King's Bounty: The Legend Reviews

King's Bounty: The Legend has made its way into maybe one of my favourite games of all time. The premise is simple. You are a treasure searcher for the king, and go out into the world, building your army, solving problems, and fighting stacks of enemies in turn based grid combat, much like Heroes of Might and Magic, but with real time world exploration in a single player campaign. There are many different unit types to choose from, from Pirates and Peasants, to Demons and Dragons, and a wide array of items to collect and strengthen not only your character, but different unit types too. Part of what makes that fun is that unit placements and item spawns are randomised a little each game, so you may not be able to buy a stack of Demons or Necromancers in the same place or even same quantity between different games. While there are many quests along the way, and different realms to explore, the main focus is on combat. You will be fighting a lot, and it's not unfair to say that it can get repetitive. However, I think due to the above randomness, limited availability of units, and sometimes tough fights that can whittle down your army, I think there's enough variety to keep you going if you really can get into the turn based gameplay. The music is memorable, and so are the locations, and it's all presented with a charming cartoon miniature sort of aesthetic. Like if Warcraft 3 was brighter, and had somewhat larger and better looking models. The game can be quite tough from the beginning when you're just figuring it out, but once you understand the underlying stats, strengths and weaknesses, unit placements to better deal damage or avoid it, and manage your resources like mana and rage, you can eventually breeze through tougher and tougher fights. There are some tougher fights towards the end, and at certain points mid game, but it's nothing a different unit composition and/or levels and gear can't overcome. Overall, I'd say give it a look if you're into turn based RPGs. If you can deal with the combat and not get bored, then you'll have a game that will last you a long time for even one run, and maybe have something you can come back to for a different challenge after the first playthrough

Last time I was playing this game about 15 years ago in 2010, and I still have my saves, and they work. That's something. It's quite difficult, especially as I have no memory of how to play this game, but it was pretty easy to get back on track. I like how there's even official steam input controls for gamepad that kinda work. No idea what difficulty I set for myself 15 years ago, but in some fights, I'm really getting my hiney handed to me on a silver platter with extra beating, from some I survive with barely enough troops. So lot of grinding and quicksaving is involved, but it has a nice feeling of adventure to it. Kinda classic 00's games, works well on widescreen monitor too.