Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Reviews

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is ranked in the 95th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Recommended
Dec 11, 2018

One of gaming's great neglected oldies gets a spiritual successor crafted with care and imagination.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
9 / 10
Dec 14, 2018

It might be missing the name but this is the best Wonder Boy game ever made, updating and expanding the original concepts into a perfect mix of new and old.

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8 / 10
Dec 10, 2018

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a beautiful, challenging, and fantastic successor to the Wonder Boy series.

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Kotaku
Top Critic
Unscored
Dec 4, 2018

The action is faster, the controls more responsive, the visuals are sharper and the music is more full and lush. It improves on the original in every way. It’s even a little more sadistic.

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86 / 100
Dec 4, 2018

An excellent balance between old school adventures and what we expect from the modern times. If you are not afraid of challenges with a glimpse of complexity, you'll find a colorful, enjoyable adventure.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

9 / 10
Dec 18, 2018

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is one of those brilliant retro throwbacks that captures how games used to feel, but without any of the nonsense that arises from how they actually were. It's consistently entertaining and a blast to play. If you want something to sink your teeth into – human or otherwise – then this is a great choice for sure.

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8.7 / 10.0
Dec 4, 2018

A great neo-retro game that manages to be fresh and a perfect homage to some old classic like Wonder Boy.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

9 / 10.0
Dec 4, 2018

Wonder Boy is finally back, in his greatest adventure yet. An old-school, visually stunning, funny and engrossing adventure.

Review in Italian | Read full review

9.5 / 10.0
Dec 18, 2018

There's so much to love about Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. From the beautiful visuals to the variety in combat and movement, there are so many reasons to give it a try.

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8.5 / 10.0
Dec 4, 2018

A great spiritual successor to Wonder Boy. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom does everything right and leaves you without wanting or needing it too do more.

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85 / 100
Dec 20, 2018

Overall, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom met my expectations and exceeded them in certain aspects.

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GameMAG
Top Critic
9 / 10
Dec 24, 2018

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is one of the most beautiful adventures of this year, flavored with funny moments and fascinating puzzles in the wizarding world. If you were looking for an exciting hybrid of Rayman Legends and Zelda II, now you have found it.

Review in Russian | Read full review

9 / 10.0
Dec 27, 2018

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom pays homage to the legacy of the Wonder Boy series by refining the solid foundations of those games and forging an excellent metroidvania.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Drew Leachman
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Jan 15, 2019

It was so refreshing to see a game like this, especially one that plays and looks as great as it does. Any fan of 2D action games should pick this game up without question, and don’t worry if you’ve never played this series before, I was able to enjoy it fully with absolutely no knowledge of it.

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7 / 10.0
Aug 5, 2019

I did mostly enjoy the game as a whole and don’t regret my time with it, but it feels uneven and frustrating to me a lot of the time.

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9 / 10
Dec 4, 2018

We expected Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom to be good. But, honestly, not that good. Visually stunning, faithfull to its ancestors but not chained to them, this game is a true masterpiece, full of great ideas and that can entertain you for a long time if you feel the need to discover all of its very well hidden secrets. A must play.

Review in French | Read full review

9 / 10
Dec 5, 2018

Monster Boy is a tremendous accomplishment. It's a gorgeous looking game with a fantastic soundtrack and does its spiritual predecessors proud by nailing the Wonder Boy mechanics while still offering something that will appeal to modern audiences. As long as you can appreciate that it's still very much an old-school game at heart and you're going to get some 8-bit era platforming trickiness as a result, you're going to thoroughly enjoy playing through this adventure for the 12-15 hours it'll take you to beat it. It may not be Wonder Boy by name, but it's definitely wonderful by nature.

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85 / 100
Dec 4, 2018

Monster Boy is not officially part of the Wonderboy series, but despite minor balance issues, it's the best part of the series so far

Review in German | Read full review

8 / 10.0
Dec 12, 2018

That's what Monster Boy's final hours feel like. They're a clunky conclusion clogging up an otherwise slimy sleek progression. Usually in Metroidvanias, your progress stops because you're missing something you need. In Monster Boy, progress slows because The Game Atelier and FDG Entertainment have given you far too much.

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90 / 100
Jan 8, 2019

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is one of the best surprises of 2018. A great adventure that everyone should play.

Review in Spanish | Read full review