Developer: Liquid Bit, L.L.C., BumbleBear Games
Publisher: Liquid Bit, L.L.C., BumbleBear Games
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Tested on: PC
Killer Queen Black – Review
There are all sorts of multiplayer games out there, but Killer Queen Black is quite unique in its gameplay and tactics. Unlike others, Killer Queen Black is a mix of a platformer with a multiplayer PvP experience. In each match, you will battle with several team members against another team for victory in a single screen battlefield. Together with your team, or flying solo in this game to complete one of three victory conditions could be quite fun.
Story
There’s no story present in this multiplayer platformer. Each match revolves around attaining victory by completing one of three objectives to win a match. Any background story isn’t present as well, but you won’t miss it as this game is purely focused on a multiplayer experience and doesn’t need any story content to liven up the game.
Graphics
For killer Queen Black, they’ve chosen for a pixelated theme. This type of graphics fits the genre of the game perfectly as each match will be fought in a single screen battlefield full of platforms, upgrade stations and the team’s hives. It also makes the game feel like an old school platformer, like the ones you played on the SNES. The backgrounds in each level are more detailed than the rest of the game which will give each level a unique theme. Each team will have its own color to indicate who your allies and opponents are.
Sound
The game is fully accompanied by some great Rock/Metal music. The music they’ve chosen for the menus and the levels to set the mood of the game sound just right. It will really get you revved up to battle against your opponents.
Gameplay
Killer Queen Black is a multiplayer platform PvP game in which you team up with friends or complete strangers to battle against other teams in 4v4 matches. The teams are divided into two playable roles, a queen and her workers, like in a bee colony. Both roles will give you an entirely different purpose in each game. As a worker, you need to work and gather berries, fight against other workers and try to kill the enemy queen. As the queen, you can fight, but you need to stay alive as well to ensure victory for your team. The workers have infinite lives while the queen only has three. You can add players locally by connecting controllers to your PC, so this game is perfect for playing with friends locally and online.
In Killer Queen Black, there are three ways to win a match. With the Economic Victory, the goal is to fill your hive with berries. When all holes in your hive are filled, your team will win that match. Each team has a queen on the field that players need to protect. The other team can try to kill the opposing team’s queen to gain a military victory. After successfully killing the queen three times, you will have won the match with a military victory. Lastly, the Snail Victory can be attained with the snail that’s on the field. When either team has managed to ride the snail all the way back to their side of the field, they will have won the game with the Snail Victory. This brings some extra mechanics to each match in both the attacking and defending side. You’ll need to protect your queen, while also filling your hive and watch out for enemies riding the snail as they could also win by riding it to their side.
As a worker, you have no weapons available when you spawn. There are pods where you can equip weapons, shields, and boosts. These pods need to be claimed by your team’s queen before you can get gear here. This will be claimed by the queen when she hovers past it. It can be easily claimed by the enemy’s queen, so the queens of both teams need to keep claiming these pods to keep their team equipped. The queens start with a sword that they can use to take down the enemy workers and queen. It’s possible to take down many enemies as the queen, but you need to watch out as each queen only has three lives.
When you start the game, pressing play will directly let you start a game against online players. It’s wise to walk through a few of the tutorial levels before you start playing against players online as you won’t even know the controls and ways to win in this game. After you’ve learned how to win matches with the three conditions, you’re ready to take on some AI enemies or even online players. When you start searching for a team, you can choose your preference of role, you can choose to play as a worker, a queen or both. With the last choice, you’ll have the most chance of finding a game fast, while searching for a team as a queen could take a little while. When you enter the first level, you will be added to your team’s chat, so you can communicate with your teammates to figure out your strategy together.
As we played the game, we noticed that it will often happen that when you strike your opponent, you will miss and strike right through them. When this happens, it’s a perfect opportunity to get killed by your opponents. We also experienced some lag regularly in multiple online matches. We did not get killed while this happened, so we didn’t get disadvantaged by this. What the exact cause of the lag was is unknown to us, but you should keep it in mind.
Conclusion
Killer Queen Black looks and plays like a retro platformer combined with 4v4 multiplayer matches. It is quite a fun game to play as the three methods to win a match will keep you moving through the entire match. You need to keep watch on the snail, while collecting berries for your hive and killing the enemy team’s queen. This game is perfectly playable with some friends in one team to battle with others online or battle against a team of AI opponents. The only bad thing we can mention about the game is the faulty striking that can sometimes occur while playing. The game is perfect for some couch co-op and could surely lead to some fun matches with friends or strangers online.
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[…] while ago we reviewed Killer Queen Black, this local multi-player game was decently received and the developers were happy to announce a new […]
[…] Originally planned to release on January 5th with Xbox Game Pass Q1 2021, Liquid Bit and BumbleBear Games have made it known that their multiplayer platformer Killer Quee Black will experience a small delay. A new date has not been announced though the devs are hopeful it won’t take very long, they just want to ensure the utmost quality. Killer Queen Black will have fully-supported cross-console play alongside Nintendo Switch and PC players, where the game already released. To see our own review, you can go right here. […]