Cookie Run: Kingdom is an action role-playing gacha game by Devsisters and the sixth game in the Cookie Run series. It was released worldwide on January 19, 2021. 

The game features new Cookies and over 200 levels. It tells the story of the cookies getting used to their new lives in their new Kingdom, after escaping from the witch that brought them to life. Cookie Run: Kingdom has an overarching narrative of the cookies setting out on an expedition to rediscover the lost Ancient Kingdoms, before Dark Enchantress Cookie possesses them.

Gameplay 
Cookie Run: Kingdom is an RPG & city-building battle simulator. The game is mainly played by building the player's Cookie Kingdom and collecting Cookies using the game's gacha to fight in various game modes.

At the beginning of the game, players receive a piece of land on which to build structures and amenities and collect resources. To unlock more items and resources, the player must level up the Cookie Castle, production buildings, and the Fountain of Abundance. Furthermore, players will have to build additional structures to use for either trading or upgrading. Players can produce resources for their kingdom with various production buildings. The Cookie Castle can be upgraded when given enough items or when certain tasks are cleared, and this allows the player to expand the space available, level up buildings, and place more of them. The same applies to the offline reward-giving Fountain of Abundance. The player can also expand their land by using materials or fighting enemies in certain areas with their team.

There are over 100 playable cookies in the game as of July 2023, used as the main fighting units for the game's various modes. These cookies can be obtained from the game's gacha, which can be activated by spending Crystals, or specific event tokens for a specific Cookie. Crystals are earned through various methods in the game or can be purchased with real-life money. Cookies are placed in teams of up to five by the player. There are 8 rarities of Cookies, ranging from Common to Ancient, and 8 classes of Cookies that serve different functions in battle. For example, Support Cookies provide a mix of healing, damage, and temporary buffs for allies, and Magic Cookies can de-buff enemies. All Cookies have a skill that can be activated, which causes damage, healing, or other effects. These skills have a short cooldown before being able to be used again.

Cookies can be powered up by various means. General stats, which are HP, CRIT%, Attack, and Defense, are upgraded by leveling up the characters, which is primarily done through EXP Jellies. EXP Jellies are obtained from playing through the game's multiple modes or from Cookie Houses that give EXP Jellies over time. The power of a skill can be increased with skill powders, which are obtained through daily bounties that give a specific type of skill powder. Toppings can be put on a cookie to improve other stats, such as how long it takes for a skill to cool down or how much a cookie will be affected by a debuff. Up to 5 can be equipped, and they have to be upgraded using coins and topping pieces. Some cookies can be given items called Magic Candies that power up and give new effects to their skill. Magic Candies require a specific type of crystal and resonant ingredient to upgrade. Cookies are obtained through soulstones, or the Cookie Gacha, and obtaining a certain amount of soulstones for a cookie if you already have it will give you a chance to promote it up to 5 stars, which greatly increases HP, Attack, and Defense. After a cookie has reached 5 stars, they can be upgraded further through Ascension, which requires Soulcores (a version of Soulstones that is unlocked after promoting a cookie to 5 stars) and Soul Essences.

The main story mode, known as "World Exploration," contains lots of levels that are played in order. Each level is played by using a team of Cookies to attack multiple enemies and, on some levels, making their cookies jump to collect coins, similar to previous Cookie Run games. Another major game mode is Kingdom Arena, where players can advance their tier by battling other players. Over time, other modes are added that function in a similar way but with different approaches.

Story

In a world populated with anthropomorphized desert items (created by witches using cookie batter and Life Powder), the Five Ancient Cookies - Pure Vanilla, White Lily, Hollyberry, Dark Cacao, and Golden Cheese - created their own kingdoms and were given Soul Jams, which granted them special powers and immortality. One day, a certain cookie wanted to know about the origin and creation of cookies and tried to contact the witches to seek an answer. Upon learning the horrible truth that cookies were meant to be eaten, the cookie fell into the ultimate dough and was re-baked as Dark Enchantress Cookie, who planned to use Cake Monsters to create a new world order. Pure Vanilla was forced to seal Dark Enchantress Cookie away and have the Ancient Cookies fall into hiding, leaving their kingdoms in disarray.

A long time after Dark Enchantress Cookie was sealed away, GingerBrave was baked by a witch and escaped. He later learned that his friends Wizard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie have escaped from the witch too. They were found by the Sugar Gnomes and they started to rebuild a long-forgotten kingdom and explore Earthbread, the Cookie world.

Reception 
The game had gained massive popularity in the wake of Genshin Impact anniversary rewards controversy and the similar free-to-play gacha model featured in both of the games.

Cookie Run: Kingdom is ranked 31st in the Free Role-Playing Game category in Thailand. In terms of free games, Japan ranked 1st on the Apple App Store and Google Play and 3rd in the Free Role-Playing game category in the United States. It was also ranked 1st in South Korea, 2nd in Taiwan, 3rd in Thailand, and 5th in Hong Kong in the Free Game on Apple App Store category in January 2021. In South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, the game's revenue is ranked 1st on the Apple App Store, and in Hong Kong and Singapore, it is ranked 3rd in January 2021. Cookie Run: Kingdom had 10 million downloads in the first two months after its release and has been downloaded over 150 million times as of June 2021.

Google Play Games for PC 
On July 12, 2023, Cookie Run Kingdom was released on Google Play Games.

References

External links 
Developer Official Website
Official Website
[kingdom.onelink.me/5vhP/8b19c699]*

Video game spin-offs
Video games about food and drink
Gacha games
Video games developed in South Korea