The hit South Korean television series Kingdom is coming to the world of videogames in the form of Kingdom: The Blood, a “brutal yet precise” hack-and-slash action game set in 16th-century Korea.
Kingdom, currently available in North America on Netflix, takes place three years after the end of the Imjin War in a fictionalized version of Joseon, the predecessor to modern-day Korea. As Crown Prince Lee Chang investigates a mysterious illness that has befallen the king, he must also fend off the advances of his political rivals, who are bent on seizing the throne. It’s The West Wing meets The Walking Dead, basically, but 400 years ago and in Korea.
The first season trailer is a bit subtle about what’s going on, but season two is definitely on point:
It sounds like a weird mashup but apparently it’s quite good—both the critical and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes are in the 90s. There’s still no word on the status of a hoped-for third season of Kingdom, but there is a new “K-zombie action game” based on the series now in the works called Kingdom: The Blood.
Developed by South Korean studio Action Square and published by Astory, the studio behind the top-down roguelite shooter Anvil, Kingdom: The Blood promises to treat Korean culture “with the utmost care,” which includes using a professional Korean sword dancer for motion capture. The game will feature a Conquest Mode offering players “a sequence of diverse five-minute battles,” as well as multi-boss battles, PvP combat, and a story mode that follows the events of the Netflix show.
Based on the trailer I think it’s fair to say that Kingdom: The Blood is going to lean more heavily on the zombies than the political intrigue, but we’ll have to wait to get a closer look: Action Square said that more information, including the release date, will be revealed later.
Correction: The story originally indicated that Netflix was directly involved in the creation of Kingdom: The Blood. The game is based on the series, but Netflix is not actually affiliated with the project in any way.
