The latest King's Bounty 2 footage shows a game at odds with its past
Bigger! Better?
The original King's Bounty was a classic RPS game. A sort of janky but inventive tactical mash-up that took Alec Meer (RPS in peace) into a battle inside his own belt for the right to upgrade it. This small glimpse at the upcoming King's Bounty 2, along with Ed’s hands-on preview a few weeks ago, doesn’t really hint at the extreme options the 2008 offering had, but there are moments in there that suggest at alternative routes and game-altering decisions.
As Ed encountered, this is a slightly more RPGish take on the series. Third-person wandering, dramatically framed cut-scenes. You don’t get the feeling that it would deign to stoop so low as to ask you to battle for a buckle, not with these actors bellowing each and every word as if it’s their last chance to act.
But the chats can and do have an impact on the battles you’ll get into. Conversations with one person or another bring them to your side. The choices do seem to have rather large consequences, with huge alignment switches before battles commence. I personally wouldn't want to enrage a skeleton army over an aqueduct, but that’s just how I was brought up.
In fact, a lot of what’s shown is really about how everything you do has an effect in battle. The choice of magic, the customisations of the player and their army. There’s a lot of variables in how the battles will be set-up that it’s a shame they didn’t focus more on showing off the results.
Not long now, though, King's Bounty 2 is out on August 24th.