I performed 2018’s For The King by likelihood, once I randomly stumbled throughout it on Xbox Recreation Move. It is the kind of recreation I would have by no means performed if I would needed to pay for it first, however I ended up sinking so many hours into it that I finally simply purchased it outright.
I explored each single map and unlocked each scrap of lore, simply placing in over 50 hours. So once I heard that IronOak Video games was making a sequel, I used to be excited to do every part over again—though maybe not fairly to the diploma that For The King 2 has in thoughts.
Must Know
What’s it? A turn-based, D&D-inspired rougelike set within the land of Fahrul.
Launch date November 2, 2023
Anticipate to pay $25 / £20
Developer IronOak Video games
Writer Curve Digital
Reviewed on Ryzen 7 7700X, RTX 4080, 64GB RAM
Steam Deck Playable
Hyperlink Official web site
For The King 2 is a mixture of turn-based fight and Dungeons and Dragons-inspired chance-based mechanics. You set out with a celebration of 4 with the intention of finishing 5 story chapters, whereas contending with a procedurally generated map and the ever-looming risk of permadeath.
For a recreation that tasks a lighthearted fantasy vibe on the surface, For The King 2 is surprisingly punishing—a lot in order that I had to return and replay the primary recreation simply to verify I wasn’t imagining this spike in problem. Ten minutes into my first playthrough I foolishly tried to battle three Jelly Cubes that spawned near the beginning city and barely managed to chip one in all their well being bars by a 3rd earlier than they slaughtered my total squad. Enemies hit more durable and make smarter tactical choices than they did within the first recreation, like concentrating on your character with the bottom well being, and routinely outlevel me. The additional problem solely bolstered my enjoyment—realizing that one innocuous mistake was all that separated me from ending the chapter and sudden demise made each little choice really feel each essential and thrilling, irrespective of how far by the sport I progressed.
That being stated, demise is simply as usually right down to pure likelihood as it’s talent. Though correctly outfitting your celebration is essential, the injury and accuracy of assaults are literal coin flips. Fight in For The King 2 could be overly simplistic and irritating on this regard if not for the Focus system, which regularly let me swing the percentages in my favour. Utilizing the restricted Focus factors I accrued by resting at inns and utilizing therapeutic objects allowed me to brute power my method by luck checks inside and out of doors of fights, guaranteeing that my total celebration wasn’t unceremoniously defeated by low degree mobs (or overleveled Jelly Cubes) on a number of events. Utilizing Focus factors to disregard an accuracy test and guarantee a killing blow on a very evasive enemy earlier than they focused my weakest unit on the subsequent flip made me really feel just like the Solar Tzu of Fahrul (if he loved cosplaying as a warlock).
Drama queen
For the King 2 provides each a battle grid system and a fourth celebration member to fight, and balancing the order my celebration took their turns demanded authentic precision in consequence. The battle grid reframes For The King’s turn-based fight inside a 2×8 structure, including a degree of depth to appropriately positioning your models on the sphere. When my extra fragile models weren’t fast sufficient to maneuver behind by defend models on the entrance of the battle grid, I would generally get steamrolled and lose a personality earlier than their turns even started.
Throughout one marketing campaign I realised far too late that I would given my Blacksmith an excessive amount of speed-restricting tools. Like in D&D, initiative is essential right here, and his heavy ass acquired half my workforce killed when a gaggle of speedy Goblins took their turns earlier than my Blacksmith might a lot as get off a taunt. Though appropriately positioning models might sound simplistic at face worth, the short tempo of fight made even probably the most simple decisions really feel participating as enemy models usually blended up their very own ways primarily based on the place my characters had been located on the grid. In consequence, encounters with appropriately levelled enemies felt extra like puzzles I needed to resolve slightly than skirmishes that I wanted greater degree gear to beat.
The marketing campaign took me roughly 30 hours, though eight of these had been the results of failed runs. Finishing the marketing campaign is not actually the top aim, as even when you’re executed you may doubtless have new courses, in-map areas and objects to unlock. Sadly, there merely aren’t sufficient unlocks within the Lore Retailer to dedicate repeated playthroughs to, particularly when the vast majority of courses are slight variations on the 4 preliminary beginning courses.
When in comparison with the primary recreation, For The King 2’s facelift feels prefer it acquired probably the most love. It sticks to a form of toy-like tilt shift type whereas transferring away from the summary low-poly fashions of the primary recreation. The character fashions nonetheless give off an intentional plasticine sheen, however with sufficient additional consideration to element that I used to be amazed once I regarded on the two side-by-side. The excessive tech methods wherein the particle results from spells and explosives work together with the lighting makes for a playful distinction with the cartoonishly stylised character fashions.
Whereas some gamers on Steam have famous points with bugs, I did not run right into a single bug or perhaps a slight stutter all through my total playtime, even when taking part in on-line with others. From my expertise For The King 2 is able to go, straight out of the field—one thing that any PC recreation ought to be lauded for in 2023.
Kingdom come
On paper, For the King 2 is strictly what a sequel ought to be—the up to date battle mechanics, visible enhancements and problem rebalancing have resulted in a prettier and extra tactical RPG. However not that far more tactical, given how little was executed to make every of the courses really feel extra distinct from each other. The procedurally generated maps additionally did not actually add a lot to repeated playthroughs, because the alterations in terrain appeared purely visible and by no means really made any type of mechanical affect to the marketing campaign.
Finally I simply could not shake the sensation that the novelty of the primary recreation is what initially led me to speculate a lot time in it. I am somewhat jealous of anybody who by no means performed it—if I might erase the reminiscence of it from my thoughts and play For The King 2 unburdened by the comparability, I do know I would get pleasure from it extra.
For The King 2 feels prefer it wanted a brand new, recent mechanic outdoors of fight to maintain me invested for the lengthy haul. With out that one thing additional to set it other than the primary recreation, the expertise generally felt extra akin to an HD remake of the unique For The King slightly than a sequel. Regardless of that, I am unable to say I did not have enjoyable—simply nowhere close to for so long as I did the primary time round.