They say an Englishman’s home is his castle (for those of you who aren’t English, or male, please leave a comment and tell me what your home is). Unfortunately, I don’t live in a castle – but through the magic of computers I can feel, in some small way, the joy of being surrounded by large stone walls.
King Arthur’s Gold lets you build and destroy castles. There are a variety of game modes: Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Take the Halls (which involves capturing points). Players can choose from three classes: builder, archer, and knight. Builders can mine resources and build structures while protecting objectives and creating tunnels under enemy defences. Builders can place blocks, doors, traps, ladders, and various workshops. Workshops allow other players to buy siege engines, heal themselves, and build tunnels.
Archers are armed with a bow and arrow and provide long range damage. Aiming shots requires timing and precision as the flight of your arrows will vary widely depending on how long you hold your shot. Knights specialise in melee combat – they start with a sword and a shield, but they can also use bombs. The shield can be used for protection as well as a parachute when held over the head. Sword attacks require timing to deal maximum damage, and if you properly time your clicks, you can create combo attacks.
Rounds in King Arthur’s Gold usually start with allocated building time. During this time, players cannot advance too far toward the enemy base; instead, they must focus on creating defences for the oncoming attack. At the start of the game, defences can be very well organised. However, things get more chaotic as you go further into the game. Blocks are destructible, so neatly organised defences quickly lose their structure – especially when they are hit with a boulder. Classes can be changed at any point by returning to the home base so that bases can be repaired by builders.
The pixel art in King Arthur’s Gold gives the game a retro feel, as does the music. The lighting effects add to the mood, so that when you’re underground, you do feel hidden, lost, and slightly alone.
King Arthur’s Gold creates a good combination of combat and creative building. The need for correct aim and proper timing makes the combat difficult for beginners – but overall the game is forgiving for new players, as there’s always something fun to do. If you’d like to find out more about King Arthur’s Gold, click here to visit the website.
Overall Rating:
A PC review copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose.
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