--- title: "The Lost Kingdoms" category: game slug: the-lost-kingdoms developer: Return to Fantasy (Savatar) released: 2016 (Android) price: Free itch: https://savatar.itch.io/the-lost-kingdoms-a-mobile-rpg play: removed moddb: https://www.moddb.com/games/the-lost-kingdoms-a-mobilerpg --- **The Lost Kingdoms : A mobile RPG** is a free Android RPG released in 2016 by Return to Fantasy, the one-person label of a developer who goes by Savatar. ModDB lists the engine as GameMaker Studio. The download is a 15 MB APK, and the itch.io page lists Amazon Fire phones alongside Android. ## Features - **Tile-based movement**: one tap of a directional arrow moves one square, across an overworld of forests and grassland, walled towns, and dungeons - **Real-time combat on a separate screen**, where attacking starts a bar that has to drain before damage lands, and blocking only reduces damage if it is timed against the enemy's own swing. The enemy's bars are shown too - **12 skills** in three groups (passive, physical and magical), each upgradeable through five ranks with **Learning Points** earned on level-up, and slotted into a four-button action bar - **Six equipment slots**, a four-slot belt for potions and a fifteen-slot backpack - **A single character** with Hit Points, Attack, Defence and Magic, and **Luxury** as the currency - **Fast travel** back to town, and inns that charge to rest - **3×3 button grid** filling the bottom half of the screen: Equip, Journal, Skills and Menu at the corners, a d-pad through the middle, and a context button that changes to a sword, a door or an eye depending on what the character is facing ## Story The player wakes in a dark prison with no memory, escapes, and sets out to find out who put them there and why. It is told across four chapters of journal entries, revealed as the game goes on. ## Availability The game was delisted from Google Play for reasons that were never stated. It remains available on itch.io. ## Reception Billy White reviewed it for GameIndustry.com on July 29th, 2017 and gave it 3 GiN Gems out of 5. It praises the combat bars: *"the player can also see the enemies' attack and block bars, which adds a little strategy to the game's combat"*, and criticises the tap-per-tile movement: *"it can become a bit of a chore when backtracking or heading back to a dungeon after fast traveling back to a town."* The review also flags *"a lot of grammatical issues in the game and awkward phrases"*, and describes the audio as *"mostly just generic-sounding clips of music"*. ## Concessions The Lost Kingdoms is **not party-based**, it focuses on a single character. Its combat is also **not turn-based tactical grid combat**. Fights cut away to a dedicated screen with the enemy above and Attack and Block below, resolved by timing against a draining bar in real time. The grid in this game is for walking, not for fighting; positioning never enters into it. ## External articles - [The Lost Kingdoms : A mobile RPG](https://savatar.itch.io/the-lost-kingdoms-a-mobile-rpg) — itch.io project page and download - [The Lost Kingdoms is a Simple RPG for Smartphones](https://www.gameindustry.com/reviews/time-waster/the-lost-kingdoms/) — GameIndustry.com review, 3/5 - [The Lost Kingdoms : A mobile RPG](https://www.moddb.com/games/the-lost-kingdoms-a-mobilerpg) — ModDB entry, with engine and creator credits ## Screenshots ![Walking a grass path between orchard trees, with a skeleton and a wolf nearby](/screenshots/the-lost-kingdoms/1.png) ![A cobbled town square outside the inn, with two townspeople standing by](/screenshots/the-lost-kingdoms/2.png) ![Combat against a skeleton, showing the attack and block timing bars](/screenshots/the-lost-kingdoms/3.png) ![The skills screen, with passive, physical and magical skills and the action bar](/screenshots/the-lost-kingdoms/4.png)