Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

It's a very cool metroidvania game, great graphics and animation, cute story and characters. It plays wonderfully well on the Steam Deck too. I haven't finished though because I got tired of redoing a small section of a level which required fast reaction timing to get through with it. I would eventually have done it, but I really dislike redoing a thing over and over again so I quit, but this is a "me problem" not a game fault which is why my review is positive despite I dropped the game before the end (I think I was around two thirds of it).

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a stunning love letter to the Wonder Boy series, delivering a beautiful blend of modern gameplay mechanics and retro charm. For those of us who grew up with Wonder Boy in Monster Land and Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, this game is like revisiting old friends—but with fresh twists and a gorgeous, hand-drawn art style that reimagines the whimsical world we remember.

The gameplay in Monster Boy is enriched by varied transformations that keep the puzzles and combat engaging, and each form (from a fire-breathing dragon to a powerful pig) brings unique abilities that perfectly capture the spirit of the original games. The levels are crafted with creativity, offering a wonderful mix of exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving that remains challenging yet rewarding.

As for the soundtrack, it’s simply superb, capturing the heart of the series with compositions that feel both familiar and new. The music effortlessly combines the nostalgic tones of past games with fresh melodies that enrich each scene, making it one of the best soundtracks in recent platformers.

This isn’t just a tribute to the classics; it’s a game that stands on its own, taking the best of old-school charm and modern game design to deliver an experience that’s both nostalgic and thrilling. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to the series, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a must-play adventure that truly honors its legendary roots.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10
---{ Author }---
☑

Woah, what an amazing game. Very good metroidvania, I really love everything about it. The anime intro, the soundtrack, the hand drawn characters... yes, some puzzles are a bit, uhh, difficult (to not say cryptic) and in the beginning the game felt a bit too difficult, but it doesn't really punish you for dying, so I was fine with it. I don't know what else should I say, if you are reading this, then you are probably interested in playing it, then go and play it, it's worth it!!

The music is amazing. The transformation mechanic is addicting and marvelous too. I hope in the future a sequel of this game. Please add frog tranformation again

Great game, lots of fun, great exploration and more challenging to complete than you would assume at the start, with lots of great design and music.
I love all the inspiration it took from Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (and the remastered music) and turns it into a different game with its own charm, secrets and exploration. Overall the secret areas are fair and the games gives you enough help to completely explore the map (minus the main secret on the Village of Lupia's well which is a bit hard and had to use a guide for).
Loved the new versions of the music and the mix of transformations with their abilities.
One negative aspect is the platforms, you can see in the reviews quite a few people complain about the controls, but the real issue is the platforming, specifically the hitboxes on the edges of the platforms, you need to aim for the center of the platform and avoid the edges as much as possible, specially on small platforms or you will just fall through. It takes a bit to get used to it, its not too bad, but if you are used to really tight platforming games its a bit annoying.

This game was fantastic.
Beautiful art, wonderful music, smooth controls, and it pulls no punches with difficulty.
There are some sections which are aggravating in that they require you to get the timing just right, but it's not so miserable that it becomes unfun, and the payoff is worth it. Some secrets are a real pain though, but that's just how it is.
Enemies are varied and interesting.
Boss fights are always fun.
I heavily recommend this game to anyone who enjoys metroidvania games or even just action or adventure games.
This is a new game with an old game mentality, and I LOVE it!