Kingdoms of the Dump

Obra maestra y carta de amor a los viejos RPG, vale cada centavo.

I like it

8/10: Kingdoms of the Dump is a charming, turn-based RPG in the pixelated style of SNES-era classics like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger. Save the Lands of Fill from the threat of the glowing green goo with the trash knight Dustin Binsley and his motley crew. Once upon a time the Lands of Fill, the great Garbamesh travelled along with his trusty scribe Bookworm to unite the many kingdoms and save the Lands of Fill from the toxic green waste. After successfully eliminating the threat, they locked away the powerful artifacts they had used except for one: the 8-Ball that helped them see the future. Garbamesh went on to be king of Garbagia, with Bookworm, Fuschia, and the other party members eventually becoming leaders of other groups like the Bookkeepers, the Laundromancers, and so on. It has been many years since then, with King Globespin now sitting upon the throne. Yet on the morning of Dustin's ceremony to go from being a squire to a knight, the escaped bug convict Rutilius crashes the party and abducts the king, setting of the crisis that begins the game proper. All while Dustin is still asleep in his home, late for his own ceremony after drinking too much curdled milk and reading comics the night before. Kingdoms of the Dump has a lot of charm with its anthropmorphized characters and the theming of kingdoms and cultures where people are different kinds of trash, clothing, and furniture, along with catfolk, dogfolk, bugfolk, and ratfolk. Almost everyone and every place has a punny name based on the kind of thing they are, which keeps the game mostly lighthearted between the major story beats. The style is pixelated in the way the classic SNES and Sega Genesis games were, particularly JRPG's like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The combat is turn based, with the ability to time strikes and blocks for a bonus like in Super Mario RGP or more recently, Clair Obscur. There's also a 3x3 grid of square tiles for movement in combat so fighting on the frontline or backline has an effect on the damage you give and take. This combination of mechanics is a nice twist on turn-based combat, and give it just enough depth without needing to look up guides to understand the tactics. There is a tight cast of six core party members, each of which have some unique things they can do that help them traverse and interact with the Lands of Fill, making the game easier to explore as your party fills out. Dustin can convert specific metal objects into Scrap, the games shared "mana" pool that the whole party uses for their skills and spells. Ratavia moves quickly and can climb vines and pipes. Musk uses pheromones to disguise himself as other people. Walker can use his gun to stun enemies out in the wild, flip distant switches, and falls slowly when platforming allowing him to traverse wider gaps. Cerulean can use laundromancy to create up to five bubbles at a time that can be used as bouncing platforms. Lute can even use his string to grapple towards other platforms and objects. You only have access to a trio at a time for most of the game, so there are often treasures scattered about earlier maps that you will only be able to reach later on using another characters abilities, so don't worry too much about unreachable treasures until you have an airship that can fly you anywhere you want. Most issues and gripes with the game are easily addressable, resulting in only occasional minor annoyances that need to be addressed by backtracking or reloading. The inventory limits you to having at most 10 copies of a single item, which can result in leaving treasure chests behind because you have no more room for something. This isn't an issue for most of the game if you just sell off items once you have more than 7 or 8 copies of it, but there's an end game side-quest involving repairing Garbagia where this issue is heavily exacerbated. There are also missable side-quests if you progress through the main questline too quickly, although there should be more than enough to still be able to get the 25 side quests done achievement even if you miss a few of them. Even if you get stuck on some scenery, the game has an Unstuck option in the menu. Kingdoms of the Dump is a fun, uncomplicated turn-based RPG with a lot of character and nostalgic style. Taking roughly 30 hours to complete, there isn't too much time spent on grinding, especially if you make clever use of healing spells and using pills to upgrade your stats. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys classic JRPG's with turn-based combat, cute anthropmorphized pixel characters, and those who get a thrill out of finding treasure in a mountain of trash.