King's Bounty: Armored Princess Demo

Developing an old-school TBS nowadays is quite risky, for a variety of reasons. First of all, the public is a bit distracted by all the awesome new technological advancements to have enough patience for 30-minute turn-based fights. Secondly, the genre is pretty well established with the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise and it would be rather difficult to dethrone it.

However, the King’s Bounty series was here before HoMM and it actually served as an inspiration for the latter, so if anything can rise above it, this would be it. King’s Bounty: Armored Princess extends the original story from The Legend and provides you with a new protagonist, as well as a variety of gameplay improvements to make the experience as enjoyable as possible, not to mention challenging.

Hence, after the hero from the previous episode finishes the job and takes his leave, the forces of darkness make a hasty return and the realm is in mortal danger yet again. This time, however, a warrior princess plays the role of the savior, a princess by the name of Amelie. The same kind of witty humor is present in this installment as well, so you should not be surprised at the cheesy dialogue and the fact that you start off with a pet dragon to waltz around with.

Just like before, the role-playing elements are carefully mixed with the turn-based hex grid combat, which allows you to get the most out of your units on the battlefield and have a cup of tea while you’re at it. There are many new units to try out, as well as powerful new spells and dangerous enemies that take advantage of your every weakness. Obviously, coming out victorious means that you get rewarded with experience points, which in turn allows you to increase the desired abilities.

The environments and the world itself is rather different as well, but the general idea is the same and you certainly won’t feel lost if you are familiar with the series. Visually, the striking colors are still there and the models are as pleasant to look at as always, especially during combat, when you can zoom in as much as you want and admire the warriors giving it their best.

In the end, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess may be exactly as good as the original release, given the generally weaker story and some balancing issues, not to mention the somewhat failed humor in some situations, but it’s still a very good game. The combat is satisfying and the role-playing elements allow you to customize your character, which makes wonders for the replayability factor as well.