Kingdom of Deception (Patreon)

Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of our occasional signal boost posts for games that we love. I’m happy today, because I get to talk about one of my favourite creators, and their latest project. Sierra Lee teamed with Nomo to form Hreinn Games, and they have already put out one completed game, the League of Legends parody game starring Riven, Noxian Nights (which I really enjoyed, despite having no prior knowledge of LoL). Their current project is a new fantasy original IP, Kingdom of Deception, and it is shaping up to be just as good as you would expect from the pair. 

Orcs have feelings too, you know, Sabia

The story in Kingdom of Deception is probably one that you have encountered before (I myself was reminded of Monza Murcatto, the female protagonist of Joe Abercrombie’s grimdark novel, Best Served Cold), the main character, Sabia, the daughter of a noble house, is betrayed by her own sister in a coup for power when she is out in the field, and captured by orcs. Defeated, but still breathing, she begins to search for allies, and plan her revenge against her scheming sister.    

But despite not being too original, that narrative acts as a framing device for what is at the heart of the game, Sabia herself. The volte-face that occurs within the first ten minutes or so of the game forces her to question everything that she believes, and the preconceived biases formed by being a human noble. Are the orcs any more monsters than people like her sister who are willing to do anything for power, or even herself who would have killed them without so much of a thought? And perhaps, most importantly, how far is she willing to go to get her revenge?  

A whole lotta orcs

The fun thing about the game is that the player gets to choose just how Sabia will get her revenge. Should she manage to become initiated into the tribe, she then has to choose which orc captain to try and align herself with, and the orcs are complex, and each have their own motives. She also has to try and win support for when she does decide to try something, first with the orcs, but later with other races, and the way that she talks and acts have different effects on the general population. At key moments in the story, the player also has to decide how Sabia should act; should she be cruel in order to better strengthen her position, or be a better person instead? These choices make the player feel like they have a real stake in what is going on.

I guess boobs “and” purple hair runs in the family

I haven’t said much about the art yet, but Nomo is doing a great job with it, as he did on Noxian Nights. The backgrounds create a nice sense of place, the sprites are well done, and there’s already a good number of CGs, with a decent amount of variety, despite the game being relatively early in its production. While the focus tends to be on Sabia and the orcs, there is more content added with every new release, making it increasingly appealing if your tastes differ somewhat. 

A whole new world full of phallic structures

I’ll wrap it up, but if you enjoy fantasy games, I really recommend checking out Kingdom of Deception. It is already shaping out really nicely, and I feel, we still have a long way to go. After all, one tribe of orcs, a few catgirls, and some human contacts aren’t anywhere near enough to take down an empire. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the world in future, and helping Sabia tries to forge new alliances, and I can’t wait. 

You can find out more, check out the latest public release, and support them, over on the Patreon.