NeocoreGames, known for their King Arthur real-time strategy games and Van Helsing action games, has just announced a new game—King Arthur: Knight’s Tale. King Arthur: Knight’s Tale will include a varied gameplay elements, including turn-based tactics, roleplaying choices, and kingdom management.
Knight’s Tale is a departure from the NeocoreGames’ previous King Arthur games. While King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame and its sequels were real-time strategy games, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is set to be a turn-based strategy game following in the tradition of XCOM and similar games. Rather than relying on fast reaction time, Knight’s Tale will rely on tactical thinking and strategy, where using character positioning and the surrounding environment is not only beneficial, but often necessary for victory.
In addition, the game will incorporate kingdom management elements. The player will control different strongholds and cities, and can build up their home base of Camelot. The more that is added to the legendary city, the more bonuses the player gets. Among other benefits, players can create facilities to heal allies or remove diseases and curses, allowing them to keep their knights alive.
This is important, because death is permanent in Knight’s Tale. When one of the player’s knights dies, that’s it. There is no reloading a save to bring them back, no extra lives, no second chances. Strategy is important to keep units alive and avoid at best a hit to your squad and at worst a game over. Death isn’t the only way to lose knights, though. Throughout the game, the player will be able to make choices that will affect the world of the game. Deciding whether to be a hero of the realm or a scourge of the land will have consequences, not just for the kingdom but for its knights as well. Making certain choices will cause some knights to turn against the player.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is still in development, so gamers who are looking forward to this combination of game elements will have to wait. It is tentatively scheduled to be released in Q1 2020, but no firm date is set.