Kingdom Rush

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Kingdom Rush Tower Defense Game
Developer(s)	Ironhide Game Studio
Publisher(s)	Armor Games
Series	Kingdom Rush
Platform(s)	Flash browser game iOS Android Windows PC Linux macOS Nintendo Switch
Release	July 28, 2011
Genre(s)	Tower defense game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Kingdom Rush is a tower defense game developed by Ironhide Game Studio and published by Armor Games, released as a free flash browser game on July 28, 2011,^[1] on the iPad on December 19, 2011, on Android in May 2013, and a Unity port in January 2014 via Steam. A sequel, Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, was released on June 6, 2013. The third installment of the franchise, Kingdom Rush: Origins, was launched on November 20, 2014. It was released on PC on October 18, 2018.^[2] On November 22, 2018, Ironhide Studios released a new sequel, Kingdom Rush Vengeance, in which the player plays as Vez'nan's servant, helping him regain his throne.^[3] It was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 30, 2020.^[4]

Description[]

Kingdom Rush is a real-time tower defense game set in a medieval fantasy setting. Each level presents a pre-determined path with empty slots all around, called 'Strategy Points', where the player can build towers. There are four types of towers to choose from : Mages, Archers, Barracks, and Artillery, each costing a certain amount of money to build and upgrade. At the beginning of each level, the player gets some money in order to build the first towers. As enemies begin to emerge from one end of the path, the towers must be able to kill them before they reach the other end of the path (defence point). The player will also rely on a few spells and heroes (with cool-downs) to help the towers. Killing enemies generates money, which can readily be used to build and upgrade towers. Another way to earn money is to call enemy waves early, which also reduces cool down time of spells. Money is also earned by selling built towers or having an enemy reach the defence point. When an enemy gets there, the player loses 1-20 lives depending on the enemy. There are 18 levels in total and 48 different types of enemies that one will encounter throughout the levels.

Completing a level for the first time gives the player 1-3 stars. These stars can be used to unlock passive upgrades that improve the effectiveness of the various towers and spells. After completing a campaign level with 18 or more lives remaining (out of 20), the player earns 3 stars and the Heroic Mode and Iron Challenge are unlocked for this level. These are more challenging modes that take place on the same path and impose various constraints. In these modes, the player will only be given one life, so any enemy surviving to the defence point triggers a failure. Heroic Mode and Iron Challenge reward one star each when completed.

On April 25, 2012, Ironhide Game Studio released a new updated version of Kingdom Rush for Android and iOS devices that included new features and a new level.^[5] Among these new features were a shop and a hero's room. The shop provides items such as extra coins and dynamite that can be purchased through the winnings of gems in battle. The hero's room provides a selection of heroes that aid in battle and can be obtained by passing levels. These heroes vary from defenders to archers and can be placed anywhere on the path.

Kingdom Rush has full voice acting, most of which was done by voice talent Sean Crisden.

The game was featured in a problem in the 2012 Google Code Jam programming contest.^[6]

Reception[]

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The iOS version received an average score of 89/100 on review aggregator site Metacritic.^[7] As of February 2015, Kingdom Rush is the most played game in the site with over 70 million plays, while Kingdom Rush: Frontiers with 25.6 million plays is situated in the 10th place.^[10]

"Probably the best true tower defense game. It's funny, it's polished, and it's hard as balls." - IGN (Editor's choice 9/10 "Amazing")

"One of the most engaging TD games we've played..." -Slidetoplay.com (STP Score of 4 out of 4 "Must Have")

"Kingdom Rush can be filed in the thin folder marked "games that are pretty much perfect" -JayisGames.com

"This is one kingdom you'll be in no rush to escape from" -PocketGamer (Gold Award - Score 9)

Awards[]

The game was awarded the first prize at the 2011 Uruguayan Videogame Contest.^[11]

Other awards: Game of the Year 2011 - Jayisgames Strategy game of the year 2011 - Jayisgames Best Strategy Game - Mochiawards 2012 Community Choice - Mochiawards 2012 IGN Editor's Choice

Tablet and mobile version[]

On July 4, 2012, Ironhide Game Studio announced a comic version of Kingdom Rush that would be available for mobile and tablet devices.^[12] It became available on October 1, 2012, as a free download from iTunes.^[13]

Prequel and sequels[]

On August 25, 2011, Ironhide Studios announced a sequel to Kingdom Rush titled Kingdom Rush Frontiers. The game was slated for a Spring 2013 release. On December 12, 2012, the studio revealed its first screen capture of the game.^[14] On March 20, 2013, Ironhide released a teaser trailer of Kingdom Rush Frontiers.^[15] On June 6, 2013, the sequel was released for iOS. On September 26, 2013, it was released for Android, and on November 22, 2013, for Flash.^[16][17][18] The game has a Metacritic score of 85/100 based on 16 critic reviews.^[19] The game was released for Nintendo Switch on February 27, 2020.^[20][21]

The third installment of the franchise, Kingdom Rush Origins, was launched on November 20, 2014 on iOS and Android platforms. It is the prequel to the original game.

Ironhide Studios announced their intention to make a fourth Kingdom Rush game in early 2017.^[22] On July 17, 2018, Ironhide Studios announced that the new sequel would be called Kingdom Rush Vengeance. The player plays as Lord Vez'nan's servant to help him regain his throne.^[3] It was released on November 22, 2018.^[23]

Story[]

Kingdom Rush[]

In the first game, the player plays as a general of King Denas, who has to defend his kingdom from an invading force. The main campaign begins with small towns in Linirea being attacked, until it becomes evident that war has broken loose. The player has to defend the capital of the city in the level "The Citadel". After the capital is safely defended, the journey continues with King Denas's troops pursuing Vez'nan's troops into the mountains. At the Stormcloud Temple, a portal is opened to the dark land of Varadul, where Vez'nan is powerful. The troops further march into Varadul to meet Vez'nan's army at his dark tower. The main campaign of the game ends, when Vez'nan is defeated. Once the main campaign is defeated, several side quests are unlocked to the player. A mysterious figure also takes Vez'nan's staff which has a red crystal on top. It is one of the weapons that Vez'nan used in the final battle of the main campaign.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers[]

The figure that stole Vez'nan's staff is revealed to be Lord Malagar, one of Vez'nan's disciples. After studying about an ancient powerful entity, Malgar decides to steal the hammer of ages in order to release this entity in a ritual. After this hammer is stolen by him from Hammerhold, the player, who once again is a General of King Denas, has to beat several levels, defeating enemies in order to pursue Malagar and stop him from performing this ritual. After defeating several levels set in the desert, King Denas's army reaches the Gates of Nazeru, which have to be opened by defeating the djinn Nazeru. Opening the gates leads the player into the Lost Jungle, which are populated by savages and other jungle-themed enemies. This state culminates in the Temple of Saqra, which appears to be Malagar's last stand but is revelaed to be an entrance to a system of caves. Travelling through these caves, and defeating several levels of enemies in the process, results in finding Lord Malagar in the midst of an ancient ritual in front of a large crystal. The crystal begins to crack, revealing Umbra, who promtly kills Lord Malagar and attacks Denas's army. Once Umbra is defeated, the crystal was forgotten amongst the celebrations. It was picked up by an alien, which concluded the story.

Kingdom Rush Origins

Kingdom Rush Origins is a prequel to the first game and is set thirty years before it. The player, who is a general in the Elven army leads the elven forces against a Gnoll and Twilight elf invasion in the Elven Woods. After a couple of battles the elves rescue their princess Alleria Swiftwind and let her escape safely to Linirea while also defeating the Gnolls and one of their best warriors Hi-Hi Enha. The elves then proceed into the Faery Grove, home of the Twilight elves. As the player proceeds through the biome, the army recruits the natives to fight against the Twilight elves' armies. Eventually, the elves reach the Unseelie Court, the palace of Malicia, queen of the Twilight elves. After a tough battle the elves defeat Malicia and her forces but are unable to stop her from being rescued by the Ancient Spider Queen Mactans. The elves and their allies then proceed into the First City, the birthplace of the elven race which had become abandoned centuries before the games events. and had now become overrun by the spiders. The elves worry that their goddess Elynie might be in danger and quickly defeat the Twilight elf and spider forces stationed there. After some battles the elves make it to the Shrine of Elynie where they find out that Malicia and Mactans plan on breaking the shield surrounding the Tear of Elynie (the artifact that gave birth to the elven race) and use its power for themselves. The elves desperately defend against the oncoming enemy army but are unable to prevent the shield from being broken and Malicia and Mactans from jumping in and corrupting the crystal, causing it to fuse them together with it, forming the Spider Goddess. The Spider Goddess promptly begins to attack the elven army. However she is defeated and the elves begin to celebrate. Prince Denas, Eridan and Vez'nan later meet up and decide that the now corrupted Tear of Elynie must be cast into the Rift of Cinders so that it cannot corrupt anyone, with Vez'nan volunteering to do so - becoming corrupted by it while on the mission.

Board game[]

In April 2019, Lucky Duck Games, a board game company that specialises in transforming computer games in to table-top games, launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce a 2–4 player co-operative board game version of Kingdom Rush. The target amount was reached within an hour, and subsequently reached over 5000% of the target.^[24] The game, called 'Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time' is set after the events of the computer games, with the kingdom battling the 'Time Mage'. Hordes are defeated by being overlayed with polyominos. Players play as some of the heroes from the original game, and work together to upgrade towers, which are rebuilt each round. Towers are built by the buying of tower cards, and upgraded by players passing their cards to others at the start of the round. The game was released in April 2020.^[25][26]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website