Ever wish falls guys was a little more murderball or think Rollerdrome was just a bit too dystopian. Amazon has got you. Welcome to a King of Meat, a chaotic co-op where high fantasy hijinks only come second to commercial rating.
You might have seen the season teaser for Amazon’s latest during Gamescom Opening Night Live. Ahead of today’s announcement, Amazon Games invited us, and a few other victims to a hands-on look at the future of prime time entertainment and spend a morning bashing skulls. Developed by Glowmade and beaming itself into PC, PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox screens across the globe, you already know that this online hack-and-slash is unlike anything Amazon has tried before. The retailer turned gaming giant sidestepped the traditional MMO this time around and presented something closer to the likes of Fall Guys than Throne & Liberty.
Set in the mystical realm of Loregok, King of Meat whisks competitors away to a mix of dungeons, dragons, trolls, and corporate greed. Players eager to be centre stage will have the chance to boot up their PC and consoles and leap into an online realm where viewing figures are king and there’s always a chance to entertain, dead or alive. With that firmly in mind, and adequate padding, myself and a couple of other press people teamed up to be unceremoniously carried through a taste of what’s to come.
Enter The Koliseum
Billed as a chance to Amazon to diversify its portfolio, King of Meat certainly makes an impression. Unlike Breakaway or Crucible, both of which coupled multiplayer arena play with a serious twist, King of Meat is obviously more light hearted. Quirky cartoon aesthetics piece together player characters that riff on the grim side of fantasy. Be the ultimate contender or just pull on a coo, t-shirt. Show off your skills with a pixelated chrome sword or a flaming crossbow. The customization suite and wealth of in-game rewards range from cool weapons, pin badges, headgear, and special attacks to give the most ruthless demonic C-list celebrities an impressive start on this new stage. Swing rainbows and bash heads while the crowd go wild.
The stylized art and light-hearted look place the tone of the main lobby closer to Orcs Must Die than Baldur’s Gate. Trolls, magicians, bar staff, and off-duty minions mingled among player characters as we got a look around the Iron Law Lobby. This central player hub represents an opportunity to meet more than your friends. It’s the social space to greet the representatives of corporations that have a vested stake in your success / gruesome death. Powerful NPCS are littered around this open environment providing a range of predictable services. Regulated Effects, Beast Shall Ride, Golden Anvil, and Komstruct are all as outlandish as they sound. Anybody with sharp eyes will have already noticed a corporate mascot loitering in this lobby and it’s definitely not the kind you want a hug from. Each corporation has a distinct personality and offers players valuable resources – including magic, weapons, gear, and more.
Thankfully our guide from Glowmade ensured that we would come back around to these after a bit of hack and slash in the Komstruct Koliseum. The Koliseum is an instanced arena, allowing players to pick from a series of maps, then leap in with help or attack solo. While we went in with a pro, the aim is the same either way. Take on a range of dastardly traps, enemies, explosive, pointy things, and gyrating death machines. Aim to create chaos, bash anything that moves, and never stop entertaining the crowd. Keep them cheering, don’t stop, and you might just make it to the end with a decent score.
The challenges that await, continue to remind me of It’s a Knockout, or Ninja Warrior for those of a more American Inclination, all transformed into a fantasy dungeon crawler. Starting at one end of a dungeon, players bash their way through everything that awaits and keep the watching crowds entertained. Jeers and cheers are more important than life or death. While you can die, there isn’t a wild penalty before respawning occurs. We were able to take on a range of obstacles with a range of weapons, from heavy hammers to swords, shields, and crossbows. Each feels distinct and, unsurprisingly, handled differently. Basic controls unleash big and small attacks, and everything feels intuitively standard for a third person brawler. Where things hit differently, is when the crowd gets involved. Points are accumulated for exploding, slashing, or generally keeping the audience happy. This includes using special moves that could potentially unleash a giant horse hoof from up above or a duck of death. Don’t ask. Just accept that’s where this is going, and it’s wonderfully chaotic. Whether you’re screaming through an iron fortress or pirouetting between rotating death gears, there are a myriad of possibilities, all based on your imagination.
While King of Meat might come with some prescribed options, the co-op capers lean heavily into community builds. Like Super Mario Maker or Surgeon Simulator 2, you’ll find all the tools at your disposal to tenderize any eager competitors. We didn’t have time for a hands-on with the dungeon construction, but Glowmade showed off the endless possibilities. Sliding into the nostalgia of Dungeon Keeper, there’s a certain twisted draw to this level building nonsense. Pick from a range of switches, paths, floors, traps, spikes, spawns, explosives, and more to pull together an arena. Start from the smallest block and work up with a seemingly robust construction kit to make levels that are silly yet deadly. Add plenty of explosive barrels for good measure. What’s most impressive about this choose your own adventure option, are the interactive components. A set of logic systems can be pulled together, making each level more than a simple cosmetic job. Check out an example below, which the community will hopefully expand upon.
Although notoriety is always great and we all want to become the author of the next Trials of Death, there is an actual in game reward for building your own dungeons. Positively received levels will receive rep. Community recognition gets rewards, which can be re spent in the wider game. We didn’t get a chance to dive into the reward system in this case, so I’m hoping that there will be a suitably enticing set of rewards and a solid way of ensuring that these systems aren’t abused.
The cannon fodder. I mean, the dungeon runs have their own progression models too. Getting through a run and standing on the pedestal at the end of an instance scores your team. Like any instanced adventure, the score is based on its own elements but remember a cheering crowd and lots of excited viewers is the main thing here. Points mean prizes in the simplest form, allowing players to pick from a range of rewards of short term buffs before diving into a new arena. Head to the available NPCS and pick from three buffs to help the next run, spend currency on a new skin, pick up the best new Glory Moves for the top tier scores, and watch new events, traps, and environments unlock over the long grind. Achievement-based systems also effectively tie in a longer form of progression. This is a rewarding mix of incentives and provides a solid gameplay loop that balances long and short-term loot, meaning there’s always something to play for.
At its core, King of Meat isn’t entirely unique. It definitely draws on ideas we’ve seen before, but it’s got a charm to it that is undeniable. The cartoon characters and cool skins are one thing, but the utter mania of hearing your teammates disintegrate as you freely lob exploding barrels over a blind drop or run through a hail of arrows hoping the TNT you’ve got doesn’t get hit is hilarious. This might be when Amazon makes the ‘not the MMO’ stick, but it’ll all depend on the community it draws. King of Meat is a romp that feels silly enough that we’re eager to see what the future of entertainment is. You can chck out more on the official website and sign up to be the star you almost certainly didn’t dream of, now!
