I don’t know why they didn’t just call it Mordred. If you’re going for a dark Arthurian vibe, why name it after a fluffy Heath Ledger film? Joust kidding. I’m sure there’s a good reason. Maybe Heath’s handsomeness didn’t get as far as Hungary, and so we’ve got King Arthur: Knight’s Tale instead.
It’s the new game from a Hungarian studio called NeocoreGames, which you might know as the maker of the Van Helsing series of action RPGs, or Warhammer 40K Martyr, or, longer ago, the King Arthur series of games. But those Arthur games were different, quite Total Warry. This one, the new one, is more XCOM.
You play as Mordred, the famous baddie from the King Arthur tales. And true to form, it was you who killed King Arthur here. But he also killed you, so you both died and yet you both live. The Lady of the Lake kept you alive, and she wants you to end Arthur – who brought some kind of nightmare army to Avalon – for good. And you will fight his dark forces one turn-based, grid-based, tactical fight at a time.
You’re not alone. You control Camelot, excitingly, which means you can call on the fabled Knights of the Round Table to join you in battle as well. You can upgrade Camelot too, via some kind of kingdom management layer, and rule the wider land, affecting a Tyranny/Righteousness gauge with every decision you make.
1 of 4 Caption Attribution It’s rather handsome, isn’t it?
Your companions will watch you. They apparently have minds of their own and will react to your decisions as well as cause disputes and conflicts by themselves. They’ll get injured and diseased, too, and they’ll possibly die – and I mean permanently – so you’ll have to juggle your starting line-up (sounds like Darkest Dungeon) and how they work together will be key (sounds like chemistry in FIFA Ultimate Team).