King of Meat Review for Xbox Series X/S

King of Meat Review for Xbox Series X

Developed by Glowmade and Published by Amazon Games

TL: DR: Let the wild rumpus begin!

King of Meat is a wild, multi-player brawler that drops players into a grotesquely funny game show where success demands equal parts skill, speed, and sheer luck. The premise of trapping contestants in a TV show isn’t new, but King of Meat leans into the idea with absurdity and style. The dungeons are packed with puzzles to solve, treasure to hoard, and an alarming number of skeletons. But King of Meat doesn’t stop at just having players run around in dungeons. The creative mode lets players design their own arenas, guaranteeing a near-infinite supply of challenges.

Story

KOM doesn’t waste any time pretending to be deeper than it is. It knows that the “meat” of the game is the ridiculous and over-the-top combat wrapped in a parody of prime-time reality TV.

The game starts with a series of fast-paced commercials that set the tone for everything about to follow. And what tone is that you might be wondering? Equal parts Adult Swim, late-night wrestling, and Vince from the ShamWow infomercials. There are exaggerated hosts, cheesy sponsors, and tongue-in-cheek commercials that are selling the absurd with a wink and a grin.

The game then drops players into an audition-slash-tutorial for a televised death match where players will hack, slash, shoot, push, and belly flop their way through trap-filled dungeons for a bit of that fortune and glory Indiana Jones was always on about. Once you pass your audition, players will have access to all of the features KoM has to offer.

Storywise, I can only speak to the Solo plot, since, well, I have no friends to play with. The plot thus far involves a series of murderous murders that are uncovered at the end of each Solo dungeon. All of the plot is happening around me so far, with my only job being to make it to the end of the dungeon, rather than doing any investigation or having any actual agency in the plot. So far, the premise is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and it will take completing the “main” storyline to make any final decisions.

Each dungeon run plays out like an episode of a violent variety show, complete with flashy intros and audience reactions. If you ever start to take it all too seriously, then look up while you’re in the arena, and you’ll see monitors and lighting equipment that remind players that we chose to put our lives on the line like this.

Any potential narrative weaknesses have been far outweighed by the sheer fun of the game so far. KoM is spectacle. It uses exaggerated violence and cartoonish energy to keep things moving. It’s not here to tuck you in and read you a story, it is here to make you laugh, wince, and get ready for one more round.

Gameplay

The gameplay of King of Meat can be summed up as “beautiful mayhem.” The third-person brawl, platform, and puzzle-filled dungeon is a fusion good enough to make Gordon Ramsey take a second bite. Add the co-op format, and for those of you who have someone to play with, the game offers hours of satisfying absurdity.

KoM has players leaping between moving platforms, dodging flaming traps, and knocking skellies into bottomless pits. But for all the spectacle, the core gameplay is pretty straightforward. Combat, for example, looks flashier than it feels. Most weapons share the same button-mashy rhythm. Yes, you can x,x,y-a-x,x,x, or you can just x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x, and achieve the same result. Platforming…well, if you know anything about me personally, you know that platformers and I have a complicated relationship. So when I found myself able to bound with the greatest of ease, like a flipping trapeze artist, I had to start wondering about the size of the fall detection blocks. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying, if I can do it, it makes me question how hard it was coded?

The actual gameplay mechanics, in my opinion, drive home the fact that this is a game that is meant for groups. This game is supposed to have someone misjudging a jump, while someone else accidentally throws a bomb at their own party. This game is supposed to have four besties who live in different cities, on mics, cracking jokes and being dumb together.

There is nothing wrong with the gameplay, but it’s not the heart and soul of the game. No, that was the friends we made along the way.

Anyways. Between runs, players will return to the hub/studio where they can buy gear and upgrade abilities before diving back into the blood-soaked carnival. Leveling is easy. Just do what you would normally do in a dungeon, and you’re going to unlock new stuff. New weapons, goofy cosmetics, and questionable bonus skills (burping to push enemies back) all give a feeling of momentum to progression.

The sleeper shining star of the game has to be the creation mode. This lets players build and share custom arenas. The mechanics are intuitive and accessible enough that casual players can experiment with traps, geometry, and objectives. I also loved seeing what madness lay in the minds of my fellow contestants. The sheer diabolicalness on display should have been terrifying, if it also hadn’t been so much fun.

Visually, King of Meat is a riot of color, texture, and questionable fashion choices. Players can deck out their contestants with mix-and-match heads, limbs, armor, and weapons, layering stickers, stars, and googly eyes wherever they’ll fit. The result is equal parts hilarious and horrifying, depending on how much you value visual cohesion.

There’s genuine joy in how personal your fighter can look. One player might stride into the arena wearing tactical sci-fi armor while another looks like a plush toy armed with a flamethrower. It’s chaotic in the best way and pays homage to the games WWE’s inspiration.

Despite the abundance of customization, KoM deserves credit for its fair monetization. Everything you can earn is included in the base game. There are no microtransactions, no predatory battle passes, just good-old-fashioned grinding for cosmetics. It’s refreshing to see a $40 title that doesn’t double as a shopping mall.

Overall

8/10 for Solo Gameplay

10/10 for the Creation Mode

King of Meat is the definition of a game that bursts out of the gate, waving its arms and screaming, “Look how fun I am!” Its dungeons are packed with personality, its customization options are delightfully absurd, and the level editor could give the game legs if the community sticks around. And I think that is going to be the deciding factor of whether this game has staying power. Will the community gather round and birth a new generation of YouTube channels showcasing their builds?

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Related: Reviews by Michelle Jones

Michelle Jones

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I'm a completionist gamer who just needs to find that one last object and clear that final dungeon. I love all video games, from open world sandboxes on a console to a mindless match three on my phone. In addition to gaming and writing, I am a graduate student working on a thesis about the ancient Icelandic Sagas. Feel free to ask me anything about Vikings.