Developer: NeocoreGames
Publisher: NeocoreGames
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
King Arthur: Legion IX – Review
It’s been slightly over two years since we were pleasantly surprised by the turn-based strategy RPG, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale, which provided gamers with an alternative to the XCOM games. Unlike 2K’s Sci-Fi games, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale sent players back to medieval times to play through an original take on the Arthurian myth. We concluded that Knight’s Tale’s morality system was interesting, the overall mechanics were great, and the story itself was pleasant. Sadly, we found that things grew a bit stale after a while, and we were hoping the second installment, Legion IX, would do better in this regard. Not completely to our surprise, we were treated to more of the same, but some of this new iteration’s mechanics felt like a step back.
Story
Even though the game still carries the moniker of King Arthur, you’ll actually be playing as Gaius Julius Mento, a Roman soldier from the 9th Legion. Gaius is not doing so well, however, as he has been dead for centuries, trapped in Tartarus. When the emperor Septimus Sulla grants him an army and also the opportunity to try to escape from Tartarus, he does not hesitate. While eventually Gaius eventually manages to escape, he ends up in Avalon, a strange place between the living world and the afterlife. Content that he is no longer in a state of constant torment, Gaius decides to gather his lost troops and create a new Rome in Avalon. Sadly, Avalon is filled to the brim with hostile forces that need to be taken out first.
All in all, the story is decent and follows the same buildup as the first game. You’ll slowly gather your troops as you play through different missions, and this will slowly propel the story forward. As a whole, the narrative is enjoyable, and it did motivate us to press forward.
Graphics
If you played the first game, you’ll notice not much has changed in Legion IX. The game reuses a lot of assets from Knight’s Tale, and it doesn’t shy away from even reusing maps. That being said, even with the recycled assets, Legion IX looks good, and the new Roman character designs look cool in the strange world of Avalon. The city visuals look a bit basic, but they are in sync with the Roman aesthetic of the main cast of characters.
While this is more of a gameplay issue, an annoying camera issue still pertains in this second installment. Even when we set up the camera view and angle just the way we like it, it still gets changed after every short cutscene or character interaction to a totally different position. While sometimes it’s clear that the game tries to give you the best possible overview, adjusting your viewpoint every single time is still tedious.
Sound
The overall sound design isn’t too bad for Legion IX’s soundtrack and SFX. The backdrop is quite cinematic and perfectly fits with the dark story that unravels, while the SFX provide great audio feedback for the onscreen action. The voice acting, however, could be among the worst we have heard in modern games. Don’t get us wrong, some cast members still put down a memorable performance, but others sound absolutely horrendous. The game’s lead character, Gaius Julius Mento, for example, is simply painful to listen to. The voice filter applied to many of the characters’ voices also doesn’t help here.
Gameplay
Just like the first game, King Arthur: Legion IX is a squad-oriented turn-based strategy game with RPG elements. You’ll play through fairly short missions with your chosen party of warriors, who all have different skills, stats, and abilities to aid you in combat. Most of these missions revolve around killing all enemy forces.
The combat is reminiscent of titles such as XCOM, meaning each character has a set amount of Action Points during their turn. With these Action Points, they can move, attack, use skills, and so on. You’ll have to think about strategically placing your units across the battlefield, making sure you come out on top. Legion IX offers a set of difficulty options, making sure newcomers and veterans alike can get the most out of the experience.
In your base of operations, you’ll be able to unlock a lot of passive boosts by spending gold and building materials. You can also assign your soldiers to different structures to get additional individual passive bonuses. It’s a rudimentary base managing system, but it does add another strategic layer to the mix.
While Legion IX has all the necessary building blocks for a successful sequel, it sadly wastes a lot of its potential. We felt that this second installment dumbed down its morality chart. In Legion IX making important choices only rewards you with disappointing bonuses, whereas the first game rewarded you with different characters for the choices you made. The same can be said about the gear system and your city, which both still feel bare-bones. We would have loved to see improved mechanics and more depth, but sadly it seems things were simplified even further or just cut altogether.
Conclusion
If you’re a fan of the first game, you’ll probably still enjoy what’s on offer here, even if it does feel a bit watered down. We were mostly disappointed by the lack of new elements, the rehashing of a lot of assets from the first game, and the dumbing down of the morality chart. That being said, the combat experience is as solid as ever, the characters remain interesting, and the story is quite interesting. You can’t really go wrong with this one if you’re a fan of the genre, but even then, we might still suggest waiting for a sale.
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