System: Valve Index, HTC Vive & Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: £3.99
Comfort Rating: Yellow (Mild Movement)
Genre: 360 Animation and Video
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers, Gamepad, Keyboard & Mouse
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: 15+
Description: Half music video. Half blurry nightmare. The first episode of Kingdom City Drowning is an experiment in soaking in the atmosphere and just “being there.” Where narrative takes a back seat to the aggressive soundtrack, brutal visuals and oppressive tone. Follow James’ escape from the confines of a deep underground prison mining complex to meet up with his only two kin, but an escape is not without cost. In order to attain freedom, James must first strike a deal with the devil.
Review: While I was never really sure what was going on in Kingdom City Drowning: Ep.1 – The Champion I guess it is about some sort of prisoner who escapes a prison of some kind. Why is another story I suppose and there are apparently more episodes being created. (Wheather or not you get those for free or have to pay the same price per episode I have no idea.) All I do know is this is a gritty looking sci-fi animation that at times looks pretty awesome and is often suspense-filled.
Sadly there are also some very negative points, mostly the constant moving of the camera which is downright annoying as it doesn’t just cause motion sickness, but it also makes the characters seem big or small depending on the scene, in truth, there is no consistency with the size of them. There are moments of pure creative genius in this animation and times of pure stupidity, especially with the constantly moving camera. But I for one would love to see more of it, I just hope the next episode is a little more…static. Is it worth the £3.99 asking price? Probably not, so do wait for a really good sale before giving it a go if you like the sound of it.
