Yesterday was the official release of King’s Bounty II — the continuation of the RPG series with tactical battles. The 1C Entertainment project got into the top Steam bestsellers, but the first reviews from fans of previous games were negative. In addition to the gameplay and visual style, the title is criticized, among other things, for non-obvious pricing.Briefly about the game
King’s Bounty II is the successor of the 1990 game of the same name from New World Computing, which laid the foundations for the Heroes of Might and Magic series and became one of the key projects for the development of the turn—based strategy genre.
At the same time, the 1C Entertainment project is not a direct continuation of the game “King’s Bounty. The Legend of the Knight” by Katauri Interactive. The developers kept the turn-based battles, but made a number of significant changes to the game compared to the 2008 title.
The new King’s Bounty looks like a third-person RPG. The player travels around the world of the game, performs quests, collects resources and an army. One of the main changes was the change of visual style. The developers themselves from 1C Entertainment explained this by the desire to make a more realistic and “adult” game.
A day after the release, King’s Bounty II takes the second place in the list of Russian Steam bestsellers — right after the new addition “The Witch Queen” for Destiny 2. But in the world chart, the game has not yet managed to get even into the top 20.
Gamers’ reactionImmediately after the release, the first user ratings were mostly negative.
Now the situation has changed a little, but the game still has mixed reviews (46% positive).
- Many fans of the first part were dissatisfied with the third-person view. As arguments, some users note that this is simply unnecessary for a game like King’s Bounty.Other claims are related to the speed of the character’s movement around the world and the animation of the battle.
- Some users are asking to add the ability to do these actions faster.Many gamers were also dissatisfied with the price.
- The standard edition of King’s Bounty II costs 1,699 rubles, and the Lord’s Edition costs 2,499 rubles. However, separately, an upgrade to the deluxe edition can be bought for only 249 rubles – a total of 1,948 rubles will be obtained. Players in the reviews note that this is not too honest.Some fans of Katauri’s King’s Bounty also criticize the “console” interface, the combat system, an empty world and an unintelligent plot.
- Many did not like the change of visual style either.
- Some users felt that because of this, King’s Bounty II became like an ordinary fantasy and lost its charm.It is worth noting that many negative reviews were written after the first hour of the game.
Despite the negative reaction of fans of previous games, now positive reviews are gradually appearing on Steam. Some of them are written, including by players unfamiliar with Katauri games.
Such gamers, even though they note a number of shortcomings of King’s Bounty II, were generally satisfied with the project. Among the advantages, they highlight the atmosphere of old RPGs, interesting battles and side quests. Also, some users believe that the rating of the game is underestimated by old fans who are not ready to accept the new image of the series and try to pass King’s Bounty II to the end.
Critics’ reviewsThe opinions of specialized publications about King’s Bounty II were also divided.
Currently, the average score of the PC version on Metacritic is 71/100 based on 13 reviews.
In positive reviews, the 1C Entertainment project is praised for well-developed RPG elements, an interesting combat system and an attempt to breathe new life into the classic series. But the authors of more mixed and negative reviews, on the contrary, compare King’s Bounty II with the previous parts and scold for the unoriginal world, archaic game design and lack of innovation.
In the Russian gaming media, King’s Bounty II was also received ambiguously. Many publications generally praised the project. Igromania, for example, gave her 4 out of 5 points, calling her “a world-class role-playing game, albeit a couple of years late.”
One of the most negative reviews was published on DTF. Almost all aspects of the game were criticized, except for the music in the menu and “places of beautiful landscapes”. “King’s Bounty fans from Katauri have absolutely nothing to catch here. And for people who just want to play RPG or tactics with hex, the sequel will most likely seem completely passable. He can’t catch on and can’t stand out from the competition in any of the two genres in any way,” the review says.