I honestly never thought I would see the day that Kingdom Under Fire 2 was finally released. But, here we are, 11 years after its original announcement and the game is now in player’s hands! The Kingdom Under Fire franchise has always stood out to me since its days on the original Xbox with its combination of RTS, RPG, and Hack N’ Slash elements. Kingdom Under Fire 2 retains these aspects while expanding the RPG elements into a more MMO style of gameplay. I have to be honest: the results are pretty hit and miss, but overall, I don’t think I could be happier!

Story

50 years have passed since the events of the last great war with the orcs. The continent of Bersia once again finds its peace shattered as the Encablossians begin a campaign of destruction against the Human Alliance and other residents of the land. With the death of the King, all hope seems lost. Now it is up to those who remain to turn the tide of this dark invasion and restore peace to the land.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous 3 Kingdom Under Fire titles for Xbox and Xbox 360, Kingdom Under Fire 2 doesn’t have players assume the role of premade heroes to play through the story with. Instead, logging into the game for the first time will let players build a character from the 5 available classes of Gunslinger, Spellsword, Berserker, Elementalist, or Ranger. Sadly, each of these classes are gender locked as of this review but Blueside has made note of player feedback requesting the removal of this restriction. The character customization is pretty in-depth, which should please the character creators out there! Each class has a different gameplay style and due to the length of this style of game, I wasn’t able to really dig into what each class had to offer. So, my review is more focused on the Ranger, who I have been enjoying the game with.

The beginning of the game starts off with some worldbuilding specific to your chosen class and puts you right into the heat of battle as the Encablossians are attacking your home castle. I have had a lot of fun with the combat system in Kingdom Under Fire 2! The battles are filled with tons of enemies reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors and re-capture the fun I had with the 2 original Xbox titles. Combat has both basic and stronger attacks to use at will and in the case of my Ranger, I could stance change to ranged attacks to hurt enemies at a distance while they tried to come at me. A number of special attacks are available as you start the game that can be activated with the press of the number keys on your keyboard. As the game progresses you unlock many more types of specials and I love how devastating they can be!

One of the major focuses of the older Kingdom Under Fire titles was on RTS style battles where you would control a number of units and strategically place them to counter enemy unit types. Thankfully, Kingdom Under Fire 2 has expanded on these battles and has made them much easier to control. At any point during this type of mission, you can select your available units from the traditional RTS bird’s eye view and issue orders. A number of hotkeys are also available to use to have units react according to what your hero is doing. Just like the older titles, at any point, you can switch the focus of the fight to your hero’s perspective to battle as them alone to help shift the tides of battle. 

As expected, unit types can have advantages and disadvantages in certain situations, so bringing along different troop types for the mission at hand is key to victory. Unlocking new troop types occurs through the course of the campaign, but you start getting some really awesome ones once you have access to later mission types. Like your playable character, troops can be leveled up to unlock additional bonuses and abilities to make them more effective in combat.

The new MMO elements of Kingdom Under Fire 2 are interesting... They help build some exposition, but overall they feel so tacked on I wish that they had been longer missions or cutscenes instead. Often you will find yourself running back and forth from one side of a hub city to the other, tapping F incessantly. It is seriously the weakest aspect of the game and for those less interested in the world’s narrative, it might be borderline deal-breaking. Other MMO aspects in the game, like an auction house, are implemented much better.

The main focus of Kingdom Under Fire 2 is its narrative storyline. Quests can be done in both solo mode or with friends once you get past a certain point in the game. I am very glad that the ability to play through the game in solo mode is available! A number of PVP options are available to duke it out with other players. PvE raids also exist to offer chances at higher loot rewards. Unfortunately, drop rates haven’t been the kindest to some in this first month of availability.

Visuals

Kingdom Under Fire 2 looks dated by today’s standards. Models look nice enough but textures look blurry and less detailed than you would expect for a 2019 release. It makes sense considering how long the game has been in development and I still think it looks great to play with all the nice flashy moves during combat. Playing at 4K is also a benefit in the graphics department as everything seems to have just a bit more detail at the higher resolution.

Audio

Audio is a good mixture of ambiance mixed with sounds of battle and a fitting soundtrack. Overall I am pleased even if characters can get annoying after a while. Some added dialog for NPC’s you stand around frequently could have helped, as you will hear the same quip constantly while in menus.

Replayability

Kingdom Under Fire 2 has a good variety of post-game content to keep players coming back for more. Whether you want to unlock gear in raids or earn new troops there is plenty to do. Though, some of it has a daily restriction which is unfortunate. New content is also planned to be added at fairly frequent intervals and as of today, the first 16-player raid was just introduced to the game!

What It Could Have Done Better

While I have enjoyed my time in Bersia, there are a number of things that can still be improved. The game’s performance is all over the place during certain missions, with noticeable drops in framerate even on the strongest of computers. The beginning of the game is also quite a drag due to the constant back and forth chatting quests. Unlocking the fun RTS battles also takes a number of hours. Getting acquainted with the game’s leveling system for your character and troops also requires a bit of a steep learning curve that I still feel I don’t totally understand. Lastly, there are still numerous free-to-play aspects present in the game that need to be eradicated, like restrictions on certain post-game activities. Other players have also reported a number of breaking bugs and constant crashes.

Verdict

I am genuinely happy that Kingdom Under Fire 2 exists and is available to play now. It is far from perfect and shows its long life in development and transition from free-to-play to retail. That being said I have had a genuinely fun time playing the game and absolutely love the combat and RTS elements. I have also been pretty lucky with my experience and haven’t encountered many of the crashes and bugs that have been reported by other players. I look forward to seeing how the game continues to improve over time. I can see myself taking up residence in Bersia for a long time to come and I hope that more people will join me!