King's Bounty Devs Announce Royal Quest
Coo, here's something good. New MMOs are announced every day now. There's an extraordinary glut of them, most of which will never trouble your attention, being free-to-pay conversions of Korean et al epics that have 50 million players, none of whom you'll ever meet. However, when the new MMO being announced is being developed by they behind King's Bounty, everyone should suddenly sit up and take notice. Royal Quest, 1C's first MMO, is being developed by the Russian mad geniuses at Katauri Interactive.
Set in a world called Aura, the game is centred around capturing castles and gathering gold, and while only a little is known at this point, if it captures the spirit of Space Rangers or King's Bounty, then this could be a real treat. We've got as many details as I could find below, along with some gorgeous art, and the four (rubbish) screenshots that have so far appeared.
Aura, it seems, is under "imminent danger by dark alchemists who will kill to find the highly rare and precious Elenium mineral with its many unique features." The scamps. In fact, here's the rest of the details:
"The King has put out the call in search of courageous heroes to banish the invaders once and forever. As a reward he promises titles, castles and riches.
Those of you who would like to become a lord and obtain their own castle will have to pass through many deadly challenges. The player will have to overcome the inhabitants of dark forests and endless deserts, underground dwellers and sea monsters, geometers, orcs, demons and legions of the undead.
The immense world comprises more than 100 locations providing unlimited gameplay.
The PvE mode gives opportunities such as investigating dangerous dungeons, treasure hunting, and fighting against bosses. And you can destroy barrels just like in the good old days!
The PvP mode is available in specific territories where you can fight against mobs or other players. Everyone can conquer and own a castle and its surrounding areas. It can be tiny castles with cozy gardens for a couple of friends, or even large castles with dungeons or mines to suit whole guilds."
There's a long list of planned features too. Amongst them are a boasted large range of monsters, pets who can collect loot and fight alongside you, castle combat, and something called "PvPvE" where you can fight against other players and the game's monsters at the same time.
Another feature will be the game's "elements". So fighting a fire monster with a sword made of fire isn't going to be helpful. You'll want a frosty blade there. The idea being that there's no "ultimate weapon", but what they call "ultimate strategy". Which seems a promising inclusion, especially if it can make PvP battles more interesting.
Katauri's director, Dmitry Gusarov says of current MMOs,
"The present market is full of projects with massive world distances and unhurried battles. We consider Royal Quest a nice adrenaline injection to the market and it will allow players to act as real heroes."
That's your lot for now. The game's site is here, and will be worth keeping an eye on. And we're chasing up more information as we speak, including what sort of pay model it may use. But to keep you distracted, here's an art bonanza. These are as big as they get:
