King Arthur: Knight's Tale returns to a grimmer, darker kingdom next year
That rascal Arthur's been up to no good.
No, not that Knight's Tale. While I'd love to be proved wrong, I'm afraid Paul Bettany probably isn't going to show up to give your latest tussle a bombastic shoutout in NeocoreGames' King Arthur: Knight's Tale. Announced today, the developers of dimly-lit action RPGs like Van Helsing and Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr are returning to their Arthurian past for a nightmarishly dark, tactical-RPG twist on the English legend.
Announced today, Neocore's Knight's Tale is gearing up with a Kickstarter campaign ahead of its planned launch early next year. Here's a wee peek at their grim 'n' slimy medieval fantasy to set the mood.
While not explicitly linked to my knowledge, this is Neocore's first step back on Arthurian soil since their King Arthur strategy games from back in the day. According to Jim Rossignol's (RPS in peace) King Arthur review, those games were a high fantasy, ye olde English twist on Total War's blend of turn-based grand strategy and smaller, real-time tactics. Your man Art has become something rather rotten, twisted, and you can't take a long death nap until you've dealt with his menacing forces across the Isle of Avalon.
Knight's Tale leans even further into historical fantasy, cranking up the grimdark by placing you in the traditionally malevolent boots of Arthurian antagonist Sir Mordred. The scope has also been zoomed in, eschewing most of the past games' country-scale battlefields to focus entirely on intimate, grid-based battles between small groups of gnarly warriors and skullbeasts.
That said, there is a little bit of greater resource juggling, with a little Camalot management screen that seems very reminiscent of the Heroes Of Might And Magic games. The devs are boasting 7 opposing factions to take on, with weighty decisions dotting the story and an emphasis on the permanence of death. Your own heroes are a dour lot of armoured bastards, and while you can train them up to be powerhouses on the battlefield, they won't hesitate to abandon you should you make the wrong decisions in your quest.
King Arthur: Knights Tale just kicked off its Kickstarter campaign, and you can mosey on over there for more deets on the project. Should all go according to plan, Neocore hope to begin their quest on Steam early next year.