I must admit that it was only at this hour that I thought about the possibility of organizing an RPG party consisting only of clowns. There’s a fine tradition of clown characters in RPGs – Sylvando from Dragon Quest XI, Harle from Chrono Cross, Jester in Darkest Dungeon – but is the whole party worth it? The whole substantial top? Maximum cabaret? Madness! Adorable madness! Here’s the trailer for Clowned King, the next game from Moonan, creator of the colorful and melodic Keylocker. I like this better than a fondant cake full of razor blades. I like most things better than a fondant cake full of razor blades, but this ranks pretty high on the list.
Clowned King is a turn-based tactical game set in the Moon Kingdom, a world of tinted glass and, by the looks of it, feisty broccoli. You play as Matheus, a disgraced Harlequin prince who “hides his bloody past behind a mask of laughter”, and you are on a mission to recruit some evil jesters so that you can cast Heath Ledger’s shadowy side on his villainous father, the Mad King Marduk.
The game’s combat system draws inspiration from “Disgaea, Fire Emblem and Brazilian culture,” it claims Steam pageand places an emphasis on formations that unlock special abilities. I wonder if the correct word here wouldn’t be “formation” but performing art? If this game doesn’t make every last feature an expression of clown culture, it’s a miserable waste of premise, not to mention solid wordplay at 7/10.
The Clown King is leaving… at some stage. While you wait, you can try out the precision platformer Clown Meat, where you have to comfort a jester of planetary scale and misfortune that has appeared in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. How about the classic point-and-click game Dropsy, where the title character just wants a hug. Think about it, we’re probably tardy to the clown game where the clown is not an emblem or metaphor for sadness and madness. If you know of one, I’d love to hear about it.
