Take Thy Throne

I went into this one expecting a simple pickup-and-play experience, and in the narrowest sense that is what it delivers, but the gaps show up fast once you start asking it to hold up as an actual competitive multiplayer title. Take Thy Throne is a 2D side-scrolling tower-push game with MOBA-adjacent bones: two teams, a King on each side that you have to reach by punching through towers and barricades, and a small class roster to do it with. The four classes (Helper, Archer, Mage, and Honor Guard) each have distinct roles. The Helper is the only one who can mine ore or chop trees, which means resource gathering and building defenses is a team-coordination task, not just a combat one. That part is genuinely interesting on paper. You collect gold, buy class-appropriate gear mid-match, and construct buildables like turrets and barricades to hold your own side of the map. When your group of three or four friends is actually working those angles, there is a real brief moment where it clicks. The problem is the word "brief." Steam's own review pool is mixed, sitting at 62% positive across 94 reviews, and that tracks with what I found. The session average clocks in at roughly three and a half hours played across the entire playerbase, which tells you most people are either bouncing or treating it as a one-evening curiosity. With a hard cap of six players per match, the game relies entirely on you bringing your own lobby. Cross-platform multiplayer is listed as supported, which is a real positive for filling out small groups, but the idea of finding a random competitive match with meaningful wait times in 2024 is not realistic. The in-game browser and Steam friend-list joining work fine for what they are, but there is no matchmaking infrastructure to speak of. The mode selection is the other wild card. Beyond the main throne-assault mode and Capture the Flag, Dragon Slayer gives you a single-player or co-op option, which is a nice fallback when you cannot wrangle five other people. A deathmatch mode was also planned for post-launch. The pixel art is clean enough and system requirements are laughably low (128MB VRAM, DirectX 9, 18MB install), so performance is a complete non-issue on anything built in the last decade. That low barrier to entry cuts both ways though. It makes the game accessible, but it also signals the scope ceiling pretty clearly. For shooter and PvP enthusiasts hunting something with depth, this does not scratch that itch. There is no ranked system, no netcode transparency, no real skill floor to climb. The combat is side-scrolling action with sword, bow, or axe, not the kind of twitch-focused or movement-tech-driven gameplay that keeps a PvP player coming back. What it actually is, is a budget-tier indie experiment that works best as a sub-ninety-minute group activity with people who are already on voice chat and already forgiving of rough edges. Approach it that way and the concept is charming. Approach it as a live-service competitor to anything on the market right now and you will be disappointed inside of an hour.

Fred · Scout Team

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