Once this historical context in mind, it will not be surprising to notice that the fundamental principles of King's Bounty: The Legend are very close to those of Heroes of Might and Magic. Thus, the game takes place on two levels: the adventure map, where the hero travels, collects treasures, enlists troops, accomplishes missions... and the combat phases, where the soldiers and creatures of the character often face opponents. twisted. As tradition requires, these games take place turn by turn, in settings systematically paved in a hexagonal manner. To win, it is therefore necessary to intelligently manage the movements of the troops as well as their special abilities, while supporting them thanks to the various spells of the hero. However, the game innovates by regularly placing obstacles, treasure chests and even special devices on the ground, which attack or help the surrounding units. A very good idea, which makes it possible to further enrich the strategic aspect of the fighting. Conversely, the adventure map completely gets rid of turn-based, in favor of a real-time movement system. We lose the aspect of city management of Heroes of Might and Magic, but we gain in fluidity. Traveling the world becomes much more natural and pleasant, you can avoid certain enemies (who make rounds and are no longer desperately static) and the role-playing aspect then takes precedence over strategy.
Role play... and funny
As in most hack & slash, the development of the hero is carried out through three skill trees (power, spirit, magic) which greatly influence his abilities. Naturally, inventory items are also of some importance. More surprisingly, they are assisted by the possibility of getting married and having children! Having a wife brings a bonus (which depends on the damsel in question) and four additional inventory spaces... which in the end can be occupied by the descendants, also sources of bonuses. If you feel like it, you can even divorce and abandon all these beautiful people, to better start over with another! But beware, the abandoned woman takes not only her offspring, but also a fifth of your gold... The developers are obviously not lacking in humor! Moreover, they assume without flinching all the clichés of heroic-fantasy, and even divert them regularly in favor of situations that often hit the bull's eye. Rich, numerous and well written, the dialogues are not lacking in spice and sometimes even allow you to solve certain quests other than by combat. We didn't expect so much! Alas, these dialogues are somewhat mistreated by a jagged translation which, if it takes on the flow of texts rather well overall, regularly trips over the carpet. In addition to the "inevitable" typing, spelling or grammatical errors, there are also some inconsistencies (a character called once Iron Richard, once Richard Dacier, the "enraged box" which sometimes becomes the "rage box" ...). And, like a boil on the nose of a pretty princess, the height is reached with the erroneous translation of "turn" into "to turn". "Turn 1", "Turn 2" displayed roughly with each new turn of the game, it gives her a little trouble...
The love of a job well done
Unlike the translation team, the developers delight us with their constant search for perfection. From the skeleton that comes to life when you brush too closely against the walls of a crypt, to the pieces that crumble when you pick up a treasure, many useless and therefore essential animations put a smile on your face. This attention to detail even touches the interface, which is absolutely superb. The smallest icon benefits from extremely fine, precise, readable graphics and embellishments are legion. In addition, as in Blizzard productions, the low number of polygons of certain characters and backgrounds is largely compensated by their successful design. In reality, the title of Katauri Interactive has this little something extra, which differentiates the work of order from the passionate realization. Moreover, sign of the great games, King's Bounty: The Legend is suffering from the syndrome of the temporal fault. Once the game has started, you can't see the time passing and you go through sleepless nights without even realizing it. A real drug, and it's good!
