King's Bounty II
- August 24, 2021
- Fulqrum Games
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam"King's Bounty II" is a fantasy strategy role-playing game with turn-based combat. Players explore a vast world, complete quests, and make choices that affect the story. As a bounty hunter, they lead their army to victory against various enemies, using strategy and magical abilities to overcome challenges. The game features a rich and immersive world with deep storytelling and character development.
PC
Windows
Cloud
NVIDIA GeForce NOW
Reviews
- The game features beautiful graphics and a well-designed world that feels alive.
- Combat mechanics are engaging and require strategic thinking, making battles enjoyable.
- The game offers a variety of quests and character choices that can impact gameplay.
- The movement speed is slow, making exploration tedious and frustrating.
- Voice acting and dialogue quality are inconsistent, with some lines feeling awkward or poorly delivered.
- The game lacks a clear ending, leaving players feeling unsatisfied after completing the main storyline.
- story1,274 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The story in "King's Bounty II" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it lackluster and filled with generic tropes. While some appreciate the branching quest system and the potential for character development through choices, others criticize the dialogue, pacing, and overall execution, leading to a sense of tedium and disconnection from the narrative. The game ends on a cliffhanger, leaving many feeling unsatisfied and questioning the completeness of the story.
“The story is interesting if a bit clumsily written, the combat and magic system are good, graphics is ok, sound and music are quite nice.”
“It's also notable that many quests in the game have two different routes to complete them (order vs anarchy, power vs finesse), and that choosing an alignment for your character to follow is what unlocks stronger abilities for your character.”
“The game holds so much within so much content, so much story, and so many side quests and puzzles.”
“The story is so awful you just start skipping dialog entirely early in the game and never turn back.”
“From the mid game onwards, tedium sets in and the story just drags on.”
“The 'story' is almost non-existent and really hits rock bottom near the end.”
- graphics550 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some praising the attention to detail and beautiful environments, while others criticize them as outdated and lacking in vibrancy. Many players noted that while the graphics are generally acceptable, they do not meet modern standards and can feel bland or uninspired, especially when compared to previous titles in the series. Overall, the visuals are seen as a step up from earlier games, but still fall short of expectations for a contemporary RPG.
“The attention to detail is massive (like the game, too) and ranges from visual graphics and audio to the divine subtleties when building your character or your army.”
“The graphics are great, the sound effects are great (horse clops are great) and even things like the loading screens are very well done.”
“Visually stunning with vibrant graphics and detailed environments that are a treat for the eyes.”
“The overall graphics are fine, but fail to alleviate that most of the environment is empty and becoming boring and bland quickly.”
“It takes at most 30 minutes until you ask yourself 'why the **** did they use a 3D graphic if they did not have the time, money or skill to make it look properly?'”
“The graphics are poor and the camera is a mess, very herky-jerky.”
- gameplay434 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay of King's Bounty II has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a lack of depth and innovation compared to previous installments. While the turn-based combat remains engaging, the exploration mechanics are criticized as tedious and underdeveloped, often feeling like a walking simulator. Overall, the game offers a familiar core experience but is hampered by clunky mechanics, limited unit variety, and poorly explained systems, leading to a less satisfying gameplay loop.
“The core gameplay is simple: you pick 5 units for your army, and you use that army to fight battles and do quests.”
“The tactical gameplay is really satisfying, game progression feels rewarding, the world is beautiful to explore and your characters show off the gear you equip.”
“Ultimately, this is a game of strategy and resource management and every aspect of the gameplay leads to decision making which creates consequences and opportunities.”
“Beyond that, the strategic part of gameplay feels shallow, with units limited in amount and access linked to RPG story choices, which discourages combinations of playstyles, with synergies between units far and in between.”
“Not only is this game an ineffably boring walking simulator with inconsistent, flawed mechanics and boring side quests, but it also decided to break down on the last straight towards the end with random Unreal Engine crashes shortly after fights or during loading screens.”
“The gameplay is quite simplistic - again not terrible, or completely lacking merit, but not quite the experience you'd hope for when paying this much for a game.”
- music162 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its beauty and ability to enhance immersion, while others criticize its inconsistency and lack of presence during key moments, such as cutscenes. Many players feel that the soundtrack does not live up to the high standards set by previous titles in the series, often describing it as forgettable or lacking in variety. Overall, while there are standout tracks, the general consensus is that the music could benefit from more consistency and volume, as well as a greater variety of compositions.
“The music is truly beautiful and indescribable to the point of soothing and depth it holds.”
“The music fits the game very well, along with the sound effects from the surrounding biome.”
“Music and atmosphere is amazing, give me more of those tracks.”
“The world feels alive with a lot of NPCs talking about random things, but this is a budget game and the voice acting and music were bad.”
“But my absolute biggest grievance is the soundtrack or the lack of it.”
“Graphics are dull, story is uninspired, music is forgettable, combat is full of bad game design choices, puzzles are so trivial that they don’t deserve to be called puzzles, and exploration is tedious and tiresome.”
- humor74 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a significant departure from the charming and quirky humor of previous installments. While some appreciate the attempts at humor through witty dialogues and funny quests, others feel that the voice acting and overall tone have detracted from the experience, making it less playful and more serious. Despite these criticisms, there are still moments of humor that resonate, particularly in the form of amusing mechanics and character interactions, though they may not reach the memorable heights of earlier games in the series.
“The dry humor and added cheese throughout (e.g. voice acting and characters like Dwayne the treasure hunter) are true to King's Bounty form!”
“Omg, the mechanic of the movement is hilarious; you don't want to ride that stupid horse.”
“There are plenty of very funny and interesting stories, just like in the old King's Bounty series, but fully voice acted.”
- grinding70 mentions
- 3 % positive mentions
- 3 % neutral mentions
- 94 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, with slow movement and cumbersome navigation detracting from the experience. Many express dissatisfaction with the lack of meaningful grinding opportunities, as battles do not respawn and resource management feels overly burdensome. The exploration is often described as tedious due to hidden treasures and poor controls, leading to a gameplay experience that feels more like a chore than an engaging adventure.
“All the resources are hidden in out-of-the-way places on the map, so you can easily miss them if you don't tediously search.”
“They removed all the fun parts from previous games and made it tedious and boring.”
“The world treasure hunting is also just tedious and doesn't add anything to the game besides feeling like you need to look around every tree for that extra bit of gold.”
“Kings Bounty 2 is more visual novel/walking sim than turn-based strategy, and to be honest, that makes for pretty tedious gameplay.”
- optimization54 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 44 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players noting well-optimized graphics that run smoothly even on outdated PCs, while others report significant performance issues, including frame rate drops, crashes, and poor controls for keyboard and mouse. Many users criticize it as a lazy console port, highlighting a lack of graphical settings and persistent technical bugs. Despite some patches improving initial performance, serious optimization problems remain, leading to a generally unfavorable reception in this aspect.
“Well optimized beautiful graphics and environment even my outdated PC can handle.”
“It is also well optimized and runs pretty much bug-free which is refreshing these days.”
“The game runs smoothly for me, no tearing and glitching...”
“Also the game has a serious optimization problem and a lot of crashes and technical bugs; for example, sometimes the hero levitates, sometimes hits a small obstacle and cannot move, traveling with your horse is a pain, and much more.”
“There is a lot of stuttering and texture pops up... the performance is horrible even on high-tech RTX 3080 on PC... FPS varies from 100 FPS to even 45 FPS in a matter of seconds.”
“Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed is terrible optimization.”
- replayability52 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating the branching narratives, unique character classes, and diverse quest outcomes that encourage multiple playthroughs. However, some reviewers express disappointment in the lack of significant differences between runs and the absence of unique elements for each character, leading to a perception of limited replay value. Overall, while there are elements that enhance replayability, such as different ideologies and unit combinations, some players feel the game could benefit from more varied content to sustain long-term interest.
“The branching narrative and consequential choices add replayability and impact to the story.”
“With 3 characters having unique personalities and classes, 4 ideologies with different associated talent trees, dozens of different units, several different gear sets, dozens of different spells, and many quests that can be completed in different ways, there is a lot of replayability. I completed the game with all 3 characters and each playthrough definitely felt different.”
“I could rave for hours about this, but it is great and offers immense replayability with the various unit combinations of close combat units, flyers, ranged units, and spellcasters.”
“Replay value: I don't see much replay value (I finished kb1 games, all of them, at least 5 times each in order to check different story options, secrets, armies, etc.; will probably not finish kb2 a second time - at least not for a long time).”
“First of all: this game offers zero replay value.”
“It's also fairly short and doesn't have much replay value.”
- stability42 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 2 % neutral mentions
- 90 % negative mentions
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant bugs and glitches, particularly with quest mechanics and character movement. While some users have experienced a relatively bug-free experience, others have noted frequent issues that disrupt gameplay, such as getting stuck in the environment and UI problems. Overall, the game appears to have not fully resolved its stability issues even years after launch, leading to disappointment among players.
“No crashes, no glitches—just playing the game without fiddling with settings or looking for a workaround.”
“Aside from a little texture pop-in and object settling on loads, I've had a pretty bug-free experience as well.”
“No crashes, no glitches—just playing the game without fiddling with settings or looking for a workaround.”
“Overall, a huge disappointment, and I played it 2 years after it launched so by now it should’ve been fixed but instead it's filled with bugs and glitches.”
“A buggy shallow cash grab nowhere worth the AAA asking price of $50.00 plus tax.”
“Buggy as hell, sometimes you will get stuck and all you can do is just load your last saved game; if you liked the King's Bounty series, only buy this on discount.”
- atmosphere24 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its liveliness and immersive design, reminiscent of titles like "The Witcher" rather than its predecessor. Players appreciate the rich soundscapes, engaging NPC interactions, and the nostalgic visual style that evokes childhood memories, creating a captivating and memorable experience. Overall, the atmosphere enhances the gameplay, making players feel deeply connected to the world.
“The world feels alive; the atmosphere in the game is really great.”
“Because of the very unique atmosphere, the game makes you feel like you are playing Heroes of Might and Magic, but instead of the bird's eye view, you actually get to be in that world up close and personal, which adds a very immersive feeling to the gameplay.”
“It's like I returned to my childhood with this fabulous atmosphere and warm visual style.”
“Overall atmosphere reminds of 'Witcher' rather than the original game.”
“No atmosphere of the kind fairy-tale that KB1 was.”
“Both music and sounds are all well done and fit the world atmosphere and the setting of specific areas.”
- character development14 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
Character development in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the impact on playstyle and storyline, while others criticize the lack of depth and flexibility, feeling that it is overly constrained by faction choices. Additionally, there are complaints about insufficient exposition and party interaction, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, while some elements of character development are praised, many players express a desire for more robust and engaging character interactions.
“They did sometimes in old ones too, but here you have actual impact on your playstyle and character development.”
“On the positive, I felt the character development, storyline, and quality were good.”
“I wish there was more character development or party interaction.”
“-lack of flexibility in character development (character development now based on the side you join. good for roleplay, bad for gameplay. still not sure this is bad tho)”
“Even graphics, level and character design, music and acting are pretty bad.”
- emotional12 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game receives mixed feedback, with some players noting moments of strong voice acting and a beautifully crafted world, while others criticize the overall story as boring and lacking emotional depth. Many express a desire for a more engaging narrative that fosters player attachment and believability, particularly in a story-driven RPG. The inconsistency in voice acting quality further detracts from the emotional experience, leaving players wanting more.
“Overall, very wholesome; a lot of time was put into it.”
“While I agree about big spikes in the quality of the voice acting (at times you have situations where the voice acting is really emotional, fitting, and well spoken), those spikes can easily be ignored, as the world as a whole is beautifully crafted with quite some love to the details.”
“The main story is pretty interesting at the beginning, and I hope they will work on it more/rewrite some of it to make the player emotionally attached to it, make it believable, and give me real reasons why I want to experience it more (especially since a lot of the game is a story-driven RPG).”
- monetization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The monetization of the game is criticized as a "buggy shallow cash grab" that fails to justify its AAA price of $50.00, with users noting a lack of effective advertising and a perceived attempt by developers to obscure the game's quality.
“A buggy, shallow cash grab nowhere near worth the AAA asking price of $50.00 plus tax.”
“The game's major problem is that the devs tried to hide gameplay of their good game for no apparent reason, and there was almost no advertisement done.”
