From sweeping floors to crafting worlds. It was supposed to be a children’s book, but two janitors decided to make a quirky retro RPG instead

When you think about how much time and effort it takes for a big studio to make a single game, it’s pretty amazing when a tiny team pulls it off. Kingdoms of the Dump was made by just two full-time janitors, and they’ve finally wrapped it up and are ready for launch. It’s a throwback to the golden age of SNES RPGs, and it’s dropping this November.

“Garbage day is coming” and I’m up for the challenge

Kingdoms of the Dump is an RPG set in a fantasy world made straight out of garbage. Not sure about you, but I love a good dose of silliness in games, so the theme and all the aesthetics hooked me the moment I saw the key art.

The game is created by a small indie team under the banner of Roach Games, and according to them it actually started as a children’s book idea while they were working full-time as janitors.. They’ve really nailed that SNES-style charm, even the trailer screams ’90s. They didn’t need to do much to sell me on it, they had me at “Experience the magic of trash.”

Excuse me, is this giant worm wearing a trashbin hat, or just carrying his little trash buddy? Only a few weeks until we find out.Source: Kingdoms of the Dump; Developer: Roach Games

Combat will be turn-based and take place on a 3x3 grid, so positioning should matter. There’ll be timed hits, and no random encounters, so we won’t get dragged into a fight out of nowhere while wandering the world. And getting around the maps won’t just be walking from point A to B; it looks like there’ll be some platforming elements to make exploration more interesting.

The characters we get to control are definitely an interesting bunch. We play as Dustin Binsley, the Trash Can Knight, who’s joined by his best friend, a Rogue-class rat, a Wizard with a trusty Bubble Wand (who looks almost exactly like the Black Mage from early Final Fantasy games, a stink-bug, a librarian/gunman, and my personal favorite – a Bard who’s a lute.

At first I thought the thing beside the Wizard was a squirrel from Ice Age, but it's the Lute Bard.Source: Kingdoms of the Dump; Developer: Roach Games

What’s even more interesting is that Roach Games teamed up with other talented artists for Kingdoms of the Dump. Boss art was done by Francis Coulombe, an indie dev who released his own game, Look Outside, on Steam this March. The soundtrack is by bobbyghostly, with a bit of help from William Kage and Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana composer). The lead pixel artist is dm404, and the concept art comes from D. Jeffrey. Other contributors include Dream Sloth Games, the devs behind Duelyst 2.

Kingdoms of the Dump is launching exclusively on Steam on November 18. If you’ve been missing the days of Chrono Trigger or Breath of Fire, this is one to circle on your calendar.

• oldschool / retro
• indie games
• RPG games