Rumble Games had their action role-playing game, KingsRoad, in development for two years. This browser-based game goes against all browser-based gaming conventions. It features a nice story, a wealth of upgradable material, lots of adventures and a way to play online through multiple devices with friends. KingsRoad is a unique experience that you can say is a lighter, more cartoony Diablo. it’s got the same type of dungeon raiding flavor to it where you pick up items, fight hordes of monsters (and giant bosses), level up through accomplishments and constantly improve the items/attributes of your character. It’s amazingly deep for how it’s delivered to you.
The levels are very well crafted in the game to provide a visual experience that puts you right into the game from the get-go. Environments are incredibly active and the surroundings in the game contain a lot of love and personality to them. You’ll also encounter different types of environments such as levels where you’re inside a kingdom that has just been ravaged, or maybe you’ll find yourself outside in a forest working to save a village, and/or inside a dungeon trying to clean things up a bit. You’ll also find areas where backgrounds and items that have nothing to do with your adventure can be interacted with or things will show up (such as animals) that you can…err…kill. The sheer girth of the maps in KingsRoad is also impressive, as some maps (especially the Dungeons) seem to sprawl out in far reaching directions. There is more than enough chaos to fit in said areas.
The environment lends well to the small pockets of stories that the main campaign creates. The campaign is broken into various difficulties and pieces. Each piece of the adventure becomes a daring challenge over the next. The difficulty arc matches your character and adventure. Should things get a bit rocky, the game allows you to call in the troops (your friends) to join and help you out. Now, big whoopity, right? Well, your friends can join in through various different mediums, including PC/Mac/Tablet (through Rumble’s site or via Facebook), which gives you the freedom to call them at any given moment. Very impressive stuff for a browser-based gaming experience.
If you get tired of getting your butt beat down or your friends are at work (slackers) then the game offers up smaller side quests called bounties. Here you get off a linear path to accomplish short-term goals, such as rescuing certain number of injured knights after an attack on a kingdom, which allows you to gain points, coins and gems to help upgrade your character further.
Speaking of gaining things, the game also allows you to upgrade weapons, weapon attributes, offers various combinations to equip your character, as well as upgrading/leveling your character. I can’t stress to you enough how absolutely complicated KingsRoad is for a medium that generally doesn’t offer up a lot of options to make a gameplay experience deep. The few days I was able to play KingsRoad I certainly came away from it thinking about what the folks at Rumble Games had accomplished and what type of door they’ve initially opened up for future developers to think about. It’s amazing.
So with this being said, where’s the catch? It’s ‘free-to-play’. I just heard you cringe a bit.
All the well-known ‘free-to-play’ titles out in the world, take Bandai Namco’s Tekken and Ridge Racer as examples, really do shake you down a bit for the coin. Either you run into a wall in the game that you can’t go further because you don’t have ‘xyz’ item or you simply run out of chances and have to wait your turn the next day to possibly continue your adventure — or pay to continue. I’ve seen this sort of stuff before in F2P games and it always seems like a quick way for a company to make a buck fast. It’s absolutely natural to assume that somewhere along the way in Rumble Games’ KingsRoad adventure that you’re going to meet that same shake down. Well, if you assumed that then you would be very much an wrong.
I drove the poor developers bonkers by going through every various avenue where a player could be possibly stuck and would have to pony up some dough. They squashed all my notions as I presented them. Can someone go into the game and drop money down and instantly become stronger/better? Yes. Will they have the capabilities of purchasing gems that allow them to open more things before other players? Yes. Is this necessary for completion of the game or continuation of the gaming experience? No. KingsRoad was built for gamers by gamers, and while it defies all business logic that gamers could continue without paying money to progress, KingsRoad proves that it can be done and, more importantly doesn’t discourage it. Players can invite friends to help them get through the hard parts of the game. Rumble Games encourages people to bring their friends and form a group (because having a solid audience keeps a game going). Players can also continually play side quests to gain gems and coins, though a slower method, but it does offer an out from the typical F2P pay requirement. In short, you don’t have to pay Rumble Games money, as you can complete your adventure without dropping a single dime. It’s tougher, but it’s possible.
At the end of the day, Rumble Games has put together a game that could certainly be a stand alone Steam/PSN/XBL title that could really make some major money for them. KingsRoad is well crafted, deep and engaging (and addictive). The only difference between this action RPG and something you would find on a console/Steam is that the developer has decided to make it resides in a browser that is universal for all gamers to access. If more games like this are created by dedicated developers like Rumble Games then you can count me in for a console-less future.
