Queen’s Domain is a brilliant King’s Field-like RPG that requires you to walk to learn to fly

FromSoftware’s old King’s Field games aren’t exactly celebrated for their sense of nimbleness. They’re glorious first-person racing fests, a thick waltz of swing and spell, with players lurching in and out of attacking range like Brits who aren’t sure the other man wants a hug. Unlike the later Dark Souls action RPGs, to which King’s Field owes some of its retrospective popularity, there’s no dodging to grease the wheels.

Released this week on Steam, Queen’s Domain is often as heavy as King’s Field, but it’s also an exercise in steady, triumphant acceleration. Ultimately, he wants you to fly. To this end, he equips you – well, once you’ve faced a massive skeleton sentinel – with a sophisticated wind blade that lets you perform an aerial sprint, speeding up your maneuvers while allowing you to reach new areas.

You’ll find socketable gems that extend the dash, gradually bringing offshore islands and collapsed castle parapets within reach. I’m about four hours into Queen’s Domain, and right now the general goal is to trick that enchanted blade: go down a stage of a gnarly wondrous world, collect a gem, and return another way, all the while keeping an eye out for corners and platforms that once seemed like a loopy backdrop.

Although it’s an obvious quick-pick default, the Wind Blade doesn’t render the game’s other fifty or so weapons obsolete, in part because enemies differ in damage type: Skellingtons are more resistant to swords, while spears tend to bounce off malformed Ladybug Rodents. All weapons level up with use, and all have special abilities: the first spear you acquire has a knockback, useful against grasshopper chickens with kicks, while the basic wooden club has a leaping motion, skipping the long swinging animation that is the weapon’s main drawback.

Despite all these flourishes, the combat is often as punishing and reassuring as I remember King’s Field being on early PlayStation consoles. The pace is determined by the need to charge your attacks, holding the button down until the windup consumes your entire stamina bar; spam hits are much less effective.

350 words, and I haven’t mentioned the remarkable attraction of Queen’s Domain – the landscape itself, an absurdly beautiful expanse of mossy arches, severed pillars and hollowed-out tombs that evokes Shadow of the Colossus and Vagrant Story as much as FromSoftware. It’s a beautiful place, a haunting take on the PS2 aesthetic that runs comfortably on integrated graphics. Or at least it’s beautiful until you start playing with the focal length and spooky filters in photo mode (see below).

The Archipelago’s intertwined paths are structured around save crystals where you can rest at the cost of enemies respawning, but unlike Souls, enemies eventually respawn on their own, appearing in different combinations as you pass certain milestones.

While the latter aspect creates more ambush opportunities, you can set up encounters using your secondary weapons, starting with a belt of throwing daggers hanging from a wreck. I mention the location because, embarrassingly, I managed to ignore them for the first hour – in general, Queen’s Domain doesn’t highlight collectibles as blatantly as some recent blockbusters.

You get an infinite supply of daggers, governed by a cooldown. The best thing about them initially is that you can use them to assassinate the very annoying laser eyeballs that adorn tree trunks, often hitting you in the back while you’re fighting something else. Beyond that, you’ll use them to draw individuals away from crowds, luring them towards kill zones with plenty of strafing space, or trapping them behind monoliths so you can hit them at your leisure.

I have over 30 hours of Queen’s Domain left to burn, according to developers Freshly Baked. Unlike most non-review games I’ve dove into this year, I feel like I could actually go the distance. Other thoughts to follow, perhaps! If you’re new to King’s Fieldalikes, you may find it stifling and frustrating at first. Even if you know your King’s Fields, you will probably die a lot. But I hope that the magnificence of the landscape and the increasing arrogance of the combat system will allow you to overcome the obstacle. The game launches tomorrow and there is still a demo on Steam at the time of writing.