Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

Title: Cute Knight Kingdom
Price: $19.95
System(s): Windows PC
Release Date: November 13, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Hanako Games (Hanako Games)
ESRB Rating: N/A. I’d say ages 10+.
Pros: Gallery option, multiple marriage prospects, multiple endings, can skip the intro, interesting astrological sign substitution, can explore the villages, can use mouse or keyboard controls, can save story/ending text, lots of magic to learn, can control how well she does in class or at work, get goods at a discount if you do well at a job, beautiful art for the ending scenes.
Cons: Doesn’t give an option to make a desktop shortcut, game slows down in dungeon areas, changing clothing doesn’t change your character’s appearance, if you fall in battle, you lose stamina, hard to build up “dream,” if you run out of “dream” the game ends, failing at jobs/classes decrease “dream”.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, * * * * out of 5

Hanako Games is an industrious, independent developer and publisher. It focuses on creating interesting, engaging and challenging girl-friendly games. Over the years it has created a number of successful titles like Cute Knight / Cute Knight Deluxe, Science Girls and Fatal Hearts. With Cute Knight Kingdom, Hanako returns to create a new life simulation game in the Cute Knight series.

Searching for the proper path.

Cute Knight Kingdom starts with the 18th birthday party for the heroine, a daughter of candle makers. At this party she discovers that she really isn’t their daughter. She was adopted by the candlemakers. Her mother found her outside as a baby, and a mysterious apparition in the sky asked her to watch over the little girl. It also said that it would return when she is 21, to see if she found her wings.

The young woman learns she has the potential to do whatever, and succeed at whatever, she tries. So she sets off to find a life for herself, and perhaps even find out her origins as well.

For someone so determined, she sure gives up on dreams easily.

Think of Cute Knight Kingdom as a more active, grown-up version of the Princess Maker games. You experience everything as the girl in question, and are helping her find her way after her parents have raised her to a happy and healthy young adult. Instead of dictating orders at an imaginary figure, you are the figure, choosing classes and jobs on your own, deciding how to handle each experience in order to get the most benefit out of them and making friends. You get to be the mysterious girl exploring the world and finding a place for herself.

I think the pacing and setting for Cute Knight Kingdom works well. Since you’re going day by day and week by week, four years is an appropriate and believable amount of time for the girl to find a path for herself. The week long jobs and classes move quickly and keep from being tedious thanks to the ability to make her exert herself or concentrate to ensure she gets the most out of her experiences. Plus it’s pretty easy to earn money so you won’t find your character destitute.

Tutorials are also well executed. You’ll typically see a brief explanation box pop-up when you’re experiencing something for the first time. It’ll tell you what you need to know, without being overbearing. You can also talk to the character’s father, or other characters, to find out what you need to know. There are times when a little more explanation would have been welcome, such as information on magic, crafting and cooking, but after a playthrough or two, you tend to figure things out.

I only had two issues with Cute Knight Kingdom. First, it can occasionally be difficult to tell the gender of other characters, based on their avatars, and sometimes even their character portraits. If someone gets lazy and decides to just work and never chat with people, they could miss a potential suitor. Second, the “dream” statistic can be quite troublesome. Think of it as a hidden HP bar. If it gets depleted, your game is over and you’re stuck as a candle maker for the rest of your life. The game doesn’t tell you that wearing your character out (down to 1 HP and/or 1 MP) or failing at jobs/classes can decrease it. You can unintentionally sabotage yourself, just because you wanted to try doing a new job or taking a new class.

If you put in effort and are willing to keep trying, Cute Knight Kingdom provides a great gaming experience.

Cute Knight Kingdom is an entertaining, though also incredibly challenging, life simulation game that fans of Princess Maker, Spirited Heart and the original Cute Knight will absolutely adore. General simulation game fans will also come to enjoy and relish the experience it presents. It’s a charming and endearing game with an addictive quality that will keep you coming back so you can see all of the possible endings and alternatives for the heroine.

If you do purchase it, I recommend visiting the Cute Knight Kingdom forum. Other players have come together to share their experience and knowledge, and it’s a valuable resource if you’re having trouble finding spell symbols, creating items or just managing the game.