Kult : Heretic Kingdoms review

Protector of the Godslayer

Ooooooooh, pretty colors...

Alita is a young girl, raised by the Inquisition to become a powerful mage. As a descendent of the Arkor family, she is destined to protect the Godslayer, a sword that possesses immense power and that is said to have slain the God of the Land.

Centuries ago, that very same sword fell into the hands of the Theocrat, who used it to rule the Heretic Kingdoms as a cruel tyrant. Over three hundred years later, the seeds of rebellion once more took root and the Theocrat was slain.

Peace returned to the Heretic Kingdoms, until one day the protectors of the Godslayer were murdered, and the sword was stolen. This is the start of an epic adventure for our young hero Alita. Will you be able to protect the sword, or destroy it when necessary?

The same, but different

Sorry guys, got some bad gas today...

Kult : Heretic Kingdoms is a classic isometric RPG with some modern influences. This means you’re looking at your characters from a tilted topdown view. Although there’s a good story, combat is one of the more important aspect of the game. Most of the time you’ll be fighting bad guys to complete your quests, while talking to various Non Players Characters (NPC’s for short) along the way. You’ll gradually learn why the Godslayer is so important for the Heretic Kingdoms, and why you must destroy it if necessary.


You begin the game as Alita, a young girl who is being introduced into the Inquisition. The Inquisition is major order with the sole purpose of banning all religion from the Heretic Kingdoms. Your main quest is to destroy the Godslayer which has been the source of the evil that reigned over three hundred years, but you’ll also have a chance to work your way through more than 50 other quests. You’ll have to make choices during these quests, and these choices will have a direct influence on the storyline which knows not less than six different endings.

At the start of the game, you’ll have to make a choice out of four alignments : Fire, Wind, Earth and Water. It’s important to chose wisely, since it will determine your playing style. Up to this point, the game doesn’t look too different from other games in the genre. But don’t be deceived, Kult offers some unique and interesting features.

Attune me

Damn, I should have packed my sunblock.

The first feature that makes Kult stand out from the crowd is the extensive Attunement system, which can be compared to some sort of skill or ability system. Attunements give the player special abilities, such as faster movement speed, or increased strength.

But unlike in other games, you don’t learn these skills by gaining experience, but by actually using your equipment. Each Attunement is connected to a certain piece of equipment, and when you’ve used that piece long enough, the Attunement gets unlocked.

Luckily, you don’t need to keep the equipment the Attunement was connected to, but there are some limitations most of the time. For example, if you are using a bow that contains the Firearrow ability long enough, the Firearrow attunement gets unlocked. When this Attunement is active and you are carrying a bow, your arrows will be on fire, dealing more damages to your foes. If you are carrying a sword however, the Attunement will obviously be useless.

Am I dreaming?

Who needs sleep if you got a big axe?

Another interesting feature is the addition of a Dreamworld, a parallel world where ghosts and other magical beings reside. You can freely travel between the two worlds, and for some quests this will be necessary. You can also use the Dreamworld as an escape route when things get too tough to handle in the real world.

Keep in mind however that you don’t know what’s on the other side, and you might get yourself into a lot more trouble than you planned on. Most creatures only exist in one of these parallel worlds, but some of the more powerful creatures have, just like yourself, the ability to travel between both worlds.

While travelling through the Dreamworld, you’ll notice Hex Marks from time to time, which can be used to level up your character.The creatures in this world also drop Essence when you kill them. Essence can be used to unlock Attunements faster than normal, and therefore it's important to explore both worlds thoroughly.

The last feature that makes Kult that little bit different, is the way you manage your health levels. Unlike other RPG’s where you need to carry tons of potions and elixirs, you need only one object in Kult to restore your health. You can freely use this object to restore your health, but there’s a catch though. Each time you heal yourself, your Blood Points (maximum level of health) drop a bit. This means that after each time you have to heal, you’ll be getting a bit weaker. To restore these Blood Points to their maximum, you’ll need to find a place to rest at a campfire or a nice, cosy bed.

What meets the eye

I bet 10000 shekels on the big one!

As mentioned before, Kult uses an isometric view of the world which consists of pre-rendered backgrounds with animated objects. There’s a welcome variety of environments, ranging from vast forests to icy caves. Some of the environments are stunning, while others look a bit mediocre.

You can zoom in quite a bit, but I don’t recommend this because some of the textures become blurry an unattractive. The characters are fully animated 3D models, something rarely seen in other comparable games. This adds a great deal to the experience. The effects of the different spells are nice but not really extraordinary, but they seem to do the job.

The music in Kult is excellent and it fits the game perfectly. Each area has its own piece of music, and when there are enemies on screen, the music swells up to a faster pace. The sound effects on the other hand don’t seem to live up to the quality of the graphics and music. Don’t get me wrong though, they aren’t bad but a bit more polishing wouldn’t hurt anyone. The ambient sounds, in particular, are repetitive and can become a bit annoying at moments. One of the biggest annoyances of the game has to be the annoyingly loud footstep sound.

Conclusion

If you enjoy playing Role Playing Games, you should definitely check out Kult : Heretic Kingdoms. Though it might appear a little dated, the game offers some innovative features, such as the addition of the Dreamworld, combined with a good story. Although Kult can use some improvement in some areas and lacks multiplayer options, it is one of the better RPG games from the moment.