King's Bounty: Armored Princess

King’s Bounty: Armored Princess

Developer: Katauri Interactive

Publisher: “1C”

Release Date: 1st quarter of 2009

One of the most interesting announcements at “Igromir” is “King’s Bounty: Armored Princess,” which “1C” announced just a few days before the exhibition. During a closed press conference, the developers talked about the main features of the sequel to “Legend of the Knight.” By the way, Katauri recently managed to move from Vladivostok, the easternmost region of our country, to Kaliningrad – the westernmost.

It should be noted right away that “Princess” is a full-fledged sequel, not an add-on. We are still dealing with a role-playing adventure game with turn-based battles, but the beloved scheme has been expanded with new, interesting, and, most importantly, appropriate details.

As the title suggests, the main character will be a warrior princess named Amelie, clad in armor, and quite revealing armor (see screenshots). The girl has a difficult task – to go to the world of Teana and save her mentor, Bill Gilbert. Invaluable help will be provided to the fragile princess throughout the journey by her pet dragon, Draco, who is essentially an analogue of the spirits from the first part. He will also constantly level up and eventually transform from a harmless creature into a powerful combat unit capable of replacing an entire army. Our companion has nine different abilities, the use of which consumes rage. For example, there is an ability called “lightning ball” – a cluster of gas moves across the battlefield and damages the enemy. Or, for example, “stolen egg” – the dragon brings in a rather large egg, from which someone hatches during the battle… who exactly – each time it becomes a surprise for us and for the enemies.

The ranks of the enemies will be replenished with lizard races. In addition, the sequel will increase the number of bosses, which can only be a plus – because battles with them were both difficult and exciting. For example, we will meet Gremlion – an elven mage who cast a spell on himself. The villain can place gremlin towers on the battlefield and throw painful lightning bolts.

“Armored Princess” will become even more free and non-linear in terms of gameplay. You can move freely between continents and islands (there are fourteen of them) without having to spend money on a new ship in each location. In addition, in the last third of the game, it will be possible to fly through the air – thanks to this, you can avoid unwanted encounters with enemies or relatively easily reach some chest with gold.

The role-playing system will also change – the skill tree will be updated by about a third, and the number of spells will increase significantly (a new magical branch – magic of travel – will even appear). For special achievements, the heroine will receive medals, which, in turn, will give some bonuses. And, for obvious reasons, it will no longer be possible to get married and have children, but you can hire companions-squires.

The game is scheduled to be released in early 2009.