KingSense Review

Protect Humanity as a Sensate

Fans of Fire Emblem and Slay the Spire are in for a treat with developer Superprism Technology’s strategy game KingSense. The game follows the story of humanity defending itself from the likes of evil mutants, cultists and much more. Players take on the role of a commander of the Sensate: people gifted with unique abilities. The fate of humanity rests in the hands of the Sensate as they take to battle and save the world.

One slight annoyance with the game right off the bat is its tutorial. Like many mobile strategy/RPG games, KingSense suffers from an absurdly hands-on tutorial. Its ham-fisted approach forces players to learn the mechanics of the game in a set way. Instead of organic exploration and teaching, players sit through long tutorial dialogue explaining everything. Tutorials are useful and can benefit people unfamiliar with certain gameplay styles. The overbearing nature of the tutorial makes it more of a hindrance than a benefit, though.

The story isn’t much to look at either, rarely progressing past the typical “save humanity from an evil threat” tale. Although the voice acting is done well and does add a nice touch. Each character the player meets has a fun personality. Unfortunately, the fan service side of their designs, and dialogue with other characters is also hard to ignore.

Strategize and Fight

Gameplay mainly consists of turn-based battles. Players begin by selecting where to place their Sensate on the battlefield. Once the troops are deployed, players decide where to move them in opposition to enemy combatants. Once the player has moved and attacked, the enemy gets to take their turn. An interesting part of the battle system is countering. If a player or enemy moves into the opposing side’s counter zone and attacks, then the attacker also takes damage.

Each Sensate has their own special attacks and attack range. This makes it important that they be placed in an area where their attacks are at maximum efficiency. The enemy variety combined with the strategic choices needed to win battles makes the combat stand out and work well. Sensate are upgradeable and collectible, allowing players to assemble the team they want and fight for humanity.

Lackluster Customization

One other gripe with the game is its customization options. Gear is unnecessary to complete the game, not really affecting the outcome of battles. Players can ignore the gear all together and have little to no issue in combat. Unfortunately, KingSense falls into the category of having customization just to pad the game up a bit more.

The poor gear customization aside, the game excels with its design and format. The cutscene art stills are gorgeous to look at. The overall menu and UI design makes it easy for players to navigate the game. Overall, KingSense is a great pick for players looking for interesting Fire Emblem-like strategy gaming and who don’t care whether the story or customization is a hit.