Kingdoms of the Dump is one of my favorite games I played last year.
It plays jank as hell sometimes, particularly in navigating environments, and the difficulty balance feels all over the place. The platforming feels either super loose or too tight, and the game crashed once on me.
None of that really matters if you love charm, though, because its sincerity and unapologetic itself-ness is so wonderful. The itself-ness is also incredible, because it wants to be a love letter to JRPGs. Kingdoms of the Dump points lovingly to Chrono Trigger, and that love is so intrinsic to what the game is that it stands perfectly well on its own. It does the JRPG things with purpose, and loves and understands what it tries to be in that respect.
Beyond the love, the game is crammed full of silliness! The main character is a garbage can named Sir Dustin Binsley, who loves reading comics about the legend of Garbamesh, there are mysterious runestones in the Laundry Isles that are just the symbols for wash instructions, the party rides a giant worm around the desert, there’s lore around the Knicks of Knack which are things like a soap on a rope, a Rubik’s cube, and a lava lamp, the way the 8-Ball speaks in his first few appearances, and Club Web, run by a daddy long legs. The soundtrack is a great adventure romp, and the art is vibrant and expressive.