There's no real story behind The King, the Queen, and the Jester, at least not at first. You start out in a cell and you must make your way out, fighting monsters and solving puzzles along the way. In a way, it's refreshing to see a game so singularly focused on the intricacies of its gameplay and combat, especially given the limitations of the graphics. After all, you can't have the king come give you a long speech full of nuance if the king is 16 x 16 pixels and has a mouth that is little more than a straight line! This is a game whose merits rest upon the strength of play, not strength of story.

The King, the Queen, and the Jester will definitely not appeal to everyone in the graphics department. The graphics are crisp, clear, and evocative, but they are also very pixelated. The sprites are roughly comparable to what you might see in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, and while we certainly think they look good (no diagonals means no need for anti-aliasing), it's very much dependent on one's tolerance for enlarged pixels. The music and sound effects are great, with a lo-fi aesthetic creeping in there as well. The music is dark and foreboding, while the sound effects are clear and snappy. It's a memorable and pleasing game all around in terms of presentation.

The core of the game revolves around your inventory as opposed to your character. There are no character skills or attributes beyond health, and you do not gain levels as you defeat monsters. Rather, monsters drop loot for you to use, ranging from daggers to potions to shields. It may seem a bit strange to have a complete lack of characterization, but it somehow feels right in The King, the Queen, and the Jester. You don't ever feel like you are killing monsters for no reason, even when they do not drop anything, and the satisfaction of finding a secret area with a stash of supplies is much sweeter here than it is in other RPGs.

Items are broken into two major categories: consumables and weapons. Consumables are important, as they are the only way that you can armor, heal, or upgrade yourself. Perhaps the two most important consumables are health potions and armor. Armor protects you from a certain amount of damage when used, while health potions are the only way for you to regain health. There are a few variants on this, especially the health potion that increases your total health, but for the most part these are the most common consumables. There are also keys, which are not used up upon unlocking but stick around in your inventory until you drop them.

Weapons are incredibly important, and the care that went into the creation and characterization of the weapons is readily apparent. Every weapon has four core attributes: damage, to hit, durability, toughness, and delay. Damage is how much damage you deal with a successful hit, with the number in parentheses being the extra damage you deal with a critical strike. If there is an hourglass icon next to the critical strike indicator, then that means you get an extra turn after a critical hit. To hit is the number of weapon icons below damage, with light icons indicating a chance to hit and grey ones meaning a chance to miss. For example, if a sword has three light icons and one grey icon, it has a 75% (3/4) chance to hit. Durability is dependent on toughness, as toughness values are compared upon attacking with a weapon. If your weapon has a lower toughness value, it suffers two points of durability loss as opposed to one. Finally, delay is how long it takes for the item to recharge after use, with most easily items taking one turn. You want to keep multiple weapons on you at all time to make sure that you are not screwed over by delay.

Monster have the same attributes as weapons, with a few core changes. All monsters have both a health value and a weakness, which increases damage and the chance of critical strikes against that monster. Weakness is indicated by a colored weapon icon, with a higher weakness equaling more overall damage. For example, if a goblin has a red icon, that means it is weak to fire, so a torch will be effective against it. Several monsters can attack from a distance through casting spells and similar activities. If this is the case, you absolutely want to close in as quickly as possible to avoid getting murdered, especially since casters must chant between spells.

The only real problem that The King, the Queen, and the Jester has is the linear nature of the game. It takes place in sprawling dungeons, to be sure, but it's very cramped in a lot of places and there's only one stair up per level. The game is also not procedural, so if you play it a few times through, you will have a good idea of the game and will be able to beat it with ease. However, the puzzles help to alleviate this as it is always fun solving some human-created puzzles. Another problem, although a lesser one, is the lack of a save system. As the game is almost completely linear and doesn't take that much time to complete, it's more of a nuisance than a real issue.

The King, the Queen, and the Jester is one of those games that you can play over and over again and enjoy yourself. It may not have a lot of true replayability, but the combat is solid, the visuals are nice, and the overall gameplay is reminiscent of the games that influenced an entire generation of developers. It's also still being developed, and we can't wait to see the end product. You can download the latest build and provide feedback in the TIGsource forum thread.

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