King's Bounty II Dev Diary Gives Us A New Perspective On The Game's New Perspective

February 4, 2020

King’s Bounty II Dev Diary Gives Us A New Perspective On The Game’s New Perspective

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that I’m a huge King’s Bounty fan. Okay, I’m a huge fan of King’s Bounty: The Legend and onwards. Give me a break, I was 1 when the first King’s Bounty came out. People weren’t buying their infants Commodore 64s back then. Though I do feel the new series lost its way somewhat after after Crossworlds, I still put dozens of hours into Warriors of the North and Dark Side. So when King’s Bounty II was announced back in August, my excited squeals were entirely unfitting for a man my age.

I’ve been waiting patiently (and not at all bugging my contacts) for any news of King’s Bounty II. Today, fans of the series finally get their first look at what’s in store for the long-awaited sequel. In their very first dev diary, 1C Entertainment reveals new combat, maps, characters, and even a morality system. The whole video is only about six minutes long, but is packed full of information. To recap, the biggest change is that King’s Bounty 2 will feature a third-person exploration camera. This will enhance the RPG elements, and allow you to solve puzzles and interact with NPCs like a more traditional RPG. Enhancing these RPG elements is a new morality system. Your character adopts one of four major ideals, between Order, Power, Finesse, and Anarchy. Walk up to a bandit with a high Anarchy stat, and you might be able to make friends. Walk up to the same bandit with a high Order stat, and be ready for a fight.

You’ll spend about 2/3 of your time exploring the world outside of combat. 1C Entertainment is really focusing on making quests diverse, with some of the more obscure completion options like the ones you find in King’s Bounty: The Legend. When you do enter into the other 1/3 of the game, combat should be fresh but familiar for returning fans. The perspective shifts and you’re in a classic King’s Bounty tactical battle map. While previous games gave you a random map based on the environment, King’s Bounty II translates the existing map into a battle arena. This 3D map also uses height and obstacles, allowing you to take advantage of placement and positioning.

Some other changes include new unit caps, that encourage the players to constantly change their army composition over the course of the game. No word yet on what kind of units will be available, which is a bummer. One of the best parts of King’s Bounty was building up weird armies of undead, demons, plants, bears, whatever. Hopefully, the sequel won’t be constrained to just armies of human dudes. We do see trolls and angels, so there is hope.