Kingdom: New Lands

A pixel-art 2D side-scrolling action-strategy game where you accumulate and spend resources to try to beat a series of levels. It's kind of a strategy version of a Rogue-like, meaning that it's a strategy game rather than strictly a fighting game, as your character doesn't do any fighting directly. However, you're expected to replay a level many times as you discover the mechanics, the consequences of your actions, and unlock bonus features that you will need to win.

THE GOOD:

• There is some some genuine strategy in very simple mechanics. Basically, you choose where to go (it takes time to move from point A to point B and you can't be everywhere at once), and you choose where to spend your limited funds.
• Some genuine surprises are in store (there was at least one moment where my jaw dropped and I nearly had a heart attack), although the surprises can be quite demoralizing at times.
• The game does not allow save scumming, which leads to a much more exciting and tense game.
• When I beat the final island and saw the credits roll, it felt good! It took me about 22 hours. I did not have the heart to try the bonus Skull Island DLC.

THE BAD:

• The game makers explain basically NOTHING, with the in-game tutorial offering only the most elementary information on the UI interaction.
• Due to the low-resolution pixel graphics, it's not always obvious what a thing even is. Expect to spend resources on things without having any idea of what they will do or what the implications are. And then expect to lose because your choices were bad.
• The completely obscure mechanics require you to waste fruitless hours in experimentation and replaying levels when a simple, brief explanation would save you from all that pointless grind.
• I ended up looking up answers on the Internet, but this has the risk of exposure to major spoilers.
• Expect to feel frustrated during a very difficult learning curve. There can be a huge lag between making a strategic choice and discovering the consequence. The inevitable result is getting your ass handed to you (often only some hours later).
• The levels are randomly generated, so you sometimes get a really good one and sometimes a really bad one. If you've got a bad level, it's not always obvious until you've wasted a few hours.
• There is no ability to cancel a command. This is a deliberate design choice by the game makers. It means that a momentary lapse of reason can completely ruin hours of work.

THE UGLY:

• The NPC AI is idiotic. It's fairly predictable in its stupidity, so it's largely possible to work around the stupidity of the NPCs. However, the game would really benefit from some basic behaviour management, such as being able to direct a percentage of NPC unit types (on a per-unit-type basis) to go in one direction or the other. Or telling units not to occupy a particular tower.