Welcome to our Is that a good free mobile game series. In this series we look at games from both the App Store and the Play Store and review them. At the end of the article we try to answer the question – Is the current game a one of the best smartphone games? Is it a good free mobile game? For this review, we’re looking at Cookie Run: Kingdom by Devsisters!
Is Cookie Run: Kingdom good free mobile game?
Your Answer Upfront:
Cookie Run: Kingdom isn’t exactly my kind of game, but it’s definitely a well-rounded title that I am comfortable in recommending to people looking for something to fill in 5-10 minutes at a time (or even hours). The game does most things right and there’s little to no reason to not give it a very respectable 4/5 stars, the only real penalty it gets being its extreme pricing for IAPs.
275g plain flour, 225g softened butter, 100g su… wait, this isn’t a cooking recipe. Or a cooking blog, for that matter. We’re here to talk about games (although I really want a cookie right now) and today’s focus is on Devsisters’ Cookie Run: Kingdom.
The title by itself doesn’t really give away what Cookie Run: Kingdom’s all about and that’s a bit of a shame. At first glance it sounds like just another infinite runner but cookie-themed. This can’t be further away from the truth and we’re definitely in for a doozey.
Let’s not beat around the bush: Cookie Run: Kingdom is a free to play Role-Playing game that incorporates elements from a lot of other genres. There’s throwbacks to more classic RPGs, idle games, town builders, infinite runners and with some gacha sprinkled in for good measure. Let’s get into each of these elements, see where Cookie Run: Kingdom shines and where it falls flat on its face.
The Role-Playing aspect
There’s an actual story. A compelling one, even! You’re thrown straight into the tutorial which also serves as the backstory of the entire game and actually gets you invested into the characters. A very surprising and completely unexpected addition is… voice acting. Proper voice acting, and not just generic phrases!
The entirety of the storyline seems to be fully voice acted (don’t worry, there’s subtitles that accompany the voice acting so you aren’t stuck needing headphones while playing on the bus). I could spend hours writing about good voice acting in games (and good sound design, for that matter), but this isn’t the time or place to do so. Summarizing: great voice acting that gets the player more involved in the story.
The game of waiting
Certain aspects of the gameplay involve waiting around for resources. And there’s no real way of getting around the fact that things take time to get, aside from just throwing gems at everything (and, most of the time, that’s not worth it).
Building your kingdom will take space, so you’re waiting for tools to get crafted to clear out obstacles (which takes time by itself). That being said, there’s nothing stopping you from putting in the order for materials and continuing the story while those get filled in.
Building your kingdom
Like I previously mentioned, you need resources and tools to… get more resources and tools to build your kingdom. Seems like a bit of an endless circle, but that’s how things work even in real life. The more resource generating buildings you’re able to fit into the limited space, the faster you’ll be able to rebuild the Cookie Kingdom (and progress through the story). It’s a bit reminiscing of Farmville (but with a lot less waiting around) and it definitely keeps you going back to the game, even if it’s for short sessions where all you do is put in orders for materials.
Gotta run!
The main mechanic of the game, and the way you progress through the story, comes in the form of a finite runner. Your team of cookies runs along a path going straight into the enemy forces. With a combination of skills and a bit of tactical thinking (which seems to be minimal, but still there), you’ll face a few waves of enemies and complete the level, which usually triggers another bit of (sometimes cringy) dialog.
The cookie cutter gacha
Unlike some gachas out there, you don’t necessarily get loads of garbage and occasionally get a character. It’s a bit fairer than something like, say, Figure Fantasy (yes, this is has become my go-to example of pure greed and bad design decisions).
As far as I can tell, even if you don’t get a full character, you’re still progressing towards unlocking a new cookie (and there’s quite a few cookies to unlock). Even if you get a duplicate, this still counts towards upgrading your existing cookie, so it’s not all just a waste of cookie cutters.
Naturally, there’s rarities with different drop rates, featured cookies and all the usual gacha mechanics at play.
Obviously, the gacha costs crystals (the premium currency, which you purchase through IAPs or earn in-game, which I’ll go over a bit later) and a 10-draw will set you back around $15, should you flat-out buy crystals just for that.
There are A LOT of fine points and subtle complexities to each of the gameplay elements and fitting everything into a single review is near impossible (and would take far too long and basically turn the review into a full-blown wiki). Most of these additions serve some sort of purpose and I find them to be neat little additions.
The art style is super cute and definitely fits the fantasy aesthetic the developers settled on. The graphical assets and animations serve their purpose and each and every single cookie has its own personality to match, from the shy Strawberry Cookie to the somewhat annoying and self-important Custard Cookie III and the burly Muscle Cookie.
Now, onto the part that usually gets me started on never-ending rants.
In-App Purchases
Cookie Run: Kingdom manages to surprise me in two ways. At a glance, the microtransactions seem ridiculously overpriced (and they are), going from $0.99 up to a disgusting $99.99!
Once you dive into what the microtransactions actually are, you get a clearer picture. Yes, there’s A LOT of microtransaction options with a pretty good spread in each price range but there’s a few surprising things.
Aside from the price of each microtransaction, most of them seem to have a set limit, ranging from daily limits to one-time purchases. This is actually something I like. It somehow limits the player’s temptation to just buy things over and over again (which is surprising, given how microtransactions are implemented to basically milk the player’s wallet as much and as often as possible).
Another surprise is the number of free crystals the game throws at you. There’s even a free daily package that gives you 30 crystals! That, coupled with achievements, other free daily gifts and rewards for completing some tasks, proves that you can have a fair free to play game with gacha elements!
Cookie Run: Kingdom isn’t exactly my kind of game, but it’s definitely a well-rounded title that I am comfortable in recommending to people looking for something to fill in 5-10 minutes at a time (or even hours). The game does most things right and there’s little to no reason to not give it a very respectable 4/5 stars, the only real penalty it gets being its extreme pricing for IAPs.
How to download Cookie Run: Kingdom?
Cookie Run Kingdom is available for Android Phones and Tablets on the Play Store and for iPhone and iPads on Apple’s App Store. The game is sadly not available on Apple Silicon equipped macs.
You can use an iPad and to stream the game to your Mac if that’s what you wish. Or maybe you can try and setup an Android Emulator on your Mac to play it that way. We’ve covered Android Emulators for both Intel and Apple Silicon macs so you can play Android Games wherever you are.
We have more reviews of both free and premium mobile games, such as Metal Slug Attack or QB Planets! We also have other articles with tidbits and interesting facts, like this article that answers the question “What is the Number 1 mobile eSports Game” sorted by the prize pool.
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