Kingsley’s Adventure is one of the most charming games I have had the pleasure of playing. Developed and published by Psygnosis (Camden Studio on dev duty) in 1999, this PlayStation action-adventure game stars a colourful cast of anthropomorphic characters in a colourful world that immediately recalled Cosgrove Hall’s suite of British cartoons. Cheeky Britishness suffuses Kingsley, but as this was a game aimed at a younger audience, generally only the whimsical kind with some mild innuendo here and there for older players.

Once Upon a Time…

Our hero and his world are introduced through a lovely cinematic intro done in the style of a two-dimensional wooden puppet show.

Kingsley the fox-cub dwells in the Fruit Kingdom, ruled over by a benevolent King and Queen. Peace and prosperity are enjoyed by all, though not for long. For you see, former Royal Chef ‘Bad Custard’ stole the Queen’s book of magic after being hounded from the castle when the King suffered an especially bad case of food poisoning.

Seduced by dark magic (Not sure why there is dark magic in the queen’s spellbook!) and bent on revenge, Bad Custard bewitches a private army of guardsmen and begins rampaging around the Kingdom, causing all kinds of mischief.

Enter Kingsley, aspiring True Knight, whose knightly father vanished when he was an even smaller fox-cub. Raised by the King and Queen, he sets out on a quest to become a True Knight just like his papa – and defeat Bad Custard.

Okay, before we get going with our escapades in the Fruit Kingdom, I’ll just heap some praise on the way the game options and main menu are presented.

As you can see, they are all presented as stained-glass images! A wonderful and thematic touch that evokes the styling of a more recent game also starring an adventurous fox, Tunic.

I Want to Be a True Knight, the Best There Ever Was!

We begin our adventure in Kingsley’s bedroom. And it’ it’s here we see what kind of game this is: an Ocarina of Time-esque 3D action-adventure from an over-the-shoulder perspective.

One thing you’ll notice as you move Kingsley about for the first time, dear reader, is that the game uses tank controls. Now, this will be an immediate deal-breaker for some, but they’ve never really bothered me, so after some initial adjustments to how the camera works and Kingsley’s back-stepping, we got rolling with it.

The game still looks lovely, with some gorgeous and stereotypically Psygnosis glowy lighting illuminating each polygonal room filled with enough furniture and little details to enjoy spotting to feel cosy and explorative.

Before we go see the King and Queen, our adoptive mama and papa, we run into one of my favourite characters in the game: ‘Old Wrinkle’. This wise old badger advises us to undertake some training to prove ourselves worthy of presenting ourselves.

This is where one of my favourite things about Kingsley presents itself: the character speech. Each denizen of the kingdom has a distinct way of speaking through various rising and falling sounds. If you’ve ever played an Animal Crossing game, you’ll know the kind of thing I mean.

Then it was off to the training area, where a burly Drill Sergeant presented us with a loan of a dagger to complement our shield – and told us to attack him!

This is where my control concerns about Kingsley’s combat were alleviated. The game has a strafing system that remains locked onto the enemy you’re fighting, so you’ll circle around them quite smoothly. After defeating the Drill Sergeant, it was off to some platforming and archery training.

Archery is done in a first-person perspective. You can switch to this view at any time without the crosshair, making for a nice way of admiring the richly detailed environments.

One thing that does distract from Kingsley’s visual splendour is the draw distance. It’s pretty short, giving even relatively small areas a gloomy feel at the edges as the darkness looms.

With the training course successfully completed, we then presented ourselves to our royal rabbit parents and accepted the title of Apprentice True Knight. Huzzah!

Ah, well, that didn’t take long; they already have some quests waiting for us! Oh well, ’tis what we aspired to be anyway: an adventurous swordsfox!

Wuh oh. Bad things are happening all over the Kingdom and they’re powerless to stop it! First, we’ll need to head over to Sea Town via the *ahem* FOX HOLE and speak to ‘Briny Jim’ and he’ll tell us what to do.

Right, so off we go! And along the way, let’s give a shot out to the royal butler… Sleeves.

The whimsy, silly humour and puns are a big part of why I was already enjoying Kingsley so much. It’s childish humour for sure, but it’s also the kind that can be universally enjoyed.

We poke around the castle some more, peeking into the disorderly piles of books that pass for a library in our home and also engage in mortal combat with a sootball of a spider! Then we reach the well-like foxhole that also serves as our method of saving the game. So far, that’s the only opportunity we’ve found of being able to do so, so bear that in mind if you decide to give Kingsley’s a bash yourselves.

Ahoy thar, matey!

Sea Town, the appropriately named seaside settlement! Ah, feel that sea breeze on your fur, Kingsley! And like any good adventurer, we made enquiries with the local townsfolk. A fearsome purple dolphin was our first port of call: No-Beard, the second most fearsome pirate in the Fruit Kingdom!

Well, scary to everyone but Kingsley, it would seem! We get directions to where Briny Jim will be and meet and greet the Sea Town’s colourful cast of characters.

Oh dear. Not only is Baby Smith stealing things (No dinner for him tonight!), but the town is being menaced by the meanest pirate that ever sailed, Captain Gallagher! Now Daddy Smith can’t dive for oysters, it’s too dangerous!

And Briny Jim’s galleon has been stolen, putting this bird out of work! I’d say this is the source of the trouble in Sea Town; no doubt Briny Jim will want us to reclaim his stolen ship.

In Briny Jim’s barrel-shaped bar, we hear right from the sea cucumber’s lips: Briny Jim’s galleon has been stolen and now no one can trade with Sea Town! Fortunately, there is a secret entrance in the bar (no doubt a smuggling tunnel!) to Cutlass Island and the villain’s lair.

The First Dungeon

The tunnels to Cutlass Island comprise the first ‘dungeon’ of the game. Here, all your training will be put to the test with ample combat, platforming, and puzzle-solving!

Kingsley’s difficulty, at least at this stage of the game, is relatively gentle. Enemy attack patterns are simple and follow a back-and-forth rhythm: block, attack, block, attack. Kingsley has a generous supply of hearts (life points) and five lives. And when you lose all your lives, you’ll just continue from the start of the area. There is some frustration, however. The platforming can be a little imprecise and positioning yourself just right at the edge of a platform can be a wee bit difficult. And the timing to avoid rolling boulders in one area of the cave network feels unfairly tight and just a cheap way to sap some health from you. It’s here that Kingsley felt less like a Zelda-alike and more like a traditional 3D platformer as that aspect is a lot more present than puzzle-solving. Pulling switches and finding the odd key in a chest was the most puzzle-solving we had to do. The kind of environmental puzzling you see in the LoZ games isn’t present here, at least so far.

After dodging swinging anchors, timing our jumps to avoid blasting cannons, and fleeing from rolling boulders, we took a rubber raft ride to the base of the summit where the scoundrel walrus Captain Gallagher awaited. And just like any good knight, we issued a bold challenge!

The boss fight with the Cap’n held more simple puzzling, leaping from platform to platform to avoid danger as the blubbery walrus launches himself into the air to squash you before engaging you in melee combat. Alas, they’re up against an Apprentice True Knight! Kingsley’s valour and swordplay prove more than a match for piratical swagger.

With Gallagher dispatched, we’re free to reclaim Briny Jim’s galleon and sail back to Sea Town in triumph! Worry not, townsfolk! You’re free!

The Hero of Sea Town

Cheers greet us as we sail into the harbour. Briny Jim is overjoyed to have his ship back and rewards us with some fine armour and a new weapon! He warns us, however, that Rex the Ruthless is still out there and needs to be dealt with too before the town can be truly called trouble-free.

One lovely thing that I always appreciate is that the attitude of some of the townsfolk has changed. Where they had previously been grumpy and dour toward us, they now greet us warmly. Uh, a little bit too warmly, in some cases!

It’s a nice sense of progression, of having achieved something visible to the player and changed these folks’ lives for the better. As is the fact that Kingsley’s new ancient armour and axe are visible on his model. The game rewards you in several ways, which I very much appreciate.

Closing Thoughts and Kingsley on the Web!

The completion of Kingsley’s first quest is where we’ll end this Adventure Log. I’ve really enjoyed the game so far, finally giving it a proper bash, and its minor flaws in no way overshadow the sense of joy and fun that the game revels in. My partner and I are going to continue playing it, so if you follow me on BlueSky, you’ll likely see some additional snippets of our adventure in the Fruit Kingdom.

Ah, before you go, though, I dug into Wayback Machine after our session to see if I could find a preserved scrape of the old official website for Kingsley. And yep, it’s there, albeit not completely. A shame, as there is a developer’s Q&A on there that would have provided some lovely behind-the-scenes info. The website was hosted and live all the way to 2008 before removed, but thankfully not before it got scraped by the Internet Archive.

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