King of Meat Hands-On Preview – A Diabolical Gameshow Of Chaos

If you’re like me, you have watched a challenge gameshow and thought, “I could do that!” Gameshows like Ninja Warrior, Takeda’s Castle, or Spike TV’s Most Extreme Elimination Challenge instantly come to mind as these types of entertainment, with obstacles ranging from the absurd to incredibly challenging stunts, and some even doubling as true feats of strength and daring. That’s exactly what Amazon Games and Glowmade have in store for fans in King of Meat.

King of Meat drags contestants to the world of Loregok, where the biggest obsession is the obstacle-laden game show, King of Meat , and it’s up to you, the contestant, to stay interesting enough to keep the crowd raging. This game show is brought to audiences everywhere by Amazon and Glowmade. It puts a spotlight on the entertainment aspect of the show, allowing fans to build their very own dungeon challenges, compete in countless arenas, and win glory in front of the masses of Loregok. Think SmashTV , but with a lot more smashing.

“In King of Meat it’s up to you to be as interesting as possible for the masses of Loregok or die trying.”

In King of Meat it’s up to you to be as interesting as possible for the masses of Loregok or die trying. Afterall, combatants are revered as celebrities here, and entertainment is paramount to everything everyone does. King of Meat doesn’t appear as a gameshow as much as a religion for Loregok. Everyone here is a carnivore and equally ravenous. After exploring a bit of the hub world (AKA The Iron Law Plaza), three combatants and I — dressed in equally as zany costumes, I sported a particularly angry Eagle head — dove straight into the Meat.

In King of Meat, starting a match or challenge run is simple, and a small loading screen reminiscent of a Gears of War multiplayer map voting appears. On this screen, members of your troupe get a choice to vote for the next challenge arena your party is going up against, and popularity numbers are shown. These can range from challenging platforming sequences to battling many creatures that swarm the battlefield and everything in between. Aside from the boundaries that keep contestants caged in the fray, there are (almost) no rules in King of Meat , but having a good time is paramount for the audience.

The dungeon selection screen is incredibly varied and is populated by Glowmade creations. But the game developers have something else entirely in store for players: you will be able to build your own challenge dungeon runs. Although I did not get a chance to explore the building component of King of Meat , Glowmade has some members on board from Lionshead Studios , and drawing a bridge between the challenge dungeon builder components and the now cancelled Fable Legends announced in 2013 was easy .

That title provided gameplay where a villain (also controlled by the player) plays the style of 1 vs. 4. You want to make a fun experience as a Dungeon Master of sorts (the builder IS the villain in King of Meat ), and like a solid Super Mario Maker level, you want the celebrity contestants to fall to your challenging wit. This is reality TV at its finest.

As a celebrity contestant in King of Meat , the name of the game is to line your pockets with treasure while making it to the end without losing all your team’s lives. That’s right, teamwork does make the dream work in Loregok. Your four team members have to share four communal lives, and if all lives are lost, it results in failure and boos, and worst of all, no glory. Dungeons are loaded with hazards ranging from skillful sequences to fundamentally destructive. After we chose a dungeon that looked particularly heinous, our courageous party members dove in with reckless abandon for glory.

This Komstruct Koliseum (the fancy name for arenas) was filled with levers and exploding barrels. While traipsing the landscape, pulling the levers and exploding boxes jammed in the level’s gears were key to moving forward through the dungeon. The Koliseum, this time around, featured many spiky floors, spinning platforms, timed barrel explosives and enemies attempting to shorten your life. One thing is for certain, King of Meat goes heavy on the chaos. While each stage was incredibly varied, Glowmade’s dungeon designs in this pre-alpha stage are inspired and fun to tackle. King of Meat was created by people who wanted to play King of Meat , and it shows.

“One thing is certain: Amazon Games and Glowmade have created a unique title with King of Meat.”

Speaking of, the entire world of Loregok is fleshed out excellently. Propaganda akin to the Fallout series litters the landscape in hopes celebrities would buy their products. In between game sessions, characterized loading screens pushing products like “Mom’s Spit” (minus the Hawk Tuah) to shine armour are shown, giving an extra layer of immersion in King of Meat.

One of these products, a meat phoenix contraption, operates as the title’s respawn mechanism. When you think of the phoenix, you probably think of it as glamorous or beautiful. This phoenix type is gross and sheathed in what one would imagine being born from a sardine tin would feel like. Everything in King of Meat is filled with character, and the developers are not afraid to go off the deep end.

Our fearless party continued to venture forth through the dungeon and happened upon a broken wall. In King of Meat secrets also litter the landscape like the wall chicken in Castlevania . Hitting walls does sometimes yield results and treasure beyond. The third person point of view in King of Meat is precisely what the doctor ordered and is the best option for this level of chaos.

Combatants have the typical fare of light and heavy attacks, with a sprint button and special attacks. When breaking items, defeating enemies in unique ways, or collecting treasure, a meter at the top of the screen acts as a multiplier. You can go from 1x which is like ‘Great’ all the way to 5x which says “YAAASSSS”. These multipliers allow you to earn more treasure per run, and dying or getting hit reduces the multiplier.

All these moving pieces combined amount to great chaotic fun. Going through each dungeon with a team of strangers assures you will leave with three new friends. Swarms of skeletons and challenging sequences will create a strong bond among celebrities, and during dungeon runs, we quickly found that deploying a gross burp called “Glory Attack” can send each other flying. While that was not its intention, constantly messing teammates up was a joy, adding another layer of unintentional fun to the mix. King of Meat doesn’t have a script, but it sure makes contestants think outside the box to have fun.

Another glory attack had a horse leg stomp out of seemingly nowhere, to which I thought out loud, “I’m glad that horse is on our side.” Glowmade appears to want fun and chaos to happen first and everything else second. Combatants are dolled out in customizable clothing options, ranging from the aforementioned giant eagle head to big robot arm gloves, meaning contestants will likely not look the same with the amount of character creation screen options.

The treasure you earn in the dungeon can provide you with a loaded coin purse to purchase more outfits for your avatar, assuring that your time spent entertaining the masses is well spent on zany outfits. Glowmade implores you to make an absolute abomination, and I answered the call.

One thing is certain : Amazon Games and Glowmade have created a unique title with King of Meat . The fun first—everything else second approach is readily apparent, as the developers appear to have made King of Meat with the notion of wanting to play exactly that. King of Meat is dripping with chaotic fun and antics that would make any TV producer glee with joy, and Glowmade may have a winner on their hands. Just make sure to bring sanitizer.