What is the best game developed in the post-Soviet space? Most people will call a stalker or metro 2033, Olds will remember Corsarers and Mor: utopia. But few will remember – the legend of the knight.
With the entire King’s Bounty series – a strange story. They remember and love the series, but she never became a cult. In the long -awaited continuation – only five thousand people played on the release, and I hardly found reviews on YouTube in old games. Maybe the fact is that our people somehow love more serious and more obscure. Well, look, we have no game-it is necessary either a post-apocalypliisis or a super-regional simulator of something. And the legend of the knight is something completely different. Completely unlike other domestic projects.
“King’s Bounty. The legend of the knight ”has such a double name, in two languages at once – for a reason. In fact, this game is a continuation of the first game – King’s Bounty (1990). Which was developed by the New World Computing company responsible for the entire main line of Might and Magic and the branches of Heroes of Might and Magic. (Yes, those very same HeroesBut unlike the “heroes” – the “royal reward” did not receive great fame, everywhere except the CIS, where this game fell in love with so much that fashion and unofficial continuations came to it even after more than ten years.
Abroad, over the years, they completely forgot about this game, and the NWC company by that time had already went bankrupt and the rights to its intellectual property went by hand. So, it is not surprising that in 2007 1C acquired rights in the name of King’s Bounty for some symbolic price. Therefore, yes, the “legend of the knight” from a legal point of view, an absolutely legitimate continuation of the original game. Although now she would be christened more like a "spiritual heir".
The legend of the knight was published in April 2008, and was developed by the Katauri Interactive command, this name most likely does not say anything to you, but just keep in your head that, in fact, these are the same people responsible for the “cosmic rangers”. That the legend of the knight is? At the basic level, this is a mixture of two genres: a step -by -step strategy, in the style of “heroes” and a classic role -playing game. But before gameplay to say in more detail, I must say: the visual in this game is simply unrealistic!
Graphics and atmosphere
Even fifteen years later, the game looks Noaccount-casinos.co.uk great at the expense of his visual style. It’s hard for me to describe it, it seems to be such a childish, almost cartoon, bright and contrasting, but not too much, does not roll into completely grotesqueness, the proportions of the characters are quite realistic, as if the whole game is drawn by such wide, slightly careless strokes. Given all the technical restrictions of 2008, the game has good details of the environment: wreckage swims in the sea, utensils are scattered in the settlements, in the gnome mines are full of all kinds of stairs, lamps, cars, crystals stick out there and there and signs that warn about the collapse of the collapse. While the environment is not static. Hares run through the forests, proteins jump from a branch to a branch, mechanisms work in the mines.
In the course of the game you will visit four continents, Darion is the kingdom of people, the island of Freedom – an independent archipelago, a refuge for all pirates and seekers of treasures, Cordar – the kingdom of gnomes and the Hellenium – the Kingdom of the Elf. In addition, there are two additional locations, the world of the dead – actually, is "World of the Dead", and demonis – measurement of demons. Each of the regions consists of several interconnected locations. It is better to move on the islands on a boat, the kingdom of gnomes is a intricacies of mines and mountains interconnected by many lifts. Demonis is generally a real infernal abyss – flows of lava, blood fountains, chains and icons in the middle of the flaming sea. That is, visual diversity in the game with a grief.
But not only the environment looks good. Each menu is drawn in detail, each object, spell, ability has a unique colorful icon. Even the backdrops here is a work of art. It is amazing how much strength was invested in these so slight details. Indeed, in 2008, the majority played on square monitors with a diagonal of 19-22 ”and a resolution, better 720r. And all the details people simply could not consider. The game generally does not have support for large-format monitors in a good way, it really needs HD reprinting, but alas.
Complements the picture – a wonderful soundtrack. There is no voice acting in the game, so the music does not stop playing either at the time of the battle, nor in dialogs, nor in time I move on the map. So the music here is not pushed into the background, but plays an important role in the formation of the atmosphere. For each location, its own memorable emboss was written.
Probably the most memorable composition
Story
The second thing for which I love the legend is her plot. In most adventure games, especially RPG, there is such a very common cliche, when the main character must certainly be chosen – a messenger from heaven, blessed by the gods, praised in the prophecies. In Skyrim, you will find out in a couple of hours that you are the only one of your kind Dovakin, in Horizon Zero Dawn right from the first frames you tell you which Ela is special. In the legend of the knight, everything is wrong. The main character is an ordinary knight, and a talented, but one of many graduates of the Academy. And our first instructions will be just the usual things that the knights are engaged in the king’s service: by the type of tax collection, capture of bandits and delivery of documents. There is no whole whole storyline in the game, we fulfill various instructions of our king, which are weakly interconnected. Over time, our tasks are becoming more complicated and dangerous. And we grow together with the hero and we. We get new detachments, study new conclusions, in a word we become stronger. I really like this approach. When, you are not from the very beginning, the hero-saving hero, but together with the characters, break through from the bottom, you gain glory and recognition. Thanks to what you get used to the role of the character, establish an emotional connection with him.
The whole game is a spiritual, fabulous journey. Nobody drives you, does not demand to run to fulfill the main quest. The plot develops gradually, smoothly, the developers do not stand over your soul, forcing to go immediately fighting with the universal evil. I am impressed by this approach to the plot. He does not overload you with extra information, does not force you to keep a dozen characters in my head. And the separate structure, when each of the next task is only indirectly connected with the previous one, is better suited for playing the open world, because you can leave to complete side tasks and get lost in them for ten hours. And you will not have to remember all the details of the plot when you return to the passage of the main quest.
In addition to the plot, a huge number of side tasks await you in the game. The legend of the knight, in principle, is a big game, at least 50-60 hours will take its complete passage. The main story is absolutely linear, but in side tasks, sometimes they will give you a choice. For example, peasants complain about the invasion of evil plants, you can, as you go to the den of plants and just kill everyone there, and understand the problem in more detail. Of course, there is no system of karma in the game and there will be no complex moral dilemmas in it either. The outcome of the assignment will only affect your award, but it is nice that the developers left the opportunity to make decisions for the player.
Side tasks are, both quite complex and completely simple. But any task will have at least some context under it. Any, even the smallest assignment will have a funny or sad background. Ataman of the robbers gave his girlfriend a damned ring, because of which she turned into a zombie, the dwarves are especially brewing beer, so that during flights on the airship, they do not rock them, the skeleton asks to find his lost skull. The developers tried to fill the whole game with such small stories. Sometimes, even without a task, you can ask the character from where he got his nickname, why this tavern is so strangely called or something else. Thanks to this, the world of the game seems voluminous, each character has some kind of story that they are not just NPS, which only stand and wait for how to give you an assignment.
There are more complex, multi -stage tasks that are not limited to one location. For example, on the islands of Freedom, you can come across a dying pirate, which before death will give you a map of the treasury. To find this treasure, you need to sail to the lands of Darion, and then go to the gnomes to get a reward for it. Some side tasks may even seem more interesting than the main. What would you understand, the game has only three full-fledged boss files and two of them are optional. The most complex battles and the most valuable awards also lie outside the main plot.
In general, the game has a lot of text, but it is so well written that you do not get tired of chatter with characters