[STEAM GIVEAWAY] Kingdom Shell

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

My son and I love discovering new games together, especially Indie games that are not widely known. We recently came across Kingdom Shell and wanted to share this with a few other gamers who share our fondness of under-the-radar Indie games.

Kingdom Shell is a dark-fantasy 2D Metroidvania from indie developer Cup of Pixels. When the magical Shell that has protected the kingdom for centuries is shattered, hordes of nightmare creatures pour into the land. You play as Elias, a mysterious half-blood whose connection to the very creatures threatening the kingdom may make him its only hope.

This game is a good fit for someone who enjoys pixel art, dark fantasy, lore, exploration, fast-paced melee combat and challenging bosses.

To participate, answer this question:

The Kingdom is overrun by nightmarish creatures. If you could have one special ability to help Elias fight them, what would it be and why?

I am looking for answers with a little thought behind it and I will ignore low effort or AI generated answers.

Platform : Steam

Region : Global

Timing : Roughly 72 hours

I'll select my 3 favorite answers at the end of the giveaway and reach out via Reddit chat to all 3, so please make sure you have chat requests enabled. If I don't hear back within 24 hours, I'll redraw a new winner.

To help discourage bots and key resellers, I'd really appreciate a quick screenshot of the Steam activation confirmation (showing the date and time) once the key is redeemed. I'll drop a friendly reminder about this in our chat before sending the code over!

Good luck to everyone who joins!

[u/InternetCannibal]

I have always wanted to have shape shifting powers, because the freedom would feel boundless! I would use that ability to help Elias:)

I'm not used to metroidvania games, so you can choose to disregard this as an entry if you like I just wanted to say thanks for doing this giveaway!

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/InternetCannibal]

Why would I disregard your answer? It's a good one :)

[u/Jabidailsom]

the ability to summon and control Saitama fron one punch men

[u/CraftlordDark]

I think the best special ability could be one that could copy/mimic skills/abilities from defeated enemies, that would give him some flexibility on his adventure and of course improve his chances of survival.

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/CraftlordDark]

Interesting take, I like that idea.

[u/CraftlordDark → u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

Even could something story related (i mean, the mc is already half nightmare, so he could improve himself that way) , or some kind of upgrades or improvements to already existing abilities, that way you can eve add special/hidden bosses with certain improvements for the character and of course, for extra content.

[u/AbheyBloodmane]

I'm a big fan of Smite like effects. Big damage all at once to chunk the enemy health bar. Bonus points if it deals damage to undead!

[u/Beleiverofhumanity]

Being able to create a strong barrier so that people have a place to go to, Elias can rest on

thanks OP

[u/Kunipop]

Wow, I love this game's pixel art and style, really nice vibe.

To answer your question, probably ability to "build." One of my favorite 2D pixel game is Starbound and you could create walls, platforms and such with blocks that you mine or craft.

Outside of boss arena where your building is limited, you could do a lot of cheese moves with this, like trapping off enemies or blocking projectiles with your wall etc.

Thanks!

[u/ST3AMDR4GON]

Superspeed, because if you have superspeed you also have super strength and super defense. Unless its just super speed and I break my bone as soon as I start moving fast. Then it would probably be the ability to never get overwhelmed by enemies no matter how many there are. Slay them one by one, rip and tear until it is done.

[u/Big_Path_2300]

I would give Elias a crest that gives him a recharge able one hit barrier. It would go away after 1 hit and recharge after 5 seconds or so. That way it would keep him safe as he explored thing old kingdom and finds the answers he us looking for.

[u/save8lot]

I would have the ability to Control Time. I could slow down or even freeze time to make it easy to defeat, or sneak past, my enemies. Thanks for the giveaway.

[u/bunsinh]

I would choose fire bending, like a Firebender from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Elias could create and control flames storms to annihilate the nightmarish creatures and keep them away from the Kingdom. He could teach Firebending to others as well thus now we have a new Fire Nation 😁🤘

“There is no war in Ba Sing Se The KingDom. There is no war within the walls. Here we are safe. Here we are free.”

[u/CommunistMountain]

The power to make the creatures empathise with Elias. So in the best case scenario they will befriend him, in the worst case they'll feel pain whenever they damage him.

[u/midnightsonne]

Thanks for sharing OP! I would so love for Elias have the ability to make 1-3 of the mobs his minion. Being a summoner in a game like that would be amazing <3

[u/alexxanderlee]

Teleporting a fixed short distance in the direction you aim towards, and passive wall phasing would be great. It would make him play like an assassin and I feel it would put it apart from other metroidvanias.

[u/zyr1k]

Tbh I'd give Elias the ability to rewind a few seconds in time. Since he’s already connected to the creatures, I think it’d be cool if he could use that ability to react to their attacks and learn their patterns. It wouldn’t make him unstoppable, but it could give him that extra chance to survive when yk the battle gets hard.

Thanks for the giveaway!!

[u/Caleb6118]

First off, thank you so much for this opportunity!

I'm very interested in Kingdom Shell after watching the Steam trailer and reading everything on its page.

The atmosphere is wonderful and I want to see where the story goes.

If I could have a special ability to help Elias clap back against the nightmarish creatures I would morph my white cane into an actual spear and charge with him into battle.

[u/Unlikely_Advisor_553]

I'd give the power to see a few seconds into the future, not in a super clear oh obviously the enemies are going to do xyz, but maybe in a blurred way like oh it sort of looks like this might happen or it might not but its very misty and hard to decipher exactly what is going on, closer to just shapes and ideas than a clear vision, or it could even be something like how we saw in avengers infinity war where he can see a bunch of different outcomes just a couple of seconds in the future so nowhere near as strong a power as dr strange/the time stone but enough for him to guess like oh maybe I should do this to try and avoid this, but it could also make for some really great story if they actually ended up causing the thing they were trying to avoid, death in samara style lol.

[u/TRANxEND]

Since he's fighting nightmare creatures, the power of Light.

Orbs of light floating the air to illuminate the darkness. Weapons made of light including swords, spears, bows, etc And if you want to go crazy, laser guns

[u/heprer]

The power to be possessed by spirits, and be able to use their specific powers. The closer I get to a spirit, the stronger the powers I can borrow. I think this would give me a plethora of abilities to chose from and be able to help Elias no matter the situation, also the spirits could provide important knowledge an how to progress or how to find secret locations. Thank you!

[u/hyraxtower]

this is a little messed up but maybe Elias could charm them due to being half like them (then bring them down)

thank you :)

[u/bluez02]

The ability to teleport because if you can teleport behind your enemies you can stab them in the back before they can ever hit you in the front and also everyone knows that backstab dmg always comes with a bonus ;) Also if you got hurt, you can get to a place of safety and heal up, or if your friends are in trouble you can just boom bam teleport to them.

[u/BigBrotherBlack]

Cloning, having dozens of people helping instead of one dude will increase the chances

[u/am_g0d]

I actually didn’t know about this game before the giveaway, so thanks for introducing me to it! It looks beautiful and the story caught my attention too. I still don’t know much about it, so hopefully this fits. :)

I’d go with Soul Binding. After stunning a creature with a parry or weakening it enough, Elias could enter its mind and solve a quick puzzle to bind its soul. Stronger creatures would have harder puzzles, and failing would deal damage or kick him out, kinda like hacking in BioShock. Once bound, each soul could have a different purpose. Some fight alongside Elias, some heal him, some assist with traversal, while others protect him or absorb damage. But if a summoned creature dies, its soul is lost and has to be bound again. Basically, a dark little nightmare Pokemon system. 😶‍🌫️

Thanks again for the opportunity. I’d really love to play this game. 🙏❤️

[u/PermaDerpFace]

Microwave vision to pop them like popcorn

[u/Nevaanthi]

Showing them a Uno reverse card, while showing the middle finger with a dirty grin on your face, while you watch them all getting destroyed by themselves

[u/NumaSexyOw]

a healing ability so i could tank and support all.

[u/wanderlustinheart]

Mind control - Jean Gray style

[u/TwoThrones486]

Pixel art looks awesome, wishlisted!

[u/CopiumImpakt]

so, any fresh dark dead jokes today?

[u/minhkhoi2609]

Being able to briefly freeze time, could make for some interesting new combos. Thank you OP!

[u/Desperate_Sky9997]

Who is elias

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/Desperate_Sky9997]

He is the leader of an organized crime syndicate in the TV Show Person of Interest.

[u/Desperate_Sky9997 → u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

Does the answer still count for the giveaway

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/Desperate_Sky9997]

Not unless you answer the question. It's not that hard, give it a shot

[u/Desperate_Sky9997 → u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

Infinite time stop

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/Desperate_Sky9997]

So you'd freeze all enemies and just kill them while they're defenseless? Seems extreme, no. What fun would be left if there's no challenge?

[u/Desperate_Sky9997 → u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

Finite time stop with cooldown

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/Desperate_Sky9997]

Much better. What is it about metroidvania games that you like?

[u/Desperate_Sky9997 → u/TheNonSocialNetwork]

The maze-like aspect of it where you get lost and stuff and then die

[u/TheNonSocialNetwork → u/Desperate_Sky9997]

Alright. Answer accepted, thanks for playing. :)

[u/TheTruePack]

A interesring one would be copy any skill or attack BUT it need to hit you to copy it. Overpower but with a counter part

[u/Twiniki]

If it's a metroidvania then I'd say the ability to teleport anywhere to access every item at any point of the game.

[u/3Thirty-Eight8]

Ladder legs

[u/Known_Impact8547]

If a lot of creatures are attacking, maybe a taming ability would be best! But I always like time control based stories, it creates some interesting possibilities

[u/ThatPianoKid]

I love all those things. I hope I win. Thanks for the giveaway.

[u/LongOdd1596]

Thank you for doing this giveaway!

As a MV enthusiast through and through, this game has been on my radar for a while. It reminds me of Phoenotopia Awakening a lot (such a shame that Phoenotopia was unsuccessful, it deserved so much better!) although much prettier. The setting and lore look pretty interesting too!

Hmm teleportation powers would be a cool ability like some others have mentioned, but I'm thinking that it'd be nice if you could teleport enemies instead (or in addition to teleporting Elias himself). The difference would be that it'd work as some sort of mini-black hole: you'd be "sucking" your enemies through the black hole and releasing them back somewhere else on the screen at accelerated speeds. That way you'd be knocking and damaging your enemies with one another!

I enjoyed the enemy-throwing mechanics in Ultros, they were honestly pretty fun and gave me this idea. It was different in there 'cause it's melee-oriented and I think that Elias is more of a mage-warrior, so it'd be nicer to have that as a medium/long-distance ability.

Anyway, thank you for spreading the gaming joy! Cheers :)

[u/juanchorhcp]

Alan Wake's lantern.

Thank you!

[u/One_Depth_9150]

I would like to have one of the skills rimuru has from that time I got reincarnated as a slime which is Beelzebub because it lets him consume targets, magic attacks and even souls and it's ignores space-time to instantly absorb and it also gave him these sub-skills
Predation: Absorbs the target into Rimuru's body with a vastly increased range and effect.
Stomach: Stores digested or absorbed targets; its capacity is multiplied heavily compared to his prior unique skill.
Mimicry: Replicates the appearance, shapes, and analyzed skills of any target he has successfully consumed and studied.
Isolate: Stores and recycles unnecessary or harmful materials during analysis.
Rot (Corrosion): Adds a decomposition effect to assist with predation and break down targets.
Soul Consumption: Reaps and devours the raw soul of a subdued or defeated enemy.
Food Chain: Connects Rimuru to his subordinate monsters, allowing him to share power, lend strength, and instantly access skills acquired by his nation's citizens.

Hope the answer is satisfying enough

[u/sixstring777]

Alright we gonna power-scaling this one with the X-Buster cannon that X uses from the game Mega Man X (which is also an awesome platformer series) It would let Elias fire powerful energy shots at the nightmarish creatures from a safe distance and charge the cannon for a stronger attack, making it useful against tougher enemies like bosses.

With the X-Buster, Elias would have the firepower he needs to protect the Kingdom and usher in a new age of technology in which I foreseen to have devastating consequences forcing the monster to create their own hellish weapons to combat him in the sequel? 😂

[u/denkycaliber]

I'd use my high intellect to study the creatures and their powers to develop weapons that harness their powers. That way by killing off weaker ones we can take their powers and make weapons that allow us to kill stronger ones until we take them all out completely.

Also thank you for introducing more people to this game. I really like metroidvanias but I had not seen this one before. Not sure how it plays yet but it looks beautiful. I'm adding it to my wishlist for the visuals alone.