Kingshot's not-tower-defence ads are why I have major trust issues in life
I brought this down upon myself
The bait-and-switch is one of the oldest tricks in the book - it's the cliché climax to almost every heist movie, and the reason why there's a hideous two-dollar skirt from Temu in my closet that'll never see the light of day (it looked fabulous in the photo, I swear).
Now, I know that looks can be deceiving, especially where mobile ads are concerned. But I gave Kingshot the benefit of the doubt, anyway - fifteen minutes in and I was still letting my naivete get the best of me.
An hour later, and I was utterly convinced I'd been properly bamboozled.
I'm buried deep in all sorts of mobile endeavours day in and day out, but something's bound to slip through my fingers, and I may be late to the party, but Kingshot was never on my to-do list. It was always on my radar, though, especially with the incredibly aggressive ads that bombard my YouTube algorithm. But I gave Clash of Critters a go and found myself pleasantly surprised, so I was eager to see if Kingshot wasn't as bad as everyone says it is.
Suffice it to say that I've discovered I have the incredible ability to misplace my trust in spectacular fashion (I wonder if I should use my powers for good or for evil?).
In any case, if, like me, you've also been living under a rock all this time, Kingshot is essentially advertising itself as a proper tower defence where your tiny king on horseback gallops around tricky terrain trying to strategise the right tower placement to fend off hordes of foes. It's meant to be tactical tower defence at its finest. But in the actual gameplay - while there are towers and there is defence - the genre is really anything but.
Instead, you're taking in refugees, building your settlements, upgrading your structures and recruiting heroes in hopes of fending off rebels that come knocking at your door when night falls. You need resources to make your territory thrive, so you go out on conquests with your gacha-pulled heroes, reap the rewards, then spend speed-ups to fortify your defences for when the sun goes down.
It's a strategy game, to put it simply, and unfortunately, that's never been my cup of tea.
Yes, I love a good StarCraft-esque RTS, and I love the OG strategy genre where combat means turn-based tactics on a grid. But the modern-day version of what makes a "strategy" game on mobile is this speed-up-filled mix of a city-builder and a resource management sim combined, and while I know that studios make millions out of those, I personally have never understood its appeal, and it's never brought me any joy, no matter how hard I've tried (and I've really, really tried).
It's unfortunate, then, that Kingshot just so happens to be that - so it simply adds insult to injury when it lures me in with its tower defence bait and then switches it out with this particular genre. And then there's the added gacha element, the terrible voice acting, and the fact that I have to manage my citizens' satisfaction by keeping them happy (when I myself am not happy). If you'd rather spend your finite time on earth with what's exactly as advertised, perhaps Thronefall might be more up your alley.
And yes, yes - I know Kingshot is properly made, and it's pretty well-polished, and a lot of players do love this kind of thing. I'm just saying the ads didn't work on me - although I'm sure there's still that percentage of people who'll download it thinking it's one thing, discover it's something else, and still keep playing it anyway. That's what these ads are banking on anyway, and really, the fact that I'm writing about this now despite not liking it one bit, gives it free advertising on its own, doesn't it?
I suppose I'm just mad that I willingly let myself get duped despite knowing the ads are scammy - curiosity killed the Cat, as they say, and I have no one but myself to blame.
But then again, if you're gauging the effectiveness of an ad by the fact that it actually got me to download the thing and, to make matters worse, actually talk about it and even write about it, then Kingshot's got the most ingenious ad campaign ever - and perhaps there's actually some real strategy involved here after all.
