Parents' Guide to Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound

Game Nintendo Switch , Windows 2022
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Common Sense Media Review

Angelica Guarino By Angelica Guarino , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 13+

Tactical strategy game has language, comic violence.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

What's It About?

MAKAI KINGDOM: RECLAIME AND REBOUND centers around the story of Lord Zetta, an overlord of one of several Netherworlds located in the game's universe. After setting fire to a sacred book that holds his Netherworld together, Lord Zetta scrambles to save his kingdom by binding his soul to the book. Though this does stop his Netherworld from complete destruction, his soul becomes confined to the book in the process. In order to get his body back, Lord Zetta must team up with the overlords of nearby Netherworlds such as Pram the Oracle and Dark Lord Valvoga to rebuild his kingdom piece by piece. Of course, Zetta's fellow overlords don't want to make the process easy for him. Realizing that the only way to re-build Zetta's Netherworld is to write individual wishes on each of the Sacred Tome's pages, his fellow overlords tease Zetta and force him to work for every ounce of progress towards getting his old life back.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say : Not yet rated
Kids say : Not yet rated

This re-released version doesn't seem to change anything from the original 2005 edition, but it doesn't really need any changes. Overall, Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound is a solid strategy game with fun combat and freedom to battle how the player chooses. Each stage is just different enough to keep players interested, and there's a reason why this is a title that deserves a re-release. It does what similar games by Nippon Ichi Software do best: offering a combat system that's polished, intuitive, and continuously entertaining. While the overarching story is very similar to others by the same publisher, the dialogue is undeniably funny and very on-brand for fans of other titles in the Disgaea universe.

Perhaps the most iconic feature of these games is the depth of strategy players can engage with, and Makai Kingdom is a great example of that. For instance, by having the choice as to how many characters a player can invite onto the battlefield at once, stages can either be easier or more difficult based on how much help is enlisted. Players can also customize their parties by creating members of any class they want to play. Stages can be easier by recruiting a party with many different strengths and weaknesses or made more difficult by deliberately leaving out an important role, like a healer. Players also have the freedom to change their strategy from battle to battle, as they can choose a completely new party in every stage. Because these features are seamless, and because they are a more beginner-friendly version of customization features in newer titles like Disgaea 5 and Disgaea 6 , Makai Kingdom might have an even wider range of potential players it could appeal to.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound affected by the comedic nature of the gameplay? Does making violence less realistic make it less harmful?

  • Why do you think the writers included inappropriate language in the game? What does this say about the game's characters and messages?

Game Details

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