I think it's worth checking out if you're looking for a challenging metroidvania / platformer, but be prepared for the cons I listed. I'd give the game 7/10 (it's like a 9/10 if they addressed the cons, when it was fun it was really fun!)

Mica
Mica

Beautifully animated and surprisingly harder than the artstyle/targeted demographic would imply, it's a great game.

Mr. Rubber Ducky
Mr. Rubber Ducky

It was fun from the limited time I was playing but the game suffered horrible performance issues on my system which made it borderline a unplayable experience.

Ended up refunding it but other than that, it's a fun game with some flaws here n there.

Mejai Shooter
Mejai Shooter

INCREDIBLE. SOUNDTRACK. NOSTALGIA. 10/10

Krauvando
Krauvando

*sigh* Another of those cases where I wish Steam allowed me to write a neutral-voted review. But even like this, this game left me with a more negative feeling and midway I already wanted to be over with it.

Keep in mind that my vote is conditioned by this game being a metroidvania. Right now this genre is extremely mature and standards are very very high (which is a positive thing). This means that "okayish" titles will feel lacking and under-delivering.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a colorful exploration metroidvania with the main mechanic of switching between forms (monsters), each with an specific set of skills, that will allow you to approach combat and solve puzzles. Like in many games of the genre, the storyline isn't meant to be taken seriously and simply fills its purpose to give you some directions.

Let's start with the good things.

The art style is vivid and very well animated. Not just the actual animation video, but the whole package. You can really see they've put attention and care to it, especially on the main character. Environments have a wider range where some areas feel less repetitive than others but overall the visual part of this game carries half of it.

The other half is carried by the puzzles, which is probably the strongest point of this game. By giving unique abilities to your different forms, it gives many posibilities that the developers took a good advantage of. Many of the puzzles and secrets felt rewarding, not frustrating and many cool "ohh I get it now" moments. The game also tributes and references some old titles, either as a small easter egg puzzle or included directly on an unmissable moment.

Soundtrack is functional in a good way. It's not an unforgettable one but it serves its purpose.

Completion time estimation suggested in the store page (~15h) is accurate.

And now the bad things, some more troublesome than others.

Monster Boy's biggest flaw is its mechanics. Do you know those games where a sequence of failures (e.g. get hit, the animation makes you fall down all the way, you get hit again during the fall, throws you out of the screen, respawning enemies, etc) feel like they happen more often than they're supposed to? Monster Boy is one of those games. While having a good set of puzzles and exploration, the combat in this game will be something you will quickly dislike and simply want it to last the least amount of time possible.

As some more concrete examples in this regard: for the majority of the game it gives little resources to fight flying enemies, while adding an absurd amount of them; silly instakill situations (like suddenly getting stuck in a pixel) getting you back to the last checkpoint (which sometimes they are lacking); at the beginning the game encourages you A LOT to use magic to approach combat, but it's not until the endgame where you will have enough ammo to make it worthy (and by that time you will never user magic for battles again).

Likewise when you think of mechanics outside battles, the game can be maddening. Menus seem to take a while to load, where you can't press buttons even if you know what you want to do; the magic/form circular selection sometimes autochanges and sometimes expects you to press some confirmation; some cutscenes are skippable while others aren't; map connection forces for tiresome backtracking especially with the low amount of teleport gates.

Lastly, difficulty is all over the place. Sometimes out of nowhere there's a very spefic room or section that expects you to do some precision platforming, or throws some very annoying setups of enemies, while not really giving good tools for either. This is even more problematic on areas where checkpoints are more separated from each other. In most cases, those situations will be more challenging than the bosses, which at some point you will be completely overpowered against them.

The endgame exploration got better but this is something general from metroidvania titles. Overall Monster Boy is not a bad title as a whole but it sins in some aspects that will frustrate you and compromise your experience. Even if you grab it with a hard discount, there is possibly more solid metroidvania options out there.

Dommm
Dommm

Greatly enjoyed the game. The soundtrack is full of bangers, the gameplay was super solid, and exploration was rewarding. I was looking forward to the new areas each time I completed one, and really enjoyed hunting for the shiny secrets (though I did need help on some). If you enjoy metroidvanias pick this up. If you want a game to play with your kids, cousins, whomever, pick this up.

Ge0force
Ge0force

This is definitely one of the best 2D platformers I've ever played. Seriously, everything about this game is polished and cleverly designed, it's so much fun to play from start to end!

Because of some curse, you are able to change into different animals. Each animal has unique skills: when you're lion, you can dash through walls, while your frog form allows to swing on hooks and turn wheels. You can change between different forms at any moment, which the devs used to create tons of clever puzzles, platforming challenges and boss fights.

During your quest, you visit lots of different area's, each with unique enemies and challenges. There are secrets hidden in almost every corner, and the graphics and soundtrack are amazing.

My only point of criticism is that the last part of the game requires some unnecessary backtracking, and some of the bosses are a bit too much trial and error, especially the final boss. But please don't let this stop you from playing this almost perfect game. A must-play for everyone!

Mr. 85
Mr. 85

A wonderful platformer, and a true later day sequel to Wonder Boy II: The Dragon's Trap.

Nymeria
Nymeria

very slick metroidvania with nice form changing ability makes for dynamic puzzle solving between all the possible things you can do.
controls are good, fighting is okay to good, you can definitely see the difference between using all your ressources to fight or not (in the damage department for example)
funny interactions and dialogue, clean anime artstyle, the animations and everything is done very well.
no technical issues whatsoever!