Konung 2 Reviews

Interesting mix of isometric RPG and town management. A classic that I have not played before - The story didn't really interest me but the mix of features in such an old school RPG was very neat.

I used to play konung 2 when I was in middle school, it has been more than ten years since I played it again and I think the game is still good.

Great ol school RPG adventure game. Think of it as Russian Fallout. Only slightly buggy. You're trying to save the world (obviously) from a tyrannical ruler corrupted by magic (duh). Recruit allies up to 8 persons from villages you saved. Warning: Starting battles are seriously hard but will become really easy once you have full roster.

One of my favourite game by far. Wish we have more games like Konung. And if possible bring Konung: Blood of titans on steam. Thank you for your hard work.

[h1]“It is at this point that normal language gives up, and goes and has a drink.” ~[i]Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic[/i][/h1] * [i]SIGH[/i] * Me and yet another Russian disaster... Don't get me wrong, though. Huge fan of the first [b]Konung[/b] here. I consider the first game in this series to be one of the most successful Russian games out there and there was sure quite a lot of good about it. In the first [b]Konung[/b] (a half-broken version of which you can find on [b]GOG[/b]) we were supposed to explore a fully open world of Slavic myths and collect three pieces of magical amulet in order to get powerful artifact at the end. Sounds simple, but what was cool about [b]Konung[/b] is that it wasn't just yet another generic [b]RPG[/b]. Not only it was a very charming experience thanks to beautiful backgrounds and suitable music (broken in [b]GOG[/b] version, just sayin'), it was also surprisingly ambitious and came with some unique features. For example, one of the core features there was the ability to burn down and conquer the villages in order to impose a tribute on them. We were able to train ourselves some troops, build stuff, brew potions, look for hidden treasures and so on. In other words, it was a pretty interesting experience. Especially for Russians who finally got a local [b]RPG[/b] in Slavic setting that didn't suck ass. Naturally, quite a lot of people (me included) were really excited about the sequel. Unfortunately, like I already said at the beginning of this review, the sequel turned out to be a disaster. For many reasons. First of all, the story here sucks. The first [b]Konung[/b] had pretty basic story too, but at least it tried to feel unique by adding some details. [b]Konung 2[/b]? It's just a [b]Diablo 2[/b] rip-off. Our hero from the first game was corrupted by the power of the artifact and became evil. Naturally, it's time for a new hero to come and kick his evil butt. Because... you know. Evil butts are evil. And should be kicked. That's pretty much it. There's nothing else in this game. Literally. Nothing. The entire “story” includes only a couple of quests. I'm not kidding. Here's the entire walkthrough for you: talk with the merchant to get access to the harbor city. Go to the harbor city. Buy yourself a ship. Sail to the island. Talk to an [b]NPC[/b] there. Sail back and kill a group of enemies. Collect a magical orb. Use magical orb in order to get to the final boss. Kill final boss. The end. That's it. That's the entire game. The entire “story” is only about thirty minutes long. [i]What the heck?![/i] Sure, it changes a little when you choose different characters (there are six of them this time), but differences are so little that, most likely, you won't bother. Of course, as long as you won't use cheats, it won't be that easy. But not because the game has a lot of stuff to do. There are only nine villages here, every village comes with only a few [b]NPC[/b]s, there are only a few quests to complete, etc. As the result, most of the time you'll just kill random enemies for experience and do repeatable delivery quests for money. Which feels painfully boring and annoying. The game comes with [b]Fallout[/b]-like map now, but guess what? Surprise-surprise, it's annoying too. First of all – even on high level of “outdoorsman” skill (a few [b]Fallout[/b]-like skills were also added in this game, but don't expect much, [b]RPG[/b] element is still nonexistent) random encounters still happen [i]way[/i] too often and can't be skipped. Exploring the map in this game? It feels awful. And it's not like you can properly explore the world in [b]Fallout[/b]-like way either. Even though exploration here does look like a cheap [b]Fallout[/b] rip-off, you can't just go and visit places. First, you need to [i]learn[/i] about them. That's right. Even though there are only a few places in this game, when it's about the ones needed for key quests, you'll need to learn about them first. Otherwise, they just won't appear on your map. Where to learn about such places? From whom? Nobody knows. Like in previous game, the journal here is still useless and as the result, the game feels [i]incredibly[/i] confusing. When you'll start playing, you won't have any idea where to go and what to do. And it won't get any better. Without a guide? This game is a mess. And even with the guide? The game still doesn't feel good. It takes everything that was [i]bad[/i] about previous title (for example, the poison here won't wear off and if you won't have any cure on you during the battle with poisonous monsters, you're as good as dead), doesn't add anything really new aside from the map and a couple of new skills and, well, it throws the entire balance away. See, the previous game was pretty rough too, but it was easy enough to deal with things there. In this game? You either do [i]exactly[/i] what developers wanted from you or die fast. Very often the game will just throw you in the middle of the battle where, without a certain party with certain weapons, you won't even have a chance. Like in previous game, the enemies still cancel your attacks and even with highest stats possible you won't be able to avoid that. Which means that dealing with the big groups of enemies is close to impossible without proper preparations. In other words, you should always be prepared for things you don't even know about yet. Screw that. Even visually this game fails to impress. It's pretty much the same exact thing with previous one, only this time it runs in [b]1024x768[/b] instead of [b]800x600[/b]. Finally, I want to say a couple of things about English translation. But first, I want to say “[i]F**ck you![/i]”. F**ck you, [b]1C[/b], you suck. Here. Said it. Why so much anger? Well, you see, the worldwide release of this game is an insult. Translation itself is bloody awful and comes with obvious error even on character creation screen. But the worst thing? Pretty much the entire voiceover was removed. You'll still hear some “[i]Hi![/i]” and “[i]Huh?[/i]” while interacting with [b]NPC[/b]s, but all the cutscenes were fully silenced and very solid voiceover by [b]Aleksandr Klukvin[/b] (Russian voice of [b]Alf[/b], [b]Columbo[/b], [b]Alastor Moody[/b], [b]Magnum P.I.[/b] and many other iconic characters) was replaced by some crappy subtitles. Like... seriously, [b]1C[/b]? [i]Seriously?[/i] You hate us [i]that[/i] much? Well, we hate you too. So... yeah. Even though I liked the first [b]Konung[/b] quite a lot, the sequel turned out to be a disaster. A confusing and very unpleasant disaster. If you liked the first game and want to learn about how things ended for your hero, you may actually pick this one up on sale and quickly beat it with both guide and cheats, but playing this game in a proper way? It feels awful. And not only because of how awful worldwide release is, but just because it's a bad game. Dixi.

It's a good nostalgia trip, but be advised, this game is old, and as such does not have A WHOLE LOT of the QoL features you would expect.

Konung 2 is the second game in a niche RPG series rooted in Byzantine, Slavic, and Viking mythology. This isometric fantasy RPG is really rough around the edges. I played the first game as a kid and picked up this one and the third during a sale, curious to revisit the series. There is no tutorial and the manual is very basic, leaving many gameplay features unexplained. I’d recommend looking up a guide to uncover hidden mechanics that can make playing easier. Even playing on a lower difficulty, the game is unforgiving and hard. It is buggy and glitchy at times, like getting stuck on enemies, but there are workarounds. The story continues from the first game, though it’s fairly thin. Your goal is to defeat the corrupted hero from the first game, who has been consumed by the artifact you once sought. However, with translation mistakes and limited narrative depth, the story didn’t feel as engaging as it could have been, and I found the first Konung had a more compelling plot. Graphically, the game looks dated, with a bleak color palette, but I appreciate the detailed character portraits. Unfortunately, female character models are identical to male ones. The music is mediocre, and while the overall atmosphere fits the tone, it feels lacking compared to more modern RPGs. Voice acting is sparse, and most characters repeat the same lines when clicked on, adding to the repetitive feel. The game lets you go where you want, but some areas stay hidden until you trigger them by talking to the right people. While moving between zones, you can get ambushed by roaming enemies. There’s very little help when it comes to figuring out quests; no markers, barely any descriptions, and a journal that just lists basic info like quest names and potion recipes. Combat is in real-time, and while you can control up to eight companions, managing battles is tough. The enemies often come in large groups, surrounding you and interrupting attacks. Since the game doesn’t let you pause during fights, things can get hectic, especially when you need to manage healing. Fighting is also really slow in general and takes a long time, especially in the beginning. On top of that, XP is only awarded to the character that lands the killing blow, which makes leveling up your team a frustrating micromanagement task, as stronger characters tend to dominate. Also, only your main character gets XP from solving quests. This imbalance makes it difficult to advance weaker party members, leading to a lot of grinding, especially mid to late-game. Dead companions are gone forever and can’t be resurrected. You level up by putting points into stats and skills, and there’s a good mix of gear to find; different weapons, armor, and accessories. Each of the six characters you can pick starts out in a different area of the map. I played as Anastasia, one of the more challenging characters, who starts alone in a hostile environment with limited resources. She can only recruit female followers, which adds another layer of difficulty. Ranged combat is especially hard to manage early on, as arrows and bolts are both scarce and expensive and take inventory space. Other characters may start with a settlement and companions. I enjoyed experimenting with the potion-mixing feature; discovering new recipes was one of the more satisfying aspects of the game. Town management is another unique feature, but it is somewhat bare-bones and slow. You can become the Jarl of various villages, earning passive income from tributes and constructing missing buildings like a healer's hut, blacksmith or barracks. However, there aren’t enough NPCs to fill every position in your settlements unless you sacrifice your companions to fill the roles. Your settlements are also vulnerable to raids from roaming enemies. These raiding parties grow stronger over time, and while villagers can sometimes defend themselves, you’ll often have to recapture a village yourself. It is sometimes difficult to spot quest-giving NPCs since every character is named, and it’s hard to tell them apart. However, each town only has a handful of NPCs and usually just 1-3 quests, so this issue isn’t overwhelming. Konung 2 is hard to recommend unless you’re a fan of old-school, unforgiving RPGs with a high tolerance for grind and janky mechanics. I enjoyed the nostalgic elements and exploration, but the game’s flaws, from its real-time combat issues to its bare-bones quest system, may turn away most players. For the sale price of 0.74€, it’s a decent deal, but it’s certainly not for everyone.

A great old school RPG, not a lot of documentation, poor translation into english, and a steep learning curve, yet i stiil find myself playing this game repeatedly. I only have 40 hours on steam, but i used to have a physical copy as well and probably have closer to 100... It has a lot of charm and is unique in a lot of ways!

Unplayable on Windows 10. For some reason it will not let me refund the purchase either. This needs to be patched to work properly on modern systems or be taken off the Steam store.

Konung 2 is weird. It's an open RPG with a little bit of unit management. The game is pretty complicated with lots of unorthodox features. Yet the devs decided not to include a tutorial whatsoever, leading to players fumbling around inside the game. The funny thing is that the first game has a pretty comprehensive tutorial. Konung 2 is an open game. You can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. Do some quests? Or killing monsters or maybe even killing all of the villagers. Another aspect of the game is you can own a couple of villages and by doing so you can earn money from daily tributes. You can also make you villagers to be stronger by dispatching one of your characters as a trainer to train them or as a blacksmith to make the villagers have better equipment. You can train them up to trainer's level + 1. So you also have to train your "trainer" lol. This is because your enemy will constantly sending a raid party to attack your villages. So they have to be able to protect themselves lest they become occupied by the enemy. All NPC on an occupied village will not interact with you. And you will also be attacked by enemies patrol as they see you. But you can free them by killing every enemy's patrol on the village. Now onward to battles. Battle in this game is very hard. The enemies always swarming together so you have to make a big party of your own to fight them on event ground. The lowest enemies levels i've seen is 5. so before you can fight them you will also need to level up a couple of times via doing quests too. The bad news is Exp from completing a quest will only be granted to your Main Character. Any other characters have to earn it via battles. And even worse Exp in battles only given to THE CHARACTER THAT DEALT THE FINISHING BLOW. Making leveling a chore. The worst is the enemy raiding party is also getting stronger. And they are getting stronger very fast. Faster than you. So you will soon face a situation where you can't protect any of your villages at all. Bad game design. I like this game. Well i like grindy game in general. But it's hard to recommend this game. Espescially to casual players. There are lots of conter intuitive features and bad game design. Musics are mediocre, towns are boring, NPCs totally useless saying the same thing over and over. Battle are unbalanced and you can't do tactical pause like say Baldur's Gate. Controlling 9 characters in a real time combat can be pretty chaotic you know. This game has cool concept but bad execution and overall i'd say to stay away from this game unless you know what you are expecting : One hell of a challenging game but very unbalanced and involves alot of grinding.