Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

This is the first of our monthly "D-Generate a Game" reviews and podcasts. At the beginning of every month, one of the hosts of the Stuck On the Home Screen Podcast will pick a game currently free in the PlayStation and Steam library to play all the way through by the end of the month. We are all terrible students, so I don't anticipate all of us getting the homework done, and that's fine. The Kid will play all of them and write a review so the other assholes can show up on presentation day and get the A.

The Pick

Our first game is a little Diddy called Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom. The cover art looked interesting for this game, so the Kid picked it as our first game. The cartooney anime style is an ideal route to balance out my gaming diet. Things have been deep and dark, with God Of War: Ragnarok and Diablo IV consuming me as of late.

Watching the trailer gave me Megaman mixed with Digimon vibes. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is an action-adventure side scroller in the Wonder Boy in Monster World series. I had never heard of those games, so I put them in the Google machine and learned about their history. Some Easter Eggs from previous games are sprinkled into the game for any Wonder Boy fans. This game was released in December 2018 by FDG Entertainment / Game Atelier.

What is this?

Alright... initial reactions, starting with the intro video. Very much a tribute to 90's anime with the music and the style of the video. I enjoyed it, but I also think the fellas will watch that and be like... what the f*** did Ed pick for us to play. ***Spoilers ahead****. Okay, you've been warned. Hitting new game brings you to a colorful island where you take over Jin, the main character. His drunk uncle Nabu crashes a barrel of Royal booze(No, I'm not making this up), Jin grabs a sword from the crib, and the adventure begins.

The game's premise is drunk Uncle Nabu turned everyone into beasts, and Jin has to collect orbs that turn him into six different beasts to reverse what Nabu did. All the NPC and bad guys are monsters of some kind. Big fan of how the transformations play into each map and stay important throughout the game. One of the forms is a tiny snake that may seem useless when you can become a dragon, but the snake's ability to slither in small spots never goes out of style. As you collect different forms, you'll also find and upgrade weapons to help you smash bad guys and collect treasure.

Just the Tips(For First-Timers)

There are a lot of secret treasures in this game, and I spent a lot of time trying to get to shit I couldn't get to yet. With that being said, the developers did an excellent job of progressively giving you upgrades throughout the game, so it's not too easy to start and not a mad dash at the end.

So my first tip is to inspect each part of a map but know when to move on if you can't get to a treasure. Also, know that towards the end of the game, it's much easier to go back and collect. Use your map, pop it open often, and look for holes because that is a good indicator there is more to be found in that area. Also, don't be afraid to die to figure out a puzzle; there are many checkpoints.

The best way to farm coins early on is by shaking down the golden mushroom monster in the Green Fields west of the Village of Lupia. Once the castle opens up later in the game, kick some penguin ass; they drop a lot of chedda.

Kadhim Games Says: 8.9/10

I enjoyed the shit out of this. Straight up. I never got bored--sometimes a little flustered--but never overwhelmed. The soundtrack rips, the gameplay is smooth, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. I also 100% completed this game, which I haven't done in a while. I only cheated to do that at the end when I had two chests left and was getting very frustrated. Of course, once I looked it up, I felt like a moron because I could have figured it out, but I have a child now, and I can't spend four hours realizing I need to swim up a little differently to reveal a hidden chest with something I definitely don't even need to beat the game. *Breath Eddie...breath*.

Anyway, if you are looking for a time capsule game that will put a smile on your face and challenge your brain, check out Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. It's a good game to beat in around 20 hours and walk away from, which is rare nowadays. This was just Kid Kadhim's thoughts on the game if you want to hear what D Block, Gizzi, and Cheech have to say tune into Stuck On The Home Screen, where we will devote an entire episode to a new "D-Generate A Game," each month.