What happens when Diablo encounters Takashi's castle? Most sane people have never asked themselves that question, but for Guildford resident Glomade, there has always been only one answer: King of Flesh.
Although it sounds like a dodgy kebab shop, this bizarrely named co-op creation swaps dodgy kebabs for colorful, chaotic dungeons that throw four players into deadly arenas as they race to the finish line.
Set in the mystical world of Loregok, King of Meat puts players in the role of contestants on the ultimate game show. In a world that's part medieval fantasy, part corporate hellscape, the fame-hungry citizens of Loregok yearn to achieve fame on the country's only remaining television station. Their path to fame? Dodging flamethrowers, burping people off platforms, and knocking waves of skeletons over the head. It's all very charming, silly, and unashamedly British.
“There's this Guildford common denominator that runs through a lot of these games,” says Glomade founder Jonny Hopper, reflecting on his studio's previous experience. “I worked on Little Big Planet, our art director worked on Fable before Fable existed… our designer was design lead on Black and White… we all have this slightly dry sense of humor.”
Inspired by the team's love of heavy metal, Wrestlemania, and The Running Man, there's more than a touch of Fall Guys in Glomade's obstacle-climbing extravaganza.
Along with three other silly-dressed heroes – a Shovel Knight-esque warrior, a screeching birdman and a comical samurai from Poundland – I spent my hours with King of Meat slashing at, jumping and rolling over flaming traps, crushing my enemies with giant horse hooves and sliding down sticky hills while dodging my teammates' poorly thrown bombs. Cheers, guys.
As you and your band of bizarre, armor-clad athletes climb and battle through each new, deadly course, it's up to players to uncover hidden secrets, score kills, and earn as many style points as possible within the time limit.
Despite Mediatonic's obvious, unspoken influence on King of Meat, Hopper explains that it's Sackboy's zippered head that casts the longest shadow: “One thing we discovered with Little Big Planet is that if you give people a set of tactile, fun tools, they'll always surprise you.”
Set to launch with over 100 different developer-created arenas, Hopper reveals that user-generated content is King of Meat's secret ingredient.
“The expectation is that once King of Meat gets into people’s hands, [players] “We're going to create levels we never imagined,” says Hopper, “… and they're going to take things to a higher level than we ever thought possible.”
“My hours with King Of Meat were spent hitting, jumping and rolling over burning traps, crushing my enemies with giant horse hooves, and sliding down sticky hills while dodging my teammates' poorly thrown bombs.”
With custom maps created in the intuitive Komstruct mode, this top-down map creator lets players place obstacles, enemies, and devious traps Dungeon Keeper-style. A nice touch is that players can leave “tips” for levels they like, and the most popular user-created arenas will eventually be included in the official map playlists.
Between matches, players relax “backstage” at Ironlaw Plaza, a medieval take on Splatoon's Inkopolis plaza. Part social space, part outdoor market, players unlock wonderfully fun outfits, upgrade their weapons, and acquire additional attacks and awesome “Glory” moves. To encourage their community of aspiring developers, screens throughout the Plaza proudly showcase the latest and greatest player-created levels.
“Ultimately, it's about making creatives feel good,” explains Hopper. “They're not just a resource to be exploited, they're people. You want to reward them, highlight them and celebrate them.”
However, if you're anything like me, you'll probably never bother booting up Creative Mode. Luckily for Glomade, they only need a small number of dedicated developers for King of Meat to succeed: “If 10% of our player base creates a level and only 10% of those levels are good, we still basically have more levels than anyone will ever play,” Hopper explains.
While I was impressed by the huge UGC potential, the maps I played all looked shockingly similar. This is obviously a pre-release version – so we hope that once players get access to the creation tools, they'll be able to use them to create more visually distinct arenas.
Yet an even bigger problem arguably looms over King of Meat – the state of online gaming in 2024. In a year where we've seen several live service titles fail – and where Naughty Dog and Creative Assembly's efforts stalled before they even released – developing an online game is a huge risk right now, so it was surprising to hear that King of Meat will be eschewing the free-to-play model in favor of a “mid-price” fee.
“If 10% of our player base completes a level and only 10% of those levels are good, we still essentially have more levels than anyone will ever play.”
“I think we are trying [players] “Good value for money,” says Hopper. “We're not doing free-to-play mechanics at all. At launch, we're promising over 100 levels that are guaranteed to provide 30 to 40 hours of fun. So you're going to get a really cool, curated experience right from the start.”
Of course, there's also a story that loosely ties all the co-op carnage together, with illustrations and dialogue poking fun at a dystopian, domineering capitalist corporation—which is pretty bold for a game published by Amazon.
“As the game progresses, you get to know all these different characters and companies,” Hopper explains. “There are a ton of stories we're going to uncover, and … we have a multi-year narrative plan for where we're going to take things.”
While the satirical opening sequence and loading screens are bursting with personality, the dialogue from the various NPCs in the square doesn't achieve the same grin-inducing levels. Thankfully, though, much of the humor in King of Meat comes from gameplay.
As you'd expect from the former creators of Media Molecule and Lionhead, King of Meat is unabashedly silly, letting you push your fellow players off cliffs or sprint aimlessly across the map, dragging objects from previous rooms across the map with chaotic abandon. Despite this, the combat feels pretty weak at this stage.
There's little weight to sword slashes or arrow shots, and basic and heavy attacks feel unsatisfyingly simplistic. While Glomade has tried to make up for this with a series of “crazy” abilities – a Force Push-like knockback and an AOE horse leg that stomps on enemies – these are mindless tools rather than built for mastery. With many unlockable abilities promised for the future, we're hoping for more exciting combat options to spice up the carnage.
“As you'd expect from the former creators of Media Molecule and Lionhead, King of Meat is unashamedly silly and revels in pushing you fellow players off cliffs.”
Despite these minor issues, I enjoyed Glomade's idiosyncratic debut. Whether King of Meat can survive in the unforgiving multiplayer landscape remains to be seen, but it's hard to deny that it's a game made with love. With Glomade hinting at a post-launch PVP mode and already offering more levels than you can swing a hammer at, King of Meat looks set to offer a generous helping of family-friendly fun.
“King of Meat is the medieval Running Man where you get trampled by horses' hooves and thrown off cliffs… and maybe even at the same time,” explains Hopper with a smile. “It's the game we want to make and play. It's fun, it's silly and it's a place where you can have a great time.”