Hero of the Kingdom III (2018)
I continued along the same role-playing adventure path and played the third entry in the Hero of the Kingdom series. The RPG elements have grown notably stronger, while the mechanics have become more structured and grind-oriented. Alongside hunting and gathering, character progression is now heavily emphasised. The story of Hero of the Kingdom III largely unfolds in non-interactive cutscenes. Your character experiences visions of past events even as he operates freely and efficiently within the real-time game world. Natural resources replenish quickly, and there is never a real risk of depletion.
The two-person Slovak studio Lonely Troops seems to have firmly established its niche with the Hero of the Kingdom trilogy and two additional spin-offs set in the same world. Before these, they created strategy games that were never quite as successful. According to the credits of Hero of the Kingdom III, programming is by Jaroslav Kurčík and graphics by Tomáš Kurčík.
A hunter-gatherer’s horn of plenty
Hero of the Kingdom III again features a young hero rising from rags to recognition. As in previous entries, we meet an orphaned boy mistreated by fate yet lifted to prominence by the same hand. A looming disaster threatens the fantasy kingdom: earthquakes shake the land, and creatures crawl forth from below.
The player’s first and broadest task is to uncover and explore the world thoroughly. As exploration continues, glimpses of the kingdom’s rebellious princess begin to appear — she resists her arranged marriage and seeks freedom in a forbidden valley. There she succumbs to the power of a mysterious ruby and becomes trapped. At first, the visions make little sense, but gradually the playable reality and the dream-like fragments converge.
Core mechanics revolve around hunting and gathering. Slaying monsters essentially functions as a subset of hunting, as you also loot their “pockets” for goods. Compared to earlier titles there are new targets for hunting, fishing and collecting, although much of the inventory remains familiar. The biggest expansion lies in skill development: beyond hunting, fishing and gathering, you now cook meals, forge weapons and brew potions. Everything scales up — quantities, progression and the sense of personal growth. In addition to reputation, energy and money, your character can learn nine distinct abilities, each potentially rising to level 100.
I reached a point of overflow. Hunting, fishing, collecting, mining — everything began to feel like a hamster wheel, a compulsive loop of gathering, spending and climbing to ever-higher levels. Early abundance felt satisfying, but eventually recognition replaced discovery. New skills carried the experience a long way, but repetition dulled the spark before the end. Fortunately, the story maintained enough momentum to push me through to the conclusion.
The graphics of Hero of the Kingdom III are roughly on par with Hero of the Kingdom II. The look feels a little more solid and less delicate, with notably more 3D elements. Cutscenes shift to a closer and more detailed visual perspective. I enjoyed the landscapes and character art. Music, ambience and sound effects are well chosen — the soundtrack is library-based, but location-specific and varied. Still, much like the mechanics, the music eventually wore me down.
Verdict
The Kurčík brothers have delivered a commendable RPG trilogy. The series grows with each instalment, yet the third game also tests the upper limits of hunt-and-gather design — abundance alone cannot carry the player forever. My playthrough of Hero of the Kingdom III took just under eight hours, clearly longer than the first two. The dual-layered storytelling with cinematic interludes reflects ambition, and it works quite well. The narrative follows familiar fairy-tale patterns with a modern twist. I suspect I would be more enthusiastic had this been my first game in the series. In the end, I rate my experience at 74 out of 100.
I have previously reviewed both Hero of the Kingdom and Hero of the Kingdom II on Samooja.
Availability
Hero of the Kingdom III is available for Windows, macOS and Linux on Steam and GOG.com. The Fanatical trilogy offer for one euro appears to still be active.