King Arthur: Knight’s Tale, released two years ago, was called by some "XCOM in the world of dark fantasy". Although it would be much more accurate to say that this is King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame from the same Hungarians NeocoreGames, only more tactical, with battles between characters rather than between squads of units. The game received a warm welcome, including from us. It is not surprising that additions followed. One of them eventually turned into a separate game. But can King Arthur: Legion IX really be called an independent project, or is it an expanded DLC?

Where did the legion go??

The famous IX Spanish Legion of the Roman Army has a non-trivial fate. In the 1st century BC it was created by the commander Gnaeus Pompey the Great, who acted in the interests of a brutal dictator Cornelia Sulla. Soon this army under the command Julius Caesar fought with the Helvetii in Gaul. Pompey And Caesar collaborated for some time, then a struggle for power began between them, and in the civil war Gaius Julius used the legion against its creator.

The film “The Eagle of the Ninth Legion” based on the book of the same name by Rosemary Sutcliff turned out great.

But most of all, the Ninth Legion is known for its mysterious disappearance from all papers and chronicles after 120 AD. It has become the subject of research, theory and speculation, as well as the subject of films and books. Historians are generally inclined to believe that the Legion was destroyed in battles with the Picts in Britain. The question of why the bureaucratic Roman machine did not record this fact, where exactly and how it happened, remains open, but in general everything is quite prosaic.

But in films and books, naturally, there is a lot of mysticism and fantasy. Yes, in the novel Viktor Severov "Ninth Legion" legionnaires ended up in another world and founded the New Roman Empire of People. Now the writers King Arthur: Legion IX sent the long-suffering army first to Tartarus, that is, to the world of the dead, from where it, under the command of the tribune Gaius Julius Menton, tried to return to the world of the living. But in the end, the not-so-living legionnaires (or rather, what was left of them) ended up exactly in the middle – on the mystical island of Avalon.

We will build a new Rome

Of course, in such a game you shouldn’t expect historical excursions and parallels. Yes, the characters often mention Caesar and Sulla, but even the main character Gaius Julius Menton has virtually nothing to do with his historical prototype. He was known only for the fact that, being a consul, he could not share power with another consul, and as a result the people rebelled, calling for a dictator. And in the game he was appointed tribune of the Ninth Legion already in Tartarus, from where he later began to look for a way out.

Once on Avalon, Menton was not upset for long and decided, together with a few comrades and a new ally, the priestess of the Lady of the Lake, to found Eternal Rome. In the process, we are looking for all sorts of ancient artifacts like the statue of the famous she-wolf who suckled Rom and Remulus, dealing with deserters and traitors from among the former fellow legionnaires, meeting face to face with Merlin, the ancient gods and the giant Fomorians and, of course, fighting the British Picts – the very ones who most likely destroyed the real Ninth Legion and are the ancestors of the knights Round table.

The plot, of course, is https://bigwinboxcasino.uk/mobile-app/ shorter than in Knight’s Tale. The story, told in 15 missions, develops quite predictably – until the victory over the undead villain. Perhaps the main intrigue lies in the confrontation between the aforementioned priestess of the Lady of the Lake (her name is Albina Virgil) and Plutonius Nerva, the protagonist’s comrade-in-arms and priest of Orc, the god of the underworld. Plutonius is extremely cruel, he himself invented many of the methods of torture famous in Tartarus, and other characters who joined us are constantly called for cruelty – for example, publicly executing all prisoners or organizing bloody gladiatorial fights. But the priestess, on the contrary, opposes such methods.

By taking sides in their disputes, choosing whether to act cruelly or mercifully, we move up the moral scale towards demonism or humanism, which gives its own bonuses. For example, a certain level of demonism will allow heroes to restore 5% of their life after each kill, and the opposite humanistic upgrade will heal all characters by 10% after each fight.

The dead choose good?

All these mechanics have been carried over from the original game and generally work successfully. In addition to scripted quarrels and disputes between Albina and Plutonium, moral dilemmas periodically arise on the global map. Yes, and directly in missions on the ground we can meet some character and immediately face a choice: kill him or spare him.

This is normal, but the disputes between the priest and priestess and our participation in them look far-fetched and unconvincing. Just imagine – evil dead men from the ruthless Ninth Legion arrived on the island, and they look so that people run away in horror at the sight of them. And suddenly a lightly dressed girl appears among them and asks: “Guys, let’s live together!“And our tribune can only answer “Um… well, let’s do it” Or “No, don’t let us, we’re demons.”.

Menton’s motivation is not really spelled out. Although here it would be possible to include something historical related to Caesar, Sulla or the prototype of the main character. The situation with texts and dialogues is generally contradictory. On the one hand, there are interesting scenes and riddles, and many of the dialogues are written beautifully and atmospherically.

But individual lines and their meaning, like cut scenes, are often extremely primitive and made according to the principle “If only it were”. It is clear that the game is more about tactical battles, but Knight’s Tale there was no such feeling of carelessness.

Everything went without injury

Almost everything else in the world is made using the same principle King Arthur: Legion IX. The developers simply transferred all the mechanics from Knight’s Tale. In tactical missions we explore locations, empty chests, sometimes solve riddles and take part in turn-based battles. Then we return to the city, where we learn new skills, visit different buildings to upgrade or buy/sell/disassemble equipment, purchase a global improvement in character characteristics, or pass a decree that also affects everyone – for example, it increases the loyalty of allies. The attitude towards the main character still depends on our decisions in moral conflicts.

We are still free to appoint our characters as leaders of all these shops, towers of knowledge, forges and military councils. And there are a lot of repetitions in tactical missions. In some locations, the terrain seems very familiar: you already understand that here there will be a short descent to the shore, and then an ascent to the temple, where a fight will definitely break out over an artifact. It’s not because I’ve already played Legion IX, but because I already played Knight’s Tale.

There are also changes, but mostly not very correct. Characters now simply resurrect after battle, and critical injuries do not affect them – in addition to rest camps that restore health or armor, you can use potions directly during missions. Accordingly, I did not notice in the city either an infirmary or a cathedral, which in the original were needed to remove negative effects and treat heroes.

But this did not save the game from imbalances in balance. I played on hard difficulty and didn’t experience any problems for a long time – the battles seemed too easy compared to the original. And then, on the contrary, there were overcomplicated missions, when, for example, we were sent on a mission without one of the key characters, and then, after a difficult battle, another one was taken away, so that the remaining ones would protect him from three waves of dozens of opponents.

This, of course, was quite invigorating, forcing me to replay the entire mission and pay more attention to the choice of figurines. These are modifiers found on campaigns that have both positive and negative properties – for example, a chance to apply the effect of chain lightning on enemies and shock on our charges. In the end, I bet on other things and managed. It is this tinkering with skills and modifiers, as well as the tactical mechanics in general, that saves the game.

In general, King Arthur: Legion IX is, of course, not an independent game at all. Although you can’t call it a simple DLC for a couple of new missions either. I don’t have any particular problem with the fact that this is a standalone addon – it’s more important how it’s made. And everything was done without a spark, or something?. Yes, the gameplay formula, which remains virtually unchanged, works; battles are still capable of dragging on, even despite the simplifications. But the authors never overcome old problems in balance and did not reveal the theme of the demonic Ninth Legion.

Pros: a fairly lengthy new plot and six colorful characters; The gameplay is still capable of engaging with a combination of tactics, strategy and moral dilemmas.

Cons: the script is poorly written; there are practically no significant gameplay changes, and some aspects have been simplified; imbalance of difficulty in battles.