While the tactical battles themselves are enjoyable, they are too quick and don’t give enough time for the player to really get invested. To top it off, the oppressive linearity becomes even more apparent when combined with the game’s exhausting quest backtracking.Īside from the archaic role-playing design features, there are several other major concerns. The effort put into the graphical design in particular begs the game to open up more and let players explore the beautiful vistas and locations so easily visible in the distance, yet players unfortunately have to move along a few limited corridors to reach their next objective. While it’s too early to tell if player choices have wide-reaching effects on the game’s world and narrative, mechanically the system feels underdeveloped and in need of more refinement.ĭespite King’s Bounty 2 providing large maps for each of its chapters or play areas, exploration is painfully limited due to its linearity. The morality choice system also feels a bit too shallow as it can more often feel like window dressing or a simple stat increase that unlocks talents and skills (do you want to open the red door or the blue door?). It can be argued that backtracking allows players to take in the scenery and engage in exploration, yet in King’s Bounty 2 it feels way more like pointless padding. However, the most egregious element of the game’s archaic quest design is the backtracking combined with relatively slow character and horse movement, as well as clunky fast travel. As a result, the available characters neither seem established enough to be distinct, nor open or flexible enough for player freedom.
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It feels like the devs tried to balance the clean slate approach of RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series where players create their own character and games where players take the role of well-defined personalities, like The Last of Us. However, only one character has clear motivation while the other two seem to be a collection of muddled traits. These need to be well established to provide ample opportunity for compelling character development. To effectively role play as one of the three main characters, it’s vital to understand their motivations and traits. In almost all these aspects, the game’s design feels like playing an old MMORPG (not in a good way) with its archaic systems. Unlike HoMM, this series emphasizes the role-playing dimension of the game with a greater focus on character role-playing, morality choices, and exploration. Unfortunately, King’s Bounty 2 shows some worrying signs in its core design. The tactical battles can also be quite challenging without preparation and altogether the combat will provide fun tactical decision-making exercises. Maps are quite varied and though terrain doesn’t affect combat to the same degree as in something like Battle Brothers, it still has a notable presence. There are plenty of units with a wide range of active and passive abilities. However, this doesn’t harm the overall structure of combat. It’s quite small scale, smaller than even HoMM’s tactical engagements and more similar to Gasket Games’ Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground in terms of unit numbers and map sizes. This is especially the case with Aivar, one of the main playable characters who feels lethargic and empty in his lines.Īn area where the game shows promise is in its tactical combat system. The writing is pleasant and fun and on the whole all the voice acting adds to King’s Bounty’s immersion with the countess Katharine being a particular standout, however, at times the delivery feels robotic or lacking in energy. The voice work in the game doesn’t quite reach the same levels of quality as the visuals. Though not entirely original, the visual world-building is still an immediate highlight of King’s Bounty 2.
For a AA mid-budget game, it’s impressive that the overall art style, choice of color, high draw distance, and graphical design help with immersing the player in the game’s fantasy setting. Right out of the gate, it’s clear how much love, care, and attention 1C has put into the game’s visuals and aesthetic language. Can 1C’s newest entry in this ancient series reignite the fire and give the franchise new life? King’s Bounty holds a special place in strategy gaming as it can be considered as one of the earliest role-playing-tactics hybrid games and is widely accepted as the spiritual predecessor to the well-regarded (now infamous) Heroes of Might and Magic series. 1C’s upcoming King’s Bounty 2 is a direct sequel to the 1990 original, without directly connecting to spin-offs that have launched in between. The return of the King’s Bounty series is quite the blast from the past.
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