The Yellow King

Overview

The Yellow King is a hack-and-slash massively multiplayer game steeped in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft. The game features a unique Infinite Dungeon adventure system, filled with NPCs pulled from Lovecraft's lore. Players can crawl through these dungeons solo, with a small group of friends, or with a guild. The Yellow King has an open Overworld which contains many smaller dungeons and places to adventure, including player vs. player arenas.

The Yellow King is available as an Early Access title from Steam. The game opened on February 5th, 2020.

Gameplay

The Game World

Players move around the Overworld and can discover entrances to smaller non-instanced Overworld dungeons, including caves, castles, and buildings. The Overworld is shared content, and is not instanced between players or groups. Open PvP is allowed in some Overworld areas, but it is entirely optional.

The major focus of the game is the instanced Infinite Dungeon system, where players can explore a seeded procedurally-generated dungeon. Each day the Infinite Dungeon is reset, and a new dungeon replaces it. A detailed leader board tracks each player and guild's progress through the Infinite Dungeons. Dungeon rooms may contain Lovecraftian-themed NPCs, breakable objects, hidden rooms, puzzles, mazes, and boss encounters.

Combat & Weapons

The Yellow King features a hack-and-slash gameplay style, with a wide variety of weapon archetypes to choose from. These archetypes include one-handed weapons and shields, dual wielded weapons, and two-handed weapons. Weapons can either be melee, ranged, or hybrid styles. All weapons have special "power" attacks which require a short "charge up" period to use.

Weapon types:

• One-handed swords (broken, short, long)
• Two-handed swords (greatsword, bastard sword)
• Blunt weapons (club, heavy club)
• Hammers (hammer, heavy hammer)
• Spear-types (light spear, heavy spear)
• Ranged weapons (various bows and crossbows)
• Shields

Combat and defense is physics-based. If an attack hits a shield, damage is automatically blocked. Players can also perform dodge rolls and well-timed jumps to avoid enemy attacks.

There are no "character classes" in The Yellow King. A player's gameplay experience and abilities is tailored to his liking by which two weapon sets he or she chooses to use at any given time.

Skills

Weapons require specific skills to use. Each weapon is classified under certain types, and those skills must be trained to equip the weapon. For instance, a longsword requires the skills "one-handed weapon" and "slashing weapons" to use. Skills are upgraded by using Runestones, a common currency found as treasure in the game world.

Character Customization and Cosmetic Items

Players are given a wide number of options to use to customize the appearance of their character. Armor and clothing are entirely cosmetic, and can be purchased in the game's cosmetic store using Gold, a currency found while adventuring in the game. Cosmetic items are also found as loot drops from bosses, and given as rewards for completing challenges and achievements.