[00:01] nowhere and really surprises you with its depth of mechanics, its beautiful playing, you just get this feeling that this game could be something really special. That has been my experience
[00:14] special. That has been my experience over the last week with Queen's Domain. This is a firsterson action adventure game. The selling point from the developers is that this game is heavily inspired by Kingsfield. For those
[00:27] unaware, Kingsfield is the big fantasy franchise that From Software made during the PlayStation 1 and 2 era. It was kind of the predecessor to what would eventually become Demon Souls and Dark Souls and you know the rest. While I am
[00:41] actually played that series. So, I am coming at this from a fresh perspective. If I mention something in this video that seems just like identifiably that's why. I should note, by the way, this is not a full definitive review of
[00:57] this game. I'm about 10 hours into the game, and the completion menu says I'm like five% of the way through. This seems like a very long and dense game. Despite touting a previously existing franchise as their influence, Queen's
[01:12] Domain feels incredibly unique to me in the sea of existing fantasy action games in 2026. And that starts with the visuals. This game feels like it exists on a console [music] that came out in between the PlayStation 1 and the
[01:27] PlayStation 2, retaining sort of that like pixely retro shimmery uh aesthetic of the PS1 while being way more complex in its polygons closer to what you see on the PlayStation 2. I think this game looks absolutely gorgeous and that is
[01:43] game takes place in this like mythical fantasy island is incredibly wellrealized. This game is pretty light on story and that sort of classical from software nature, but there's a lot of depth and detail in the environmental
[01:58] design. Every place I visited so far tells a story that I find engaging and interesting and it just makes me want to explore. This is also a game where if you just watch footage of it, I don't think it quite sells the vibe exactly,
[02:12] especially in the gameplay. So, let me paint a picture and describe some of my paint a picture and describe some of my experience with this game's early hours.
[02:26] much slower flavor than we're used to with these kinds of games in 2026, and I think is a breath of fresh air. Within seconds, I noticed something was different because I came across my first enemy, tried hitting them multiple times
[02:38] with my sword, and realized that I was doing no damage. That is because you need to have full stamina in order to do damage with your weapon. and it only takes one swing to completely deplete your stamina bar. That means you will
[02:51] not be going around swinging wildly. Instead, you're going to be taking slow, measured, deliberate hits on enemies. The other factor that comes into play is you can charge up your weapon, which will fill up your stamina meter even
[03:04] more and will allow you to perform bonus damage. And this is pretty significant damage. you really want to be using this charge attack as much as possible if you want to take down enemies quicker. The final piece of the puzzle is something
[03:18] that I think is going to be a bit of a learning curve for a lot of people, and that is the fact that this game does not have a block or parry mechanic. If you want to avoid an enemy attack, you simply need to move out of the way.
[03:40] it could be really boring or not very fun, but the game is paced in such a way where it creates this sense of everything you're doing feels extremely dance between you and the enemies where you are paying attention to their
[03:55] animations, timing when to move out of the way, and then timing when to strike back. It looks slow and it is kind of slow, but there's still just as much
[04:07] calculating and decision-making you're making in your head as you do with a much faster paced action game. The combat feels engaging because of this, and the slower pace creates a very different energy than you can get from
[04:20] other games, which I found extremely refreshing. There's a lot more going on in the combat that also expands as the game progresses. There are three damage types, slashing, impact, and piercing. Every enemy will have a weakness for one
[04:35] and a resistance for another. So, every new enemy you encounter becomes this around with your different weapons to learn what they are weak against and how you want to approach them. You also have a recharging ranged attack with a
[04:49] variety of different ranged options. Each of them also applying one of those three damage attacks. You'll be using this to attack range foes, but you'll also be using it to bait enemies towards you since the slow pace of the combat
[05:02] means that getting overwhelmed by a large variety of enemies is basically a enemies from each other and pick them off one at a time. This game certainly does have a bit of a difficulty spike that I think is going to take a little
[05:15] bit of time for people to get used to and isn't going to fully appeal to everybody. When you die, that is it. it is a game over and you have to load back at the last manual save you made. There are zero auto saves or checkpoints in
[05:28] are zero auto saves or checkpoints in this game. That makes every exploration incredibly harrowing. It's easy to lose a lot of progress if you're not careful. And that gives this game an air of difficulty and frustration that might be
[05:42] offputting for some people, especially in the early hours as you're kind of learning how this game works. But once you understand how this game wants you to play, it wants you to engage with it. I find it to be a very fair and
[05:54] I find it to be a very fair and rewarding experience. teaches you within the first hour of play. And while there are tutorials that mechanics, a lot of this is sort of just learned as you play the game. And I
[06:10] excellent job of teaching you its mechanics and its concepts through its level design, through the way it sets up enemy encounters in a way that feels very intuitive and makes you feel very smart for figuring out how the game
[06:24] works. After you get through the game's opening tutorial, so to speak, you will get your first major weapon, the holy sword. And this is where the game went sword. And this is where the game went from this is cool to
[06:37] Oh, okay. The Holy Sword's alternate attack is a lunge that you can dash forward or backwards with, and you can dash in the air. This ability ends up unlocking the world in a similar way that an ability in a Metroid vania
[06:51] would. Suddenly, you can leap across a broken bridge and get access to places that originally you didn't think were possible to get access to. And as you progress, you get more upgrades. The sword itself can get multiple charges,
[07:05] which allow you to dash multiple times in a row. And this is where the game really starts to open up. The first couple hours, you'll spend a lot of time in the same opening area. And at first, that area feels very linear, but as you
[07:19] get that jump, you realize, oh, I can now go here, and I can now go here. And then suddenly, you start to think, well, hold on a minute. Can I get up there? If I jump off this cliff, is there a secret I can get to? Your brain slowly starts
[07:33] to unlock as you realize the possibilities of where you can go. And you suddenly realize that actually everything you can see you [music] can get to. If not now, eventually you will once you get the upgrade to allow you
[07:47] to. This creates a world that is small but incredibly dense with secrets to uncover and locations to find. This game does have what I would describe as a critical path and sort of like the way you're supposed to go, which is gated
[08:03] off by abilities as well as enemy strength. But there's no reason you can't go in a different direction if you happen to get access to it. Early on in the game, I found this well that I just decided to jump down into, and I would
[08:19] Once I got enough air dashes with my holy sword, I was able to properly land safely and explore that [music] area. And it was this massive underground cavern with ancient ruins and [music] these ridiculous enemies that absolutely
[08:34] kicked my ass. I was totally not supposed to be here. This is clearly meant for much later in the game, but I love the fact that the game lets me explore it if I want to. Like I said earlier, this isn't a full review. I've
[08:46] only put 10 hours into the game. I've barely scratched the surface. It could get even better than what I'm already describing, or it could maybe taper off a little bit. But just based on my time I have put into this game, I already
[08:58] feel like I have gotten an incredibly worthwhile experience. This game gets an absolute recommendation from me. If what you have seen and heard me describe I really think you should go and check it