Atmosphere

Atmosphere refers to the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or creative work. In King's Quest terms this can be largely 'subjective' and open to many interpretations. Some focus on the more 'comic' or 'whimiscal' "Fractured Fairy Tales", or sanitised Disney-style fairy tale cartoon-like elements while others see the series as dark and realistic, high fantasy.

Cartoon
See Cartoon.

Darker and Edgier
This subtitle borrows from a trope referenced on TV Tropes refering to some players interpretations of the series more dramatic elements, rather than focusing on more whimsical/fairy tale elements.

Darker and Edgier: The first three games were relatively bright, cheery, and full of in-jokes and humor. But this didn't stop later games from being accused of becoming darker, edgier, or more 'evil' with each game's release.
 * Though KQ2 can be seen as largely a continuation of KQ1 in style of puzzles and design, it's often noted that the world it takes place in is a darker and lonelier land, ruled by vampires, ghouls, ghosts, and a witch. The 'former?' The princess of the land was kidnapped by the Witch, and locked away in a tower in another land. Even the name Kolyma is a reference to a bleak region of Siberia. Perhaps, though, it is best described as a land of contrasts in that it's a sunny place during the day, and turns into a very dark place at night (this is represented by the third key sequence to confront Dracula in his castle, though there is not really any day and night mechanic in the game). Graham even begins the story with a prophecy by the ghost of the former king, stating that if he doesn't find a queen soon, he will end up cursed like the former king (shades of Hamlet, without the murder) to die without an heir and the kingdom to fall into ruin. The Companion noted this addition of darker and more isolated feelings and ideas, and expanded upon the role of the monks as the only protectors in the land, trying to keep evil at bay.
 * KQ3 was accused of being satanic due to an evil wizard and use of magic spells. Some fans considered the concept of kidnapping children and slavery to be darker and edgier than previous games. However, KQ3 still maintains the high level of humorous narrative commentary of the previous two games, and almost all the punishments are done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and often accompanied with a 'bad pun' (such as Alexander subjugated to 1980's aerobics, down to the 1980's pop music). According to Roberta Williams (in comparing KQ3 to KQ8): "KQ3 was very dark, and it utilized lots of magic and magic spells with the basic idea of finding ingredients for "black magic" spells and then casting those spells. (Certain religious groups were upset with me over that one!)"-Roberta Williams, 1997
 * KQ4 changed the artwork to something more realistic and less cartoony. One anecdote mentioned that fans, upon seeing the intro, left the theatre crying. Some consider the game to be darker than previous games because of its topic of 'death and dying' of a major character, and some of the creepy regions that Rosella has to pass through to save her father and Genesta. The King's Quest Companion pointed out this 'change in tone' (as it saw it), and even tried to tie Tamir into the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos (with ideas of zombies, mummies, dholes, fishmen, Innsmouth, and night gaunts/goons). A fishman (righout of Creature of the Black Lagoon, and likely inspiring the Innsmouth fishmen references in the Companion) actually can be encountered in the swamp. When day turns to night the land becomes a lot more dark and sinister especially around the old manor house and graveyards, and tomb.
 * The SCI remake of KQ1 changed the artwork from the bright cheery appearance of the original to a more diseased and decaying Daventry, with darker regions and a more mature script. Even the topic of Edward's death is taken more seriously. It's no surprise that many fans consider this the darker version of the game.
 * KQ5 saw yet another change to the art style. The concept of family being kidnapped and Graham witnessing his son being tortured, made this game's plot the darkest yet, and the darker regions explored (and some cases downright demonic imagery) gave the series a darker and more realistic feel.
 * Some reviewers of KQ6 saw it as a huge departure from previous games. According to Donald Trivette, in the Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition. "KQ6 can be seen as a sharp departure from the previous quests, in large part because it was the first quest in which creator/designer Roberta Williams had a collaborator. There is a darkness to the scenes not found in earlier quests. Overall the sixth has an ominous tone." (The Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition, pg 10). In an interview in the book: Trivette comments; "This quest seems to have a darker, more ominous tone than the other King’s Quests; it is also more wordy. Is there a reason?", to which Roberta Williams replied: "I was thinking that same thing the other day, but I don’t believe we made it intentionally ominous. It just turned out that way."
 * In some ways, it might be seen that KQ8, after the atmosphere of KQ7, returned to a darker, more realistic style. This game took the series in a direction that embarrassed some of Sierra's designers. Among them were Jane Jensen, who wrote: "Me and my poor befuddled brain, trying to fathom a Sierra where... the most recent King's Quest involves killing things? Whatever happened to saving the cute little bee queen? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?" (Ironically, Jane Jensen's own King's Quest 6 was also noted for being darker and more ominous itself.)
 * Note: KQ8 actually does have 'cute' bee-like wisps, among its more zany characters. Quite a few of the characters are nods back to similar characters in previous games (including ice queens, crystal dragons, evil dwarves, etc). The 'encounters' can be seen as a nod back to the "Bad Guys" 'encounters' in the earliest King's Quest games, such as KQ1, that were included as a kind of 'arcade' moment to hinder, block, or annoy the player, and add something to do in largely desolate and unused screens, but at the time could not be 'fought' due to limitations in the game mechanics.