By Quintin Smith on November 17th, 2010 at 5:33 pm.
If I know two things about Jim Rossignol, they’re that #1, his real name is Beavis Rossignol, and that #2, he quite enjoyed the 2009 fantasy strategy game King Arthur.
Therefore I’m glad to announce that Paradox will be realising an expansion pack, The Druids, before the end of the year, which will add a new story, a new leader, a new sandbox mode and (presumably) new units. Full press release after the jump. I’ve bolded the good bits.
In Wales, the beautiful and fiercely independent realm of tribal lords, wizards and dragons, lies its new leader, King Ryons. Once known as the most dangerous warlord of the land, King Ryons wants to restore the power of the Old Faith in Britannia and he expects you to lead his valiant effort. Paradox Interactive and Neocore Games today announced the latest expansion of the King Arthur series, King Arthur: The Druids. Set during the events of its predecessor King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, this latest expansion features a stand-alone story with a vastly different ruler. Featuring a new campaign with over thirty hours of gameplay, this expansion requires you to challenge and discover your might. With new customizable features, set your own goals and determine the importance of magic in the world. King Arthur: The Druids features a complete, new gaming experience with a free sandbox mode where objectives are merely strategic goals, not compulsory elements of the game. With this new found freedom, can you ensure a victory for King Ryon and restore the reign of the Old Faith?
“This is our first King Arthur release in our partnership with Paradox Interactive,” said Tamás Farkas, CEO of Neocore. “After our recent work together with Lionheart: Kings’ Crusade, we are confident King Arthur – Druids will exceed our community’s expectations.”
Scheduled for releases in Q4, 2010, the expansion King Arthur: The Druids is a digital download only release and will be available on all leading digital distribution platforms.
The expansion King Arthur: The Druids will require the base game King Arthur – The Role-playing Wargame for play.
17/11/2010 at 17:41 Navagon says:
Okay, I’m interested. But seriously now. What the feck about Scotland?
17/11/2010 at 18:57 TeeJay says:
…If you wanted to follow the Geoffrey of Monmouth version of Arthur you could have him fighting the Picts and Scots then invading Ireland, Iceland, the Orkneys, Norway, Denmark and Roman-held Gaul, only to be prevented from marching on Rome by betrayal by Mordred at home, a final battle in Cornwall and an exit to Avalon “never to be seen again”…
…there are many different versions of Arthur.
17/11/2010 at 19:27 Archonsod says:
Scotland isn’t on the game map. All you get is the odd unit description describing the lands North of said forest an inhospitable, wild land inhabited by giants, barbarians and worse.
17/11/2010 at 20:00 Conor says:
Just like it is now, then?
Fnsrf, fnarf.
17/11/2010 at 20:29 Navagon says:
Obviously I’m asking about the possibility of them expanding the game map. Scotland does actually seem to be there. If you view it from certain angles you can see a bit of it there with enough going on to suggest it was a playable region at one point.
18/11/2010 at 13:59 The Sombrero Kid says:
in civ 5 scotland’s described as militaristic, which i find insulting since we’ve never instigated a war & we’re primarily responsible for so much scientific progress and bad literature.
18/11/2010 at 19:32 Luke says:
@ The Sombrero Kid
You’re obviously not too aware of your own history if you think that. Scotland instigated several wars, and as part of the British Empire, was involved in all of the wars declared and fought by it, and in fact some of its most famed soldiers were recruited from Scotland due to their combative reputation which was established in the thirty years war when a massive number of Scots became mercenaries.
If you protest that the British bit doesn’t count then neither do the scientific advances, as the majority of them were similarly accomplished after union in 1707 and under distinct British and Imperial Patronage. Scotland had one of the highest per capita total of Witch burnings in the 16th and 17th centuries as well.
Fair enough to have a problem with being portrayed as militaristic, but the suggestion that Scotland has been a uniquely rational, peaceful and enlightened nation over the years is as wrong I’m afraid.
17/11/2010 at 18:19 KJR says:
Very excited to hear about more KA content. Thoroughly enjoyed this game.
17/11/2010 at 18:25 Morgawr says:
I always intended to play this but completely forgot about it. It should be pretty cheap by now….
17/11/2010 at 18:50 SirKicksalot says:
King Arthur is more enjoyable for me than all Total Wars since Rome.
17/11/2010 at 19:33 Ed says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlf5ucFanpY
Fixed
17/11/2010 at 20:07 Alistair says:
Although King Arthur was great, its previous DLC – The Saxons – was weak. The sandbox was uninteresting, the lack of magic dull. And they reused the same battle maps we’d seen many times in the first game. I recognise the map in that screenshot for example. Have they learned any lessons? It doesn’t really sound like it… though they do have a dragon.
17/11/2010 at 20:45 MD says:
Beavis “Jom Rissignol” Rossignol.
17/11/2010 at 21:46 Vector says:
Stronghold Rossignol.
17/11/2010 at 23:45 Gap Gen says:
If this is Rome: Total War with dragons, I can’t see how this can fail. Every game should have dragons. Especially Dragon Rising.
17/11/2010 at 23:59 BrendanJB says:
This game has giant dragons?
Sold.
18/11/2010 at 00:13 Dain says:
DRAGONS!
#morewords
18/11/2010 at 01:06 getter77 says:
Fantastic as I honestly thought they were done with King Arthur and onto another game with the recent Crusader one.
But again…while Paradox are swell chums and all, the ones they TRULY need to get some teamplay going with are KOEI—just imagine the insanity possible!
18/11/2010 at 01:19 qim says:
These are not the druids you’re looking for…
When I read the header on my feed reader, I really was wondering: “Why do they put robots into King Arthur now?” Oh well… Too much Star Wars I guess.
18/11/2010 at 07:42 pupsikaso says:
They will be “realising” an expansion pack? How does one realise a game into being?
18/11/2010 at 09:35 Merlin says:
Now if only they also added decent controls like in total war and removed the “fire 3 spells, win” logic, they might be getting somewhere…though then they would still only be “Medieval x” with an Arthur story, I guess..though with a bit more lore and such they would still be different enough.
But srsly, the magic..ugh.
18/11/2010 at 09:46 Subject 706 says:
My biggest gripe with King Arthur (which I otherwise rather liked) was that the melee combat lacked ‘oomph’. Charges lacked weight and the combat didn’t look especially violent.
18/11/2010 at 13:34 Nameless1 says:
One of the few games I’m totally satisfied spending my money on, and I bought it shortly after release.
It’s far more entertaining and complete than the TW games (with the only exception of some rare mods like Europa Barbarorum coupled with Rome), and has a much better AI.
The roleplaying inside is far from superficial, starting with the quests (text with artworks, gamebook alike, and having a lot of C&C for the most part) and going all the way to the main plot (with huge C&C as well!).
Ok I’ll stop here because I’m not making a review :), but I highly reccommend this game to anyone. These guys *deserve* it.
18/11/2010 at 15:40 Ben says:
I’m holding out for the Bea Arthur expansion
22/11/2010 at 06:22 Johnny Go-Time says:
Oh god, the “Beavis Rossignol” thing caused me to spew food…Hilarious!! (the joke, not the mess…)
31/12/2010 at 15:21 UK_John says:
I have been playing Druids for a while now (as a tester) and it is as solid a code as i’ve seen and is a lot of fun. There’s more of everything that is great about the main game. And the different viewpoints on the Arthur Legend is handled very well.
People have said they don’t like the sandbox option, but I see King Arthur the Roleplaying Wargame as the Napoleon Total War type TW game, and the Saxons and Druids expansions are like the more sandbox MTW and RTW, where you made the story yourself.
What totally changes the game, I feel, is the diplomacy. This has been integrated very well in my opinion, and totally changes how you can play the game.
Overall then, for a small developer, Neocore have punched way above themselves as far as I am concerned. they obviously care about their titles, and the excellent support from Neocore is almost the opposite of that not given by SEGA/Creative Assembly, a company with 1,000 times the cash! King Arthur is not perfect. But for the size of Neocore and the attempt to make an old school PC only title that provides challenge and requires an IQ, in a world of multiformat dumbed down PC conversions, they should be congratulated for even taking this title on!
I for one am glad they did. We get so few PC only titles designed for the PC gamer mindset that I hope they do well, and we will see more titles from them of the ilk of King Arthur the Roleplaying Wargame!
31/12/2010 at 15:57 Archonsod says:
The problem with the Saxons, and most probably the Druids, is the same as that of TW though. You conquer 75% of the map and it’s just a grind to the finish line. It removes one of the strengths the base game had over TW – the quests meant that even with complete military and economic dominance you still had a bit of a challenge.