The Cruel King and the Great Hero

KeenGamerFrancesca Poggi

9/10

Welcome to the enchanting world of The Cruel King and the Great Hero, where you will join little Yuu as she takes on a perilous journey to become a great hero. Will she be able to defeat the Demon King? From the creators of The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince comes this new, heart-warming adventure.

Pure NintendoSophie Hiner

8.5/10

With a children’s storybook approach to the narration and writing—as well as the hand-drawn art style—The Cruel King and the Great Dragon is not only fun to play, it's also heartwarming to experience.Read More

TechRaptorTanushri Shah

8/10

A beautifully handcrafted JRPG, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is more great than cruel.

Video ChumsA.J. Maciejewski

8/10

Sometimes, you just want to play a lighthearted RPG and for that, few games are better than The Cruel King and the Great Hero.

RPGamerZack Webster

NIS America's The Cruel King and the Great Hero provides little challenge and some tedious gameplay, but has a heartwarming, storybook tale that makes it worth playing.

The Cruel King And The Great Hero is a lovely and loving adaptation of everything that people love about the fairy tale, with the charming premise of a girl that dreams of being a hero, and a gold-hearted dragon that makes that happen for her. I know we’re all feeling JRPG fatigue from the sheer number of them that have been released this year, but don’t let this slip past you. It almost did me, and that would have been a big pity.

WayTooManyGamesHeidi Hawes

6.5/10

I won’t lie, I’d been looking forward to The Cruel King and the Great Hero for quite a while now. After all, this was the successor to The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, which won our hearts back in 2019 with its beautiful art style and super saccharine premise. The Cruel King and the Great Hero looked to be in the same vein as its predecessor, and in some ways, it was. However, it also tried to do something different this time around, and unfortunately, this was where a lot of the g...

Nintendo World ReportTed Hazell

6.5/10

While The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a beautiful game and aesthetically unique compared to other RPGs, it's the core gameplay and super slow pacing that stops this from being something I'd recommend over more standard RPGs that do almost everything else better. I'm sorry, Yuu, you're probably one of the most adorable protagonists I've ever played as, but that just isn't enough!

RPGSiteJames Galizio

5/10

Despite all its charm, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is hard to recommend.