HomeFeaturesKing’s Bounty II
King’s Bounty 2 is a better tactical battler than it is an RPGI’d prefer a Snickers
I’d prefer a Snickers
King’s Bounty II — Unite Them or Fall | ESRBWatch on YouTube
King’s Bounty II — Unite Them or Fall | ESRB
I think it depends on what you value most when approaching a game that straddles two genres like this. At the start of King’s Bounty 2, you get to explore the world as one of three starting characters. I opted for the warrior: a typical-looking knight fella with brown stubble and a weathered jawline. Unlike the game’s combat, adventuring is done from a third-person perspective, and it’s actually rather pleasant. The medieval-inspired world is suitably, well, medieval. Early on, there are snow-covered pine trees and log huts and rocky ruins off the beaten track. Later, a walled city with cobbled paths strewn with hay and barrels of beer outside taverns. While not stunning, they’re nice spaces you can see on foot, or trot between on your faithful steed.
Stats like Unit Speed determine the number of hexes they can cross in one turn. And other stats like Initiative decide turn order, which is shown on the numbered flags.
There are also moments that just feel plain silly. At another point, I spoke to this sketchy bloke who nattered about a witch, then just ran off. After chasing him (that is, jogging a few meters into a portal), my character proudly exclaimed, “Now I’ve got you, marauder! Did you truly think you would be able to escape me?” but the whole thing felt very daft and anti-climatic. Then I needed to figure out how to get to this nasty witch, because the sketchy guy couldn’t for the life of him figure it out. In the end, it was just a case of slotting some crystals into holders; a classic. The crystals were right next to the holders, though, which gave off big MMO energy in its simplicity.
Fortunately, the fights sprinkled throughout each of King’s Bounty 2’s quests are a lot more enjoyable. Before most battles (although not all), you’ll stand in front of a glowing yellow barrier in third-person mode as the enemies saunter up to meet you. Step through and it’ll transition you to hex-grid fight-land, where you’ll need to pick your army units for the job.
There’s one spell which lets you summon some hulking golems. They’re beefy lads who are strong against archers and can club enemies with some hefty blows.
Unit composition is important in King’s Bounty 2 because fights are tough, sometimes surprisingly so. Before each fight breaks out, you’ll have one free turn to get your army in a nice formation, but even early on you’ll be punished for fudging your units' positioning, or prioritising the wrong targets.
Thankfully the nuts and bolts of King’s Bounty 2’s turn-based battling is easier to grasp, even for newcomers to the turn-based tactical genre. Aside from being smart about where you place your army around the hex-grid (such as whacking your healers to the back, or charging the biggest threat first), enemies have various different types of weaknesses to master as well. For example, archers aren’t effective against the undead, but healing magic is, and a lot of the toughest fights come down to picking the most effective units for the battle and ensuring they’re in the best position to use their active abilities. Each unit has skills that cost Ability Points, but they’ll be much better than a basic attack. Dogs can make enemies bleed each turn, and spearmen can land guaranteed critical strikes.
I should also give a quick shout-out to spells, as they’re essential to success. I particularly enjoyed one called Ray of Light which laser beams an enemy unit with an orbital strike. They don’t come cheap, as they’ll require scrolls and mana crystals you find out in the world or as quest rewards, but they’re satisfying and impactful to use.
Trouble is, my mind keeps wandering back to The Witcher 3. While there’s plenty to admire in the battling part of King’s Bounty 2, its third-person questing and exploration has, so far at least, left me feeling a bit cold. There’s still time for 1C Publishing to prove me wrong, of course, and if you’re here for the battles over the quests and roleplaying then this could be right up your street. As an RPG liker, though, I worry that King’s Bounty 2 isn’t quite doing enough to make it stand out from the crowd here. We’ll find out for sure come August 21st.
