King Arthur: Legion IX Preview

As the reviewer for King Arthur: Knight's Tale two years ago, I was offered the opportunity to check out the new DLC-turned-full-game King Arthur: Legion IX. This new release by NeocoreGames sees you returning to Avalon, though this time around, you'll see this unique island through the legion that recently escaped Tartarus — the Ninth Legion, spearheaded by Gaius Julius Mento.

Set to release sometime in Q1 2024, Legion IX is the follow-up to NeocoreGames' highly enjoyable King Arthur: Knight's Tale. As a successor to that, it carries the same energy and spirit, though with some improvements that are obvious from the get-go. Throughout the preview, I was able to check out the first two missions that lead up to the new base of operations — named Nova Roma — and try out about a dozen fights with four different characters in my party.

The game starts up with the Legion IX Cinematic Reveal Trailer we got to see a few months ago when the game was still meant to be aDLC, which introduces us to the new protagonists of the entire experience. As leader of the Ninth Legion, you will play as Gaius Julius Mento and a few of the legionnaires who were able to follow him out of Rome's underworld. Though the rest of his legion isn't dead, only a handful managed to escape, and you'll have a limited army to take control of this new land — something that has previously never stopped Rome in the first place.

The story so far is definitely intriguing and has an obviously different approach to King Arthur: Knight's Tale, though not one I know whether I like more or not. The new protagonist is definitely friendlier and a welcome face in contrast to Mordred, whom I critiqued in the previous game for having a somewhat obnoxious personality at times. However, despite the superior protagonist, I do miss the focused approach that the last game had at this point — your quest in Legion IX is less pronounced or avant-garde. Your objective overall feels less motivating and powerful than the previous entry, but the new characters are definitely a welcome experience.

Gameplay-wise, it's had no changes, for better and worse. Combat takes centre stage as the best upgrade thus far, with the abilities present even within the first two quests offering a slew of advanced techniques and strategies that divert from the previous game’s, which felt mostly like meaty men wielding weapons and slamming away until someone — you or them — died. The beginning spells already feel great to play with and offer a wide range of strategies, and synergies feel far more prominent, showing that NeocoreGames learned what ticked in King Arthur: Knight's Tale's combat and also what didn't fit so well, which was a welcome change to Legion IX.

Every battle is still very much focused on objective-based gameplay rather than full-scale war. Like last time, fighting endlessly against waves of monsters hasn’t been an uncommon happenstance, and instead, you’re oft facing enemies whilst having to complete objectives, usually being at a disadvantage and each battle seeming perilous should you not complete them. It does offer a different approach, where you can focus on objectives and have the rest of the party endure until the end, but given its combat thus far has been highly enjoyable, not having the need to exterminate everyone and instead focus on objectives solely did manage to feel a tad disappointing at times. I wanted to fight, and I wanted to kill everyone because the abilities were very fun to use, but focusing on objectives meant it was more of an endurance battle than anything else.

It’s worth noting that it did feel like NeocoreGames is expecting everyone to know more about the genre or franchise before starting up this experience. Legion IX does little to introduce you to the gameplay elements, and how much I was able to surmise because of my experience with their previous title or because of common sense, I’m not entirely sure. There are definitely a lot of tutorials that I felt were missing, and that can be a good thing when you already know what to do, but granted it is being turned into a full title to accommodate for newcomers and make it more accessible, it feels like the lack of tutorials is accomplishing the opposite of that effect thus far.

However, one of my favourite elements is still back (and one of the few that I did catch a tutorial for): exploration. After finishing every mission and battle, you can still explore and find valuables, from loot to potions to gold, and it’s still very encouraged to find an alternate entrance to fight against enemies. It’s specifically highlighted in one of the battles, where you get to sneak up on a group of enemies if you explore well enough — this was one of my favourite features in the previous game, and seeing it return (and seemingly more common) is a welcome addition to this sequel.

In this title, you'll be tasked with taking over Avalon and turning it into Nova Roma for all of the Romans and the Ninth Legion, and so far, it seems the choices are actually focused on which Roman god you choose to worship. In this entry, your options are from Vesta, the Goddess of Home, or Orcus, the God of Dead (a pretty clear-cut "good vs evil" choice if you ask me). I was unable to check how this will affect the gameplay, as Nova Roma opens up immediately after the preview ends, meaning that world-building and the sort of choices you'll be able to make are still hidden in obscurity.

This does mean that the Morality Chart seems to be more focused on choosing only between two morals rather than four, a step down from King Arthur: Knight's Tale. Though this was one of my favourite systems in the original, it's not something I'm opposed to, especially considering that this sequel was supposed to be a DLC at first — I'm expecting content to be relatively short compared to the former, fuller original title.

Though I sound uncertain, bear no doubt — I quite liked what I got to see of Legion IX for the short experience I had. I expect it to be a much smaller title in terms of scope, which doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but the combat and setting are already promising for someone who enjoyed the original. With every character having spells that felt like fun synergies to play with and everyone feeling like they have a lot of use on the battlefield, I look forward to seeing how combat advances as we get to see more into Nova Roma, and I'm hopeful that combat will be much better this time around.

But before we do that, we'll have to wait until the release of the game, coming later this year! If you're already a fan of King Arthur: Knight's Tale, King Arthur: Legion IX is shaping up to be a no-brainer.