King's Bounty: The Legend

I'm really happy with King's Bounty: The Legend, it's a great game to satisfy my need for a turn-based fantasy RPG. Having loved Heroes of Might and Magic 3 to an obsessive level in my younger years, this ticks all the boxes for a sequel a decade later - everything you expect to be there, is there. The spells are hard-hitting, the creatures diverse and well-balanced and the the graphics are lush (though I do have a high-end PC and can't vouch for those with a low spec). At no point so far have I been tempted to automate my battles, as each one presents a new and different challenge, and even some treasure chests scattered around the battlefield to collect before annihilating the opposition. The map is absolutely vast which is another huge plus, and with lots of tangents you can go off on and three character classes to choose from (Warrior, Paladin and Mage), I feel like I'm definitely going to have to go through the game with each one before I've really had the full… more »

I'm really happy with King's Bounty: The Legend, it's a great game to satisfy my need for a turn-based fantasy RPG. Having loved Heroes of Might and Magic 3 to an obsessive level in my younger years, this ticks all the boxes for a sequel a decade later - everything you expect to be there, is there. The spells are hard-hitting, the creatures diverse and well-balanced and the the graphics are lush (though I do have a high-end PC and can't vouch for those with a low spec). At no point so far have I been tempted to automate my battles, as each one presents a new and different challenge, and even some treasure chests scattered around the battlefield to collect before annihilating the opposition. The map is absolutely vast which is another huge plus, and with lots of tangents you can go off on and three character classes to choose from (Warrior, Paladin and Mage), I feel like I'm definitely going to have to go through the game with each one before I've really had the full experience.

If I had to criticise the game, I would say that when running around the landscape on horseback it can be a little overwhelming at first - everything is so colourful and vibrant you can hardly tell the difference between interactive objects and arbitrary ones that are just part of the scenery. Also, so far (and I haven't got THAT far into the game, in fairness) I'm finding myself having to run absolutely everywhere with no option to jump between locations which could get tedious. The controls are a little clunky at first too, but you soon get used to them.

However, with those small drawbacks aside, I'd thoroughly recommend buying King's Bounty: The Legend - particularly if you've ever loved a HOMM game in the past. I've already lost days to this game because just as I think I've found its plateau, I gain another power or recruit for my army and think, "go on then, just one more fight" until the wee small hours. I think you'll find this game is one of those rare occasions where a game developer has made a sequel that actually improves on the original without compromising what you loved about it in the first place.