King's Bounty II Reviews
Manage to get through King’s Bounty II‘s battles, though, and you’ll be rewarded with engaging exploration and a decent narrative that leaves you wanting to find out more about the fate of the world you’re in. Despite not looking great, it truly is a world that begs to be explored. Unfortunately, many of the battles are simply too unforgiving and frustrating to encourage you to keep going. Reloading an old save again and again isn’t fun and ultimately, it’s hard to recommend King’s Bounty II – unless you genuinely do enjoy getting defeated again and again.
Although it tries to innovate, King's Bounty II makes several mistakes. Only the most hardcore fans of the genre will be able to take advantage of its excellent combat.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
This is one of those titles that, when you see a well-cut trailer for it, jumps out as having some real potential...
King’s Bounty II has all the ingredients of a great strategy game but is held back by a counterintuitive UI and generic story elements. While the overworld offers a beautiful open environment to explore, often there’s not enough there to hold your attention as a player, and you’ll find yourself wandering around aimlessly. Added to this is that your character’s travel is particularly slow, the game has a sleepy pace at times that holds the overall experience back. While its strategy battles feature some interesting ideal mechanics that might appeal to die-hard fans of the franchise, if you’re looking for a broad roleplaying strategy experience, King’s Bounty II might not be the best fit for you.
I think King’s Bounty II falls down slightly in its core game design. Especially the narrative and the RPG elements of it feel stifled and a grind. To me, King’s Bounty II feels like a game that wants to take inspiration from titles like The Witcher 3 with new discoveries and adventures around every corner. But it doesn’t quite hit the mark with its mediocre storyline and wooden characters and semi-linear world. The combat, while tough and unforgiving, I did find enjoyable as I like a good challenge. King’s Bounty II is one of those games I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it one way or the other as it has as many good points as bad points so for that reason King’s Bounty II scores…
King’s Bounty II is excellent, and much like The Witcher 3, having this thing on the Switch, portable, and playable wherever is very much worth dealing with the drop in visual fidelity. Hugely expansive in scope, and deeply traditional as a fantasy RPG, for fans of fantasy RPGs, King’s Bounty II is a rough gem in so many ways, and the lack of budget compared to what the big guns can achieve is evident at every step. Ultimately, however, that tactical combat system is impossible to put down.
"King's Bounty II is built on the nostalgia of the good old days Strategies and modern ambitions. It is a good mixture but sometimes it seems that the game doesn't know which way it's moving. In the end, i should say King's Bounty II is a good choice for strategy fans."
Review in Persian | Read full review
Drastic changes to gameplay can be good, as proven by God of War. Unfortunately, King’s Bounty 2 turns out merely an underwhelming experiment. In the past, we got a series of good tactical RPGs focused on combat, seasoned with some character building. Right now, we get a subpar imitation of The Witcher 3, where battles are just a minor addition.
Review in Polish | Read full review
King's Bounty II has its ups and downs and tries too hard to please everyone. The world is well made and enjoyable to explore, but there is just too few combat encounters for a game that should act as a fusion of the turn-based strategy and RPG genres.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
If you ever wondered what a western JRPG would look and feel like, King’s Bounty II is kinda it.
The idea is there, but the execution is heavily flawed at every step of the way. The game features good elements but they are buried in so much mediocrity that you have to strain to point them out from the bland mass. King's Bounty 2 would have fit right in if it had been released a few years ago. But at this point, the game came too late to offer anything new or outstanding among the plethora of RPG and strategy titles released since.
With a bit more time and budget, King’s Bounty II could have been one of the pinnacles of the fantasy medieval genre. The turn-based combat is deep, rewarding and challenging (though sometimes unfairly balanced), while the world of Nostria is artistically interesting and well-realised. If only the developers had been afforded the time and money to actually get the title running properly to overcome all the technical problems. The story is lacklustre with shamefully bad dialogue and voice acting, with everything other than the core combat system feeling under-developed and lacking the quality of life elements that have become the norm. King’s Bounty II ends up a decent prize, but a rather hollow haul of treasure that had so much more potential – a bounty more fit for a nobleman than a king.
If you fancy yourself some King's Bounty, go and replay The Legend along with its expansions. Sadly, that's the best thing you can do at the moment to satisfy that particular hunger.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The more I played the game, the less magical it felt.
A poor story, writing and performances coupled with outdated quest design make King's Bounty II a tough game to play through. Turn-based battles are enjoyable but can't make up for the game's numerous issues.
I'm enjoying it as much as I have any of the previous games and I'm nearly 70 hours in so I'd say it's pretty decent value for money. I suspect most people (certainly myself) have become used to being able to pick up the other games in the series for about $5 or so on special… so having a new game in the series come out at full price seems a bit harsh… but it's pretty reasonable considering how much gameplay there is here and how much of a technological advancement it is (but yes… you can still get a bit stuck on scenery if you walk/ride the wrong way on/off something… so some things never change).
Even without polished graphics and seeming to be from the last generation, King's Bounty II is still a great evolution for a franchise with more than thirty years that still carries on with its strategic essence intact.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
King's Bounty fans will find a much different game compared to its predecessors, and not all changes are for the best. Still, there's enjoyment to be found in the new chapter of the series, especially when it comes to the battlefield.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Janky in all aspects, King’s Bounty II can be a worthy new entry for long-time fans or a terrible idea. If you’re considering this, just keep in mind that it’s rough around the edges.