A Prince in a Queens Domain in Search for a Kings Field
Yeah, I should work on my list, for my study and so on.
But then, I was curious, played the demo and I got myself Queens Domain on Steam, and now I'm hooked with this game.
(Is this a Royal Rumble?)
So, as everyone knows Queens Domain is a spiritual successor of the "Kings Field" Games, that everyone loves and played.
Wait you didn't play Kings Field?
Well neither did I, and probably lots of people didn't, but enough people have, so we have some "Kingsfields"-like titles (like Lunacid and Queens Domain) and it got enough attention to get a almost four hour video essay from a YouTuber called Majulaar (Link to YouTube).
So what is Kings Field?
It's a First-Person Dungeon Crawler from FromSoftware (you know Dark Souls etc.) from 1994 for the PlayStation 1, which got three Successors on PS1 and PS2, two "kinda like same" Games and an Editor for Kings Field Engine for the PC. More I really don't know, as I didn't play these games or even owned a PlayStation in my life.
So, there is a spiritual successor with the Name "Queens Domain" and I got a word to say about it. And it's not only about the game.
The Pasts We Live In
Lived Past
I listened to a lot of Power Metal in my young days. I was a fan of some of these Bands and even If I'm actively didn't listen them know, every now and then I re-listen some of their old and some of their new stuff, as an anchor point of my past in this present. Everyone got these things, places, movies, music and so forth, you had experienced in your past and still sometimes resonate in your present. I would describe it as "Lived Past".
Shared Past
Remember that Pokemon was a thing? How Sailor Moon was popular as hell? That Yu-Gi-Oh was the craze?
Well, I remember and connect it to my past, but never participated with them. I almost never saw Pokemon and never bought Cards, Sailor Moon the same and Yu-Gi-Oh also was there. I knew that existed, that for sure. Here we have a common past, though we probably not experienced the same, we know how this looked and felt. This is a "Shared Past" in my opinion. A thing, we know that existed and we can point it to the past for us, in a point a cultural or timely phenomenon in the past in our surrounding, we actively perceived.
Nostalgic Past
How do we perceive the past? How we imagine the 80's and now the 90's? The warm feeling about nostalgia, when you see a couple of adults playing a couple of teenager in a past with problems but not problems of their time? How everything seemed better (though in some point it was cough Climate Change cough)and tinted with a big filter over our perception. The feel good past. It's a past, we want to see. And here it shares the past I wanna point out:
Imagined Past
This is not per se the "Nostalgic past", but share some things with it. While the "Nostalgic past" wants only to "evoke" the feeling of Pastness, the "Imagined Past" want to incorporate the past in the present. It wants to show it like the past and feel it like the past, but looked at it belongs to the present. While you can argue, it is an evolution of the past to the present or nostalgia bait, I think there are different approaches to that. It's not an entirely "thought out" concept, but I think the difference is, that an "Imagined Past" is a mixture of all these pasts, keeping them in balance while going to the present and also mixing a little of "What if" into it.
A modern product, where the past is not, well, the past and more a integral part of the concept of itself, while sculpting new and modern facets into it.
(Here an emotional support Skeleton when you made it so far to read, there are so many Skeletons in this game)
And there I think Queens Domain is an excellent specimen in this case, besides being an excellent and fun game.
The Domain Game
First of all, the game is simply fun, if you like exploring every nook in a videogame. It's engaging and rewarding, as you find tons of secrets, sometimes almost mandatory, to it. As a washed up Prince on the Island looking for your Father, you are wandering on this island and the games sometimes "subtle" nudging you in the way you should go, but give you enough space and methods to find different paths. The star of this game is the level design and the metroidvania like progress you have to earn and fight for.
(I think this could be a sign. I went then the other way)
Here comes the RPG and Weapon Mechanics. You "Level Up" in combat and your stats go up, while your weapons also can "Level Up". But be warned, as you start, combat is almost tedious slow and hard. The "I fill the stamina bar for every swing" mechanic is from the Kings Field, but I like it that every swing is sunk cost fallacy. Your movement, though slow, also matters and the weapon, that you are wielding, deals different kind of damage, while every enemy has different attack patterns. And while you can rest at the Save Points, while your health there replenish, also your enemies.
(Stop! Bloody Hammer Time!)
I don't want to go too much into detail of what happens, because the biggest advantage of this game is, not knowing too much about it.
Did you finish it?
No, I didn't. I hope I'll, but now I have fun with it. And I don't think, this matters here too much, as you get the core concept of this game after an hour. I recommend playing the Demo first, even the game opens more up after the end of it.
Thanks for reading
(I wanted to make a nice screenshot and drowned afterwards)