Order of Kings preview - "A strategist's dream"
- Immersive real-time combat
- Tons of commanders to unlock
- Use terrain strategically to get an edge in combat
Order of Kings is an upcoming MMORTS in which you build and expand an ancient Chinese empire during the Three Kingdoms period. Luckily, we were able to experience this tactical RPG firsthand thanks to the Steam demo.
To build a thriving army, you’ll first need to build up your base. You can’t host a large army if you can’t afford to feed and house them. As you might expect from an RTS, you’ll need to build resource producers like farms and ironworks. It’s the typical base building system you're used to, with a few new mechanics sprinkled in.
On first impression, I was surprised by how much strategy actually plays a role in battle. Too often, strategic gameplay is minimised in favour of greater approachability. Order of Kings features immersive real-time battles rather than the typical battle reports used in RTS. You can seize passes, villages, and other locations to manipulate the movement of your enemies and ensure victory.
You can deploy multiple troops at once and change targets at any time. So, you can decide whether to send all your troops to take on a single target or to disperse them across the battlefield, and adjust your strategy as needed. If your troops’ health is low, consider retreating to avoid a short exile during which you won’t be able to redeploy them.
There are multiple classes of soldiers, including Swordsman, Archers, Calvary, and Spearmen, each featuring its own strengths and weaknesses. Swordsmen are great in close combat. They’re strong against Spearmen and Archers but are weak against Cavalry.
Calvary soldiers move quickly but can be brought down easily if they run into enemy Spearmen. While Archers give you the advantage of ranged attacks, they are the weakest of soldier types, so if Swordsman and Spearmen get in close, they’ll take heavy losses.
Victory in combat isn’t just about the strength of your army; the terrain plays a big role in how battles play out. Want to obscure your movement? Then lead your troops through the forest. For a stronger defence, set up on high ground. You can even use narrow areas to bottleneck enemy forces.
Your army’s success is also affected by which commanders you equip. You can assign three commanders to each troop to fill the roles of Commander, Deputy General, and Strategist. Any commander can fill any role, giving you the power to completely customise your army.
New commanders can be obtained via the summons system, and each commander has an inherent skill and a strategist skill. Jia Xu’s inherent skill inflicts poison damage on enemies, while Sun Shangxiang can use her Perfect Match skill to gain an attribute bonus.
Order of Kings is an enticing 4X MMORTS with complex strategic gameplay, classic base-building mechanics, and engaging real-time combat. The ability to use the terrain against your opponent is a brilliant mechanic I wish more RTS games would include.
Summon new commanders and build an ancient city as you join forces with allies in battles of epic scale. If you’re a true strategy fan, you’ll want to keep an eye on Order of Kings when it releases on March 27th.
