Hero of the Kingdom 2 - 4 Reasons to play this engrossing point and click RPG

Mobile has recently been graced with the first two installments of Lonely Troops’ acclaimed point-and-click RPG series Hero of the Kingdom, with the original and its sequel now available to download on iOS. Whilst the first is an outstanding game, Hero of the Kingdom 2 takes the best aspects and greatly expands on them, and there are plenty of good reasons to give it a go.

Steer your own destiny

One of the stand-out mechanics is just how many ways you can choose to complete quests, or even if you will engage with them at all. For us, one of the most shocking examples of this happens when you enter the first big village. You are presented with a quest that, for completionists, you will complete without question, ignoring the warning you get. This, however, bites you, as you end up losing renown and money whilst gaining nothing.

It is a fantastic and somewhat abrupt warning that this isn’t your usual RPG. Choosing the “right” or “obvious” choice can, and will, end badly if you don’t pay attention to everything. There are other choices to make when dealing with quests, such as whether to defeat or distract a goblin, that are a lovely way to insert yourself into the story and create your character's personality.

So many ways to play

Your choices aren't just limited to those that progress the story, but also how you spend your day. Completing side quests will grant you skills, such as collecting herbs, picking mushrooms, and hunting animals, which will in turn unlock more potential tasks.

Even when you travel back to areas you have already cleared, more quests could have popped up for you to take care of, depending on your previous choices. After helping a farmer harvest his crops, you go on your merry way. Return though, and you will suddenly gain access to a whole other area thanks to your hard work. The world is always evolving and showing more of itself depending on your choices, and it is fantastic to see it happen.

A challenging resource system

After restarting the game multiple times to test out all the different choices, the one feature that always proved to be a challenge was resource management. Not just the energy system, but items and gold as well. A lot of quests need specific items, which require you to purchase them with your gold for the most part, so you need to use your skills to find items to sell.

The problem with this is doing anything takes energy, and to recover energy you will need to rest, which also costs specific items or money depending on where you stay. This leads to a constant challenge of spending your limited time each day progressing quests, whilst also making sure you can spare what you need to rest. It is incredibly engaging and keeps you thinking every minute.

A triumphant mix of genres

Hero of the Kingdom does have some very obvious, heavy RPG elements with all the choices, but it combines this brilliantly with its point-and-click mechanics. When you learn more skills, you unlock more items on the screen that you can poke to collect things, which you will then promptly sell, or in the case of an early quest, hand over to your dear sister to make her happy in a charming little quest.

The most entertaining bit of this collection extravaganza is the wonderful graphics. Everything is so beautifully designed that you will be overlooking collectable items because you think it's just part of the background. This may sound like a negative, but it’s such a satisfying feeling when you return to a screen and notice something you missed before!

If you want a story that you can get lost in, then Hero of the Kingdom 2 is a perfect choice. It feels right at home on mobile with its timeless graphics and intuitive touch controls, and it is one of the most in-depth games out there.

If you want to try it for yourself then you can find it available to download from the App Store for $7.99.