World of Warcraft might be underwhelming for some players, but the likes of Lost Ark and Final Fantasy XIV have proven that MMOs are here to stay. There’s plenty of competition in the space, even just with those titles, but Throne & Liberty from NCSOFT and Amazin Games is attempting to set a new bar for fidelity in open-world, free-to-play MMOs.
GLHF had a chance to check out a demo during Summer Game Fest, and the first thing that stands out is how striking Throne & Liberty is. There’s an initial Breath of the Wild, Bethesda-like step-out moment, where your player character pushes open some doors to emerge from a dark cave for the first time, and you’re treated to a cinematic sweep over the landscape, whose horizon is dominated by a giant tree that’s erupting with cherry blossoms.
Characters animate surprisingly well in cutscenes, with highly expressive faces and gentle life-like movements. The effect is subtle, but characters don’t give the impression of stiff NPCs, which lends the world a little extra believability. The world itself s fairly grounded and realistic as well, or as realistic as a fantasy world can be. It’s a hybrid blend of familiar medieval fantasy with Age of Exploration-era sailors and ships surprisingly well, and the result is something that seems aesthetically closer to Game of Thrones rather than Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV.
I’m so used to sorcery and fantasy shenanigans that I didn’t even bat an eyelid when a dwarf transformed into a giant golem just to open the massive doors of a castle gate, but what I didn’t expect was that these transformations are a key part of gameplay and exploration. You can sprint across the land as a swift wolf, or, in a fresh twist on the now-ubiquitous paraglider – don some feathers and soar down a steep cliff as a regal eagle.
Embodying a different creature to travel fast across the world is, frankly, so much more exciting and innovative than hopping on a horse or griffon or what-have-you, and I’m eager to see what other transformations we can look forward to.
As far as gameplay, Throne & Liberty mostly sticks to a traditional MMO setup. There’s a smattering of busy hub cities full of quests and the occasional secret, combat revolves around managing your skill cooldown timers, and if you’ve played an MMO before, then you know how this all works. That’s not to say it’s bland or predictable, though, thanks to a handful of new ideas thrown in the mix.
There’s a satisfying, real-time element to combat where you’re prompted to use a counter before getting hit by certain moves, and a good counter will block damage and deal some of it back.
Guilds will play a significant role in Throne & Liberty, with dozens of players facing off against each other during guild battles. Guilds will include roughly 50 to 70 players each and wage war for control over strongholds scattered across the MMO’s map. It sounds a bit like Planetside 2, which also features a continuous battle for supremacy over a piece of the land, and that’s certainly no bad thing.
Nothing I saw of Throne & Liberty blew me away, but the overall package undeniably has potential It’ll be F2P, release on Steam and modern consoles, and has some great visuals, and the promise of large-scale multiplayer encounters is very exciting. The only thing Throne & Liberty really needs to do is stand out in the market.
You can sign up to test Throne & Liberty now via the official Throne & Liberty website.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF
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