A group of adventurers, led by the young mercenary named Guy, arrives at the Port City, looking for job. The situation in the city is not a very peaceful one: corrupted officials, thugs roaming the streets, nobility who won’t listen to the pleas of simple people. Guy and his two initial companions, Quinn and Goran, must first find more people to join their party. But as more adventurers join, the city is overrun by monsters, and Guy realizes it’s not about finding job any more - it’s about protecting the entire country.
Even though it was made by a Japanese company, Early Kingdom is more similar to Western RPGs, being more exploration-oriented rather than focusing on characters and their personal stories. Graphically, it discards the traditional Japanese manga/anime aesthetics in favor of realistic character portraits. The entire game is played from top-down perspective. Combat is real-time, utilizing the characteristic Kure Software engine with large parties of both playable characters and enemies, allowing massive battle scenes. The player can control only one character at a time, while the others fight on their own. Attacks are executed simply by bumping into enemies. The characters get experience points and level up from defeating monsters. There is no world map in the game, but a continuous world of wilderness areas and towns.
