It's not Pikmin 3, and that's okay. This cute little governing sim is more a lesson in empire building and Manifest Destiny than demonstrations in civil governance. Take Pikmin and throw it in the blender with Mother Goose and a Real-Time Strategy title, add a pinch of RPG and welcome to Little King Story.

Jonathan Metts: The comparison to Pikmin is unavoidable, but this game secretly wants to be an RPG. The sense of progression and discovery is wonderful as you explore this cute, though dangerous, world.

This may look cute, but the king has all kinds of war crimes in store for the other side of that bridge

James Jones: I was never excited at the prospect of Pikmin 3. Despite being firmly planted in my wheelhouse, I was only a casual fan of the original two titles. Little King Story is a different beast. While the similarities are immediately apparent (collect citizens/plant-people and personally lead them into the jaws of death), it's all the little ways that Little King Story goes beyond anything the creators of Pikmin ever dreamed of doing that make it a classic. Almost all the battles are creative, be they trivia contests or mountain climbing, and the world is styled in such a serene way that the overall theme of world domination just seems a bit off-putting. The resource development (acquiring money and people) requires you to build more and better structures to suit the needs of your people and their advancement. Turning your unemployed masses into the grease that lubricates the gears of war is rewarding and exciting. I loved it.