by ByteStixHoly crap. It finally happened.
People were under the impression that Kingdom Under Fire 2 had been cancelled, and they were well within their right to believe as such.
We’d heard nothing pertaining to a North American or European release in.. a long, long time. 3 years? or more.
However, all that has changed today when it was announced that Kingdom Under Fire 2 would be making its English debut – and this year, too!
Kingdom Under Fire 2 never really released anywhere outside of Asia and Russia, with this set to be its very first commercial launch outside of the aforementioned regions.
Which isn’t particularly surprising – or it wouldn’t be, but this game has been around since 2008. Yup, people have been highly anticipating Kingdom Under Fire 2 since 2008.
And it’s taken exactly 11 years for a publisher to decide to bring it over to the West.
WHAT IS KINGDOM UNDER FIRE 2?
Kingdom Under Fire 2 is an upcoming Action MMORPG with a strong emphasis on strategy – combining the aspects of a real time strategy game and action combat while being set in a fantasy world.
Think something akin to Dynasty Warriors. You control a single character and participate in large-scale battles, fighting off large waves of enemies and simultaneously commanding NPCs to take victory on the battlefield.
As I mentioned, it’s like Dynasty Warriors. You have a large world to run around, hacking up enemies with a super powered main character.
You possess the ability to play it as an Action RPG – on the battlefield, or as a Strategy RPG, which is a completely separate game mode view of the battlefield and instead allows you to control your NPC allies, issuing commands and changing the flow of the battle depending on the kinds of strategy you deploy.
Since the game is focused around instanced battles, there is no open-world, no exploration, no traditional MMORPG system. It’s listed as an MMORPG pretty much everywhere but I wouldn’t call it one, honestly.
It’s an MMO for sure, or as much of an MMO as a hub-based game can be. A hub-based MMO would be a more apt way of describing it, similarly to Vindictus or Soul Worker.
But just because the game is instanced off doesn’t mean you won’t see other players.
As an example, with PvP, you can choose to 1v1 another player in a duel, or – which is actually much more fun, you can challenge them to an army vs army PvP battle, where you both command troops and NPCs putting each others strategic prowess to the test.
Which is so, so damn cool. I’m a huge Dynasty Warriors fan so to me.. man.
SO WHO IS THE PUBLISHER?
And here is where some of you will close out of the video. Gameforge was confirmed to be the publisher bringing over the game to Western audiences.
Yes, the very same company that ruined the European Aion, Soul Worker, TERA, and.. pretty much every MMO they’ve gotten their hands on. But that’s alright.
Because at the very least, we should all get a ton of fun out of the game for a few months before it’s ultimately and inevitably ruined due to greed.
Gameforge went on to say “We are determined to help Blueside realize their vision of the ultimate MMO, launching Kingdom Under Fire 2 for Windows PC in North America and Europe later this year.”
That’s a little.. ambitious, honestly.
The “ultimate MMO” is completely subjective of course, but I highly doubt there will be many people that can contest the fact that Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, ESO or WoW are all likely better candidates for that title.
MY THOUGHTS
I know this is the part you’re all looking for. My thoughts on the subject. Right now, a business model has yet to be confirmed by Gameforge.
Judging by their list of games however, it seems highly unlikely that the game will be anything other than free to play, with ridiculously priced Founder’s Packs, of course because what free to play MMO released in today’s market – heck, what buy to play MMORPG released in today’s market doesn’t have players pay for Founder’s Packs?
The game has, since launch, been confirmed to release on both PS4 and PC but it’s honestly unlikely to be the case when Gameforge releases it. I’m not saying it won’t release onto both platforms, just that it’s unlikely.
A few things concern me about the release of Kingdom Under Fire 2, though. The first is that the game went into Open Beta in the middle of 2014 in South Korea, then closed down in the middle of 2017.
In 2017, it then opened in Russia, then in 2019 it shut down. Finally, when it was no longer available anywhere else, Gameforge up and gets publishing rights for it in both North America and Europe.
An MMO that has been shown to have no lasting value and little interest.
Why was the game shut down every time it launched with such a short life span in each region? Was it because the game had very limited content and was primarily focused on PvP and.. mindless fighting?
Did Gameforge manage to get the game at a ridiculously cheap price since it’s been around for over a decade now, nobody is showing any interest in it anymore, and the original developer caved and took whatever they could get?
What I think is that Gameforge being Gameforge are trying to cash in on yet another failed MMO by charging exorbitantly priced Founder’s Packs and making ridiculous cash shop items available.
Or that’s what I believe will likely happen. It’s not a certainty – clearly. Gameforge is completely capable of proving me wrong. But their track record would lead me to believe otherwise.
Either way, I was excited. I loved Dynasty Warriors. It has been one of my favorite action series since I was a kid. So when I initially saw this years ago I was hyped beyond understanding.
Seeing that Gameforge has gotten their greedy little fingers on the game has me concerned, but not entirely distraught. I still believe that after it launches, it’ll still be plenty playable.. for a time.
Then it’ll do what most MMOs do these days: Fade into memory. Or just fade. Either/or.
But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. What do you guys think though? Is it too little too late? Is Gameforge trying to cash in on us yet again with another cheap cash grab?
Do you have high expectations or are you impartial to the news?
