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King Arthur

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Eastway Media
Developer: Neocore Games
Release Date: Nov. 24, 2009

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'King Arthur' Campaign Map Revealed - Screens

by Rainier on Dec. 2, 2008 @ 9:38 a.m. PST

King Arthur is a turn-based empire-building strategy game set in a medieval, mystical Britain where you will play the role of legendary Arthur, the Once and Future King. You build Camelot, enlist the Knights of the Round Table, unite the country and ultimately challenge the powers threatening the essence of all their previous endeavors.

King Arthur is an empire-building strategy game set in a medieval, mystical Britain where you will play the role of legendary Arthur, the Once and Future King. You build Camelot, enlist the Knights of the Round Table, unite the country and ultimately challenge the powers threatening the essence of all their previous endeavors. You choose their own path, be it the way of virtuous glory, the might of the Sidhe or your wish to succumb to the dark powers.

Lead hundreds of brave warriors on the magnificent battlefields of Britannia! King Arthur incorporates strategy as its most important element and offers such long-term game experience that makes the overall enjoyment similar to that provided by empire building strategies. Arthur's main objective is to conquer all 40 provinces of Britain, build grandiose medieval cities and unite the kingdom with his Knights of the Round Table. These heroes can be assigned to adventures, they participate in battles as unique units and they indirectly influence the life of the provinces.

Campaign Map

The Campaign Map of King Arthur is the fabulous island of the mystical Britannia, represented as a fully three dimensional topographic terrain. The function of the Map is a unique and improved mixture of the functions presented on the strategy maps of the HoMM and TW series. The gameflow is free even in the story-driven Saga gameplay mode, where the events of the unfolding campaign take place on the Campaign Map. These events enhance the gameplay with strong story elements that generate objectives and adventures like it happens in an RPG. The unexplored territories in King Arthur are shrouded in fog, hiding many secrets, adventures and treasure. The fog only clears up when you send your heroes – the Knights of the Round Table – out to the unknown provinces, just like in an RPG.

During their adventures and battles the heroes gather magic items and experience. The deeds they committed dynamically changes King Arthur’s Morality (their decisions shape the Morality towards the rightful, tyrant, Christian or pagan morale). Players will select and buy new attributes and spells for their heroes. Heroes are the leaders of whole armies and they also recruit new soldiers on the Campaign Map. When heroes meet other armies, the real time battles will take place on the battlemaps, unique to the province where they currently are.

Each province has a certain number of unique locations (POIs, points of interest). If the player conquers all these points (in battle or without battle), the province becomes part of King Arthur’s growing realm. Provinces produce two kinds of resources: food and gold, the basis of the in-game economy. The gameplay is turn-based on the Campaign Map, where a turn equals one season, the changing seasons have effect on the graphics of the Campaign Map. More importantly, each turn is different and serves a different purpose. New adventures and events happen in the spring, summer is best for military campaigns (armies can move more), autumn is the time of harvest (food and gold flows into the treasury), while winter is the bleak season ideal for research and the development of the heroes, as armies cannot move. Management will never become a boring routine in King Arthur, which would easily occur if someone would have 20 or 30 towns with the same options. Players will instead capture and develop Strongholds where all the global management is concentrated. Strongholds are mythical medieval cities with unrestricted construction possibilities that will make each of them unique and personal. One of the Strongholds will be the legendary Camelot and there can be four more. The global tech tree uses time and gold as the two resources. The tree has 3 main branches: military, social and economy. Player can unlock new units, laws, building types and abilities for the heroes and units alike.

Knightly quests are tied to the POIs on the Campaign Map. You have to send heroes to the special locations so they could participate in the adventure. Quests are short stories where the chosen knight has to make decisions somewhat similar to the classic style made famous by the Fighting Fantasy books. Some adventures end in real-time battles. In the Saga gameplay mode the Morality of King Arthur has a huge impact on the storyline. Every decision that the player makes will determine the Morality and the future of King Arthur: he can become a Christian or a pagan king, a rightful or a ruthless monarch. These choices unlock special contents, allies, heroes, units and developments and it also influences the possible alliances.

Features

  • Single player (story-based) campaign with 6 dynamically changing episodes
  • Open-ended campaign with opposite factions
  • Strong storyline
  • Turn-based empire building on a 3D map
  • Thousands of soldiers in real-time epic battles
  • Dozens of different unit types with unique appearance
  • LAN and On-line multiplayer: Tactical fight on various battlemaps


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