King of Meat offers brilliant combat and dungeon creation, but its
platforming ground me down

Date:
Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Description:
King of Meat has a lot going for it as a co-op party game, but awkward humor and underwhelming platforming disappoint.

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This party platformer serves up a steady stream of challenges with buckets of content to unlock, ranging all the way from a robust roster of weapons to
neat cosmetics that help you run wild in the excellent character creator.

Personalization and customization are consistent highlights in King of Meat , and when youre not tackling its wide selection of community-made levels, the expansive dungeon maker gives you a powerful but approachable set of tools
for crafting your own. Review info Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X,
and Series S
Release date: October 7, 2025

Its a meaty package given the modest $29.99 / 24.99 asking price, but there are some rough edges to bear in mind before you dive in. Its copious animated cutscenes are gorgeous, but the constant parody humor can sometimes grate.
Its perfectly serviceable if youre willing to regard it with some degree of irony, but hardly entertaining material. The platforming can also be a drag, as it's quite slow and precise - the opposite of what you would usually
expect from a colorful multiplayer party game like this.

Pair this with a difficulty level that ranges all the way from a complete cakewalk to unbelievably punishing, depending on the design of your current dungeon, and the experience can often frustrate. Meat your maker (Image credit: Amazon Games)

Set in the fantasy kingdom of Loregok, everything in King of Meat is centered around the titular in-universe TV show.

Although online play is the focus, theres a surprising amount of story here and heaps of voiced dialogue. The handful of vendors in its small hub world frequently dispense world-building lines, and theres even a pretty solid single-player mode that has you traversing through a series of developer-crafted dungeons as little narrative segments play out.

Despite the reliance on rather pass parody humor, its certainly entertaining enough and offers a nice little diversion if youre waiting for your friends
to hop on for a multiplayer session. Reaching new high scores in these levels unlocks loads of neat goodies too, including in-game currency and some nifty cosmetics, giving you a good reason to replay each of them a handful of
times.

The star of the show is the multiplayer, though, divided into three distinct leagues that can be tackled with up to three other players. The league
tryouts are your beginner levels, intended to be immediately approachable to low-level players. Populated by basic skeleton enemies or simplistic puzzles, theyre not particularly thrilling, leading to a rather weak first few
matches, but soon give way to the much more exciting Global League playlist and the super challenging Imperial League.

Global League is where I routinely have the most fun, but enjoyment does
hinge heavily on the design of the level that youre playing. Although there
is a fairly large selection of developer-made stages (which comprised the
bulk of my early testing time), the community also has the power to create
new levels that feed into the mix. Sizzle reel (Image credit: Amazon Games)

When youre playing a well-designed level, everything just clicks.

One particularly memorable example had me completing quite complex
spike-based puzzles with a team of randoms, all of us communicating through the in-game chat wheel (populated by barks like nice or sorry) and the quick ping feature.

Carefully timing my position on pressure plates to disable traps so the other players could progress and do the same for me was immensely satisfying and
had us all frictionlessly working like a hive mind despite the lack of detailed communication.

Going head-to-head with just the right mix of enemies in more wave-based challenges also helps the shockingly deep combat shine. Chaining different combos together to fill up the on-screen audience excitement meter is immediately rewarding, with more elaborate streaks resulting in louder cheers and higher points. Best bit (Image credit: Amazon Games) The specials mode offers up a platter of limited-time challenges, with some aimed at solo players and others geared towards teams. Theyre some of the best levels that Ive seen, with a good mix of devious traps and combat challenges. Competing
in them puts you on a huge leader board, and yes I managed to reach number
one a handful of times.

There are loads of weapons to try too, with both a primary and secondary
slot. Primaries range from your average medieval fare like swords and hammers to magical knuckle dusters and electric guitars, while secondaries include a bomb launcher and, my personal favorite, a literal gun. Completing challenges with each weapon feeds into a large set of skill trees, with unlocks increasing key stats and improving the efficiency of attacks.

Powerful Glory Moves are charged like an ultimate ability as your brawl, unleashing powerful effects, including healing for your team and an amusing burp that sends enemies flying. Its all very strong on paper, but the issues start to come to the fore when youre playing a less well-designed stage.

One random choice dumped me in a long, straight corridor that was just overflowing with super powerful enemies - a wildly unfair slog that saw me losing all five of my lives in a matter of seconds. (Image credit: Amazon Games)

Platforming is rather slow and cumbersome, too, which makes some of the more parkour-oriented stages feel unfair. Your maximum running speed is a snail's pace, and your jump is floaty and inaccurate. Throw in some consistent issues with hit direction thanks to server latency, and you have a recipe for annoyance when youre trying to navigate everything from spike pits to moving platforms - which unfortunately are practically omnipresent.

Im not exactly sure why developer Glowmade didnt go for a lighter, faster style of platforming here, as it would easily make everything so much more exciting. Dungeon master (Image credit: Amazon Games)

Those with a creative streak will likely be able to forgive this, though, as King of Meat doesnt fall short when it comes to customization.

The character creator is excellent, giving you loads of control over your armored competitor with a variety of outfit parts, plus decals and
accessories that you can place anywhere. The unique, almost-modern-but-still-medieval look is cute too, and means that traffic cones and tracksuit bottoms dont look at all out of place next to suits of armor.

Theres also the superb dungeon creator. Its not quite as expensive as something like the level builder in Super Mario Maker , as it fundamentally relies on placing pre-set rooms, but you can achieve an awful lot with it. There are loads of decor items to place freely, tons of enemies, special effects, and a robust logic system for those keen to create more adventurous contraptions and puzzles.

The ability to quickly play your dungeon from the start or your current room in order to spot any sore spots is a blessing and makes creation fun and
easy. Uploading your tracks for others to try is simple too, and I personally cant wait to discover what kind of things players will come up with.

All of this leaves me a bit conflicted about King of Meat . The groundwork is all here for a fantastic experience, and the team behind the game has clearly put a huge amount of care and attention into almost all of its core elements
- I just wish the platforming and comedy weren't quite so tedious. Should I play King of Meat? Play it if

Youre after a new co-op game
King of Meat is fun with friends and supports playing with up to three of them at any one time. Its low asking price makes it an attractive proposition if youre looking for something to play on your next virtual game night.

Youre wildly creative
From the character creator to the dungeon maker, King of Meat gives you a wealth of tools to express yourself and run wild with creativity. If youre
the kind of person who loves those systems, youll get a lot out of this. Dont play it if

You cant stand the style of humor
There is a surprising amount of narrative content in King of Meat , and a lot of it is filled with annoying parody humor. If thats not your cup of tea, Id give it a miss.

Youre in it for the platforming
Combat is exciting, but the slow platforming is one of the weakest parts of the overall package. Accessibility features

There are loads of accessibility options in King of Meat . This includes a range of speech-to-text options, including narration of the in-game menus and chat box. Subtitles are enabled by default, and youre free and customize the size, color, and background opacity of them. The controls can also be customized with a huge range of input options that remove the need to hit buttons.

Photosensitive users can remove the screen flash that occurs when you take damage, or disable a selection of other in-game effects. How I reviewed King of Meat

I played more than ten hours of King of Meat on PlayStation 5 ahead of the games launch. During that time, I played a heap of levels both alone and with other players online.

I also had a lengthy co-op session with a colleague in order to assess the games potential when youre playing with friends. I unlocked the bulk of the games content, including most of its weapons, and played with all of the ones that were available to me. I became global number one in a handful of the daily challenge levels and also spent some time as the level creator, experimenting with the tools on offer.

Throughout my time with the game, I played it with the standard DualSense Wireless Controller and an Astro A20 X gaming headset for audio.

First reviewed September 2025



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