On May 4th, it was announced that Cookie Run: Kingdom, a mobile role-playing game (RPG) newly launched by Devsisters, had been downloaded by a global cumulative of 10 million times only after two and a half months. Cookie Run: Kingdom gained great expectations before its launch about new stories and the voices of newly introduced ‘cookies.’ Moreover, it is meaningful in that it succeeded in the mobile game market targeting women in their teens and 20s, which was usually dominated by men in the 30s to 50s before. Hence, the Sungkyun Times (SKT) would like to introduce Cookie Run: Kingdom’s attractive points and tips for playing the game.
About Cookie Run: Kingdom
Cookie Run: Kingdom is the 9th game of the Cookie Run game series by Devsisters who became famous after the first Cookie Run game. The Cookie Run series’ main plot is that the cookies baked by a witch run away to prevent being eaten by the witch. The series games are played with simple jump and slide buttons so that all ages can play them easily. Cookie Run: Kingdom started its service on January 21st, 2021. It proved its popularity by achieving the global cumulative 10 million downloads only after two and half months since its launch. In this game, people can decorate their own kingdom and catch a boss with players in a guild. Also, they can play various contents of both player versus environment (PvE) like story mode and player versus player (PvP) in the Kingdom Arena. Unlike the previous series, which runs a map, in this new series, gamers clear a stage and fight with enemies by using a system of a squad composition which is made of five cookies and three items providing special effects, called treasures. It has the elements of an RPG game that randomly picks cookies and level-ups for fighting and elements of a social network game that can be enjoyed with friends, which makes it very popular among teens and people in their 20s. In June, there are 48 playable cookies excluding non-play characters (NPC) or villains. Including GingerBrave, Strawberry Cookie, and Wizard Cookie from the previous games, various new cookies have been added with names such as Pure Vanilla Cookie. With these cookies, people can make a strategy with different specialized roles and skills for each cookie, such as defense, ambush, and magic. People can enjoy the game even if they do not purchase goods like crystals or gold with real cash because it is free to play. However, since some cookies are not gained easily, it is recommended to cumulate products and goods to pick them.
Cookie Run: Kingdom’s Charming Points
-Cute and Immersive Story
Cookie Run: Kingdom continues the concepts of cookies and stories of the previous games, and the whole story is gradually revealed in relation to the past cookie world. The summary of the past story is that a witch has baked some cookies, and the created cookies used the superpower of ‘soul jams’ to create four kingdoms. However, ‘Dark Enchantress Cookie’ started to conquer each kingdom in the cookie world to get ‘soul jams.’ The five hero cookies went out to fight to stop her, but it was insufficient to win. Therefore, the ancient kingdoms eventually disappeared. Now, a group of GingerBraves has started an adventure to stop the Dark Enchantress Cookie’s plan to conquer the cookie world again. Each time people clear the episodes in 10 stages, and then a new story opens. It is easy and unburdened to understand the story because it has a conversational format that makes people feel like they are going through the adventure easily. Additionally, words like “cookie life” instead of “human life” in the dialogue and the situations where the cookies refuse the reason they were made (which was to be eaten by humans) are funny moments to gamers. If you have some free time, it is recommended to go through all the stories at once slowly.
-Attractive Voices and Music
Over 50 famous voice actors who performed in Korean animations and games are cast for the voices of cookies. People can hear familiar voices, so it is a surprising experience when you leave the sound on during playing. For example, a voice actress named Yang Jeong-hwa, who played the role of Keroro in Sgt. Keroro acted GingerBrave. Also, another voice actor named Kim Hye-sung, who played a ninja character called Genji in the game Overwatch, took a similar role, voice-acting the Ninja Cookie. Plus, if you want to see the voice actors playing the game with the voices of cookies, you can find them on their YouTube channels. Not only does Cookie Run: Kingdom show the voices and peaceful background music, but it has also released the first original soundtrack (OST), I’ll Find You recorded by a singer Kwon Sun-il from the group Urban Zakapa. After that, singer Jay Marie recorded and released the second OST My Kingdom. They have cute and moving lyrics, so it is recommended to find them on YouTube.
-Adorable Productions and Decorations
In the game, various decorating contents exist. Buildings that make products and special effects such as reinforcing cookies are limited, but other buildings or architecture used for decorating are infinite as long as people pay for the goods. This enables people to decorate the kingdom as they want. Also, if people add friends, they can visit the kingdoms of their friends. In the case of a pretty kingdom, it can get high popularity from people through the popularity system in the game. However, as it takes a lot of time to decorate the kingdom, it is recommended to prepare your mind and time when you start the game. The products that players make and the materials given after clearing the stages are also attractive points. Products are essential for the system called the ‘wish tree.’ If people grant the wishes of cookies from the wish tree, they will be given the goods which are necessary for the game. The products with cute images and names such as ‘cotton candy wool’ and ‘roll cake wood’ make gamers further enjoy the game feeling the cuteness. These adorable factors are important in lowering the barrier of entry to the game and make it popular with various age groups.
