Cookie Run: Kingdom
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| Cookie Run: Kingdom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Devsisters |
| Publisher | Devsisters |
| Producer | Ji-hoon Lee |
| Series | Cookie Run |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platforms | |
| Release | January 19, 2021 (Global)
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| Genre | Action role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player, Multiplayer |
CookieRun: Kingdom (Korean: 쿠키런: 킹덤) is a 2021 role-playing and strategy video game developed and published by Devsisters. It is the seventh game in the Cookie Run series. It was announced on November 28, 2020, and released worldwide on January 19, 2021, on Android and iOS, July 12, 2023 on Google Play Games on PC, and on December 28, 2023 for the Chinese version.[a]
Cookie Run: Kingdom is set in a world of anthropomorphized cookies, desserts, and other food items. The cast containing both new and returning characters from throughout the Cookie Run series. The story is ongoing, with the plot being spread across chapters released in successive updates.
Gameplay
[edit]Cookie Run: Kingdom is a free-to-play role-playing and city-building battle simulator. The game is mainly played by building the player's Cookie Kingdom and collecting Cookies through the game's gacha to unlock new Cookies to use in various game modes.
In the kingdom, players place production buildings to produce goods and materials, which are mainly used for upgrading buildings and game aspects or can be traded through various facilities for rewards. Players are free to decorate their kingdoms with a catalog of decorative items, which can be acquired with the game's currency or with real money. New facilities and land expansion are unlocked by upgrading the Cookie Castle.
The game modes include PvP and Guild systems, various PvE challenges, seasonal and event game modes that add strategy and variety to the team-building mechanics, and Special Episodes that feature side stories, with some that tie into major side characters. The main story mode, World Exploration, includes three stories, Crispia, Beast-Yeast and Timeline of Fate, each giving different rewards, for timeline of fates most of the rewards are based on the chapters, but consists of magic cube and more
As of March 2026, Cookie Run: Kingdom has over 185 playable Cookies that can be obtained in the gacha. Each Cookie has a rarity, which indicates both drop rates from the gacha and power level: Common, Rare, Epic, Super Epic, Legendary, Beast, Ancient, and Witch. These cookies can then be placed in the kingdom. In addition, non-playable Guest Cookies and MyCookie cannot be used in PvP or PvE combat.
Plot
[edit]
The initial plot of Cookie run Kingdom centers five Ancient Cookies. Each of the Ancient Cookies rules a kingdom and possesses a "Soul Jam", a magical artifact that grants power and is associated with a virtue. It is later revealed that one of the ancient heroes, White Lily Cookie, was reborn as Dark Enchantress cookie, the game's main antagonist, after finding out that cookies were created to be eaten.The story begins with a flashback that shows the heroes fighting Dark Enchantress Cookie. However while they defeated Dark Enchantress Cookie, in the process they lost their soul jams leading them to go into hiding or confinement, leaving their kingdoms in disarray.
A long time after this altercation the main protagonist of the story, GingerBrave, alongside a few friends find themselves in the ruins of a former kingdom. Over the course of the game, they rebuild the kingdom and journey across the various regions of Crispia, the game's first major continent. As they travel they learn about the history of the fallen kingdoms and Dark Enchantress Cookie's plans. They soon begin a search for the Ancient Cookies, along with various other powerful Cookie figures, to enlist their help in defeating Dark Enchantress Cookie.
Later the group learns they need to travel to "Beast-Yeast", the game's second major continent, to find the White Lily Cookie. It is revealed that the ancient heroes were not the original holders of the Soul Jams. They were previously held by five cookies who were corrupted and came to embody vices referred to as "Beast" cookies. These cookies were then sealed away with the help of Silent Salt Cookie, one of the Beast cookies, in an act of betrayal. Across the game's updates each Hero fights their corresponding Beast gaining a new "Awakened" form. The group eventually locates Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair and lab where she plans to create an "Ultimate Cookie" vessel to wipe out all life.
In the final battle of act one Dark Enchantress Cookie absorbs the power of the Ancient and Beast Cookies' Soul Jams to turn herself into a giant humanoid form. During the battle she reveals Silent Salt Cookie's betrayal to the Beast Cookies, prompting them to turn against him after learning that he had sealed them away. Silent Salt Cookie responds by binding the Beast Cookies, preventing them from aiding Dark Enchantress Cookie. As the battle continues, the Beast Cookies become increasingly weakened, leaving them unable to continue fighting. One of the Beast cookies, Shadow Milk Cookie, ultimately manages to fully break free from Silent Salt Cookie's spell and absorbs the residual power of three Beast Cookies along with a fragment of the Ultimate Cookie, declaring his intention to erase the timeline and remake it in his own image. The remaining Beast Cookies ultimately succumb and perish and White Lily Cookie chooses to sacrifice her physical form to neutralize the darkness, leading her soul to be sent to the Tartrus of Oblivion, where the Nether Realm Cookie waited her after the incident at the Blueberry Yogurt Academy, while trying to ressurect the First Headmaster (which is later revealed to be Shadow Milk Cookie, in the second act).
In the final moments of the act, a small sprout of light emerges from the remains of the Soul Jams of White Lily Cookie and Silent Salt Cookie to reveal a radiant Cookie, while Shadow Milk Cookie, now evolved into a multiversal threat, escapes into the dimensional rifts, drawing the attention of Timekeeper Cookie, and the inactive Ultimate Cookie catches the attention of another Witch.
In the most recent act Timekeeper Cookie, along with the organization she heads, recognizes the disturbance Shadow Milk Cookie has created in the timeline and seeks to investigate it. Meanwhile the manifestation of the Light of Solidarity wakes up and speaks to the Cookies in the jar but the dimensional rifts is taking over and breaks the jar of new soul jam, when the power flashes, Timekeeper Cookie appears and meets the Cookies and the Ancient Heroes.
Development and release
[edit]Cookie Run: Kingdom began development in October 2016 and was released four years later.[1] To expand the Cookie Run IP and create Cookie Run: Kingdom, the development team aimed to combine two types of games: social-network games (SNG) and role-playing games (RPG). This combination meant that, for the developers, there would be an increase in workload and cost.[2] Cookie Run: Kingdom was launched on January 19, 2021.[3]
The game has had several collaborations that feature limited characters. In September 2021, Sonic Cookie and Tails Cookie were added as part of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog's 30th anniversary. 2022 saw two collaborations with dedicated updates: Festival of Dreams and Wishes introduced Disney Cookies as Guests and ran between July and September 2022, and Braver Together, which added the members of BTS as playable Cookies, ran between October and January 2023.[4] In November 2025, a collaboration with Universal's Wicked franchise added Glinda and Elphaba, as depicted in the Wicked films, as playable Cookies.[5] April 2026 also featured a collaboration with Netflix with a dedicated update based on the film KPop Demon Hunters, which added the members of HUNTR/X (Rumi, Mira and Zoey) as playable Cookies and the members of the Saja Boys, as well as Derpy & Sussie, as Guests. In the middle of the K-Pop Demon Hunters update, a new Korean girl group called B!TES was formed, consisting of 5 members: Caramel Choux Cookie, Caramel Arrow Cookie, Okchun Cookie, Mozzarella Cookie, and Sugarfly Cookie.[6]
The Chinese version also received a few collaborations in 2024, starting with Guest Cookies based on popular Want Want snacks were in January 2024, and then with characters from Empresses in the Palace as guests in July 2024, with Zhen Huan being a playable Cookie. Furthermore, the Chinese version also has a number of mainland China-exclusive features and content that are not present in the global version and therefore are only exclusive to that version.[citation needed]
Reception
[edit]The game had gained massive popularity in the wake of Genshin Impact's anniversary rewards controversy[7] and its similar free-to-play gacha model.[8]
Cookie Run: Kingdom is ranked 31st in the Free Role-Playing Game category in Thailand.[9] In terms of free games, the game ranked 1st on Apple's App Store and Google Play in Japan[10] and 3rd in the Free Role-Playing game category in the United States.[11] It was also ranked 1st in South Korea, 2nd in Taiwan, 3rd in Thailand, and 5th in Hong Kong in the App Store's Free Game category in January 2021.[12] In South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, the game's revenue was ranked 1st on the App Store, and in Hong Kong and Singapore, it was ranked 3rd in January 2021.[10] Cookie Run: Kingdom had 10 million downloads in the first two months after its release[10][13] and has been downloaded over 150 million times as of June 2021.[10] Since its official launch in China in December 2023, it recorded over $10 million in revenue in the Chinese iOS market alone over approximately 35 days.[14] Five days after the 4th anniversary service update on January 15, 2025, revenue increased by 37.5% compared to the previous year, and the number of paying users increased by 16.3%.[15]
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Known as 冲呀！饼干人：王国 in China, with content maintained by Tencent Games.
References
[edit]- ↑ "[BEHIND COOKIE RUN: KINGDOM] #1. Constructing the Kingdom". www.devsisters.com. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
- ↑ "[BEHIND COOKIE RUN: KINGDOM] #2. An Arduous Four-Year Journey". www.devsisters.com. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
- ↑ Gealogo, David (July 16, 2024). "When did Cookie Run Kingdom come out?". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ↑ Devsisters (2022). "OUR STORY: INSIDE DEVSISTERS". devsisters.com. Devsisters. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
- ↑ CookieRun: Kingdom (November 20, 2025). Wicked x CookieRun: Kingdom Update 🎇. Retrieved November 23, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Game On: 'KPop Demon Hunters' join 'CookieRun: Kingdom'".
- ↑ Tassi, Paul. "Genshin Impact's Anniversary Arrives With No Compromise From MiHoYo On Event Rewards". Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
- ↑ Ana Diaz (June 28, 2023). "Cookie Run: Kingdom's sudden popularity, explained". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 28, 2023.
- ↑ Sensor Tower (October 31, 2021). "Category Rankings of Cookie Run: Kingdom – Kingdom Builder & Battle RPG in Thailand". Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 Devsisters USA (April 30, 2021). "DEVSISTERS' HISTORY". Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- ↑ Sensor Tower (October 31, 2021). "Category Rankings of Cookie Run: Kingdom – Kingdom Builder & Battle RPG in US". Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- ↑ Chateaw (January 25, 2021). "Cookie Run Kingdom : Episode 1 Land Of Little Big Dreams Gameplay". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ↑ Sensor Tower (October 31, 2021). "Overview of Cookie Run: Kingdom – Kingdom Builder & Battle RPG". Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- ↑ 주인섭 (February 15, 2024). "'쿠키런: 킹덤' 중국 출시 한 달간 1,000만 달러 수익 달성, 현지화가 원동력". 경향게임스. Archived from the original on March 13, 2026. Retrieved March 13, 2026.
- ↑ 김영욱 (January 22, 2025). "서비스 4년 된 `쿠키런: 킹덤` "2025년, 이용자와의 약속 지키는 해"". 디지털타임스. Archived from the original on March 13, 2026. Retrieved March 13, 2026.