As the latest entry of the Seven Knights game franchise by Netmarble, Seven Knights: Revolution caught quite the attention in Korea when it first launched weeks ago. Fairly described and advertised as an MMORPG, the game inherits the beautiful graphics from its predecessors and takes it to the next level with intricate storytelling that features the franchise’s signature heroes. While Netmarble has revealed plans to take Seven Knights: Revolution to the global market, we have an in-depth review to see if Seven Knights Revolution stands up to its high expectation.
▍A Beautifully Presentation of Story with 3D Animation
Seven Knights: Revolution is not a standalone title in the Seven Knights franchise as it takes inspiration from both the universe of Seven Knights 1 and Seven Knights 2. The premise of the story is quite simple as players are greeted and reunited with their favorite heroes from the Seven Knights universe like Rachel, Rudy, Eileen, etc. Players are greeted by a gorgeous cinematic animation, where you could learn the background of the story even if you have not played any games from the franchise before.
The cinematic movie follows you as the protagonist as you live a peaceful life along with your friends in the kingdom until a sudden chaos strikes. Large hordes of evil forces and dragons strike the attack, burning the places down. The cinematic movie also takes you to a quick tutorial on how the combat system works, where players will be able to transform into different heroes with special cards.
During the battles, you will meet the Seven Knights’ heroes Rudy, who offers a helping hand by freezing enemies that stand in her way. However, even with the help of the heroes, it doesn’t stop the invasion. The war ends in tragedy as a mighty golem spawns the walls of the castle and crushes your friends. Devastated in despair, you started your journey to save the chaotic world.
▍Hack ‘N’ Slash Gameplay
The combat system is what makes an MMORPG interesting as it is the core gameplay that distinguishes the game from the other competitors. With a traditional hack ‘n’ slash gameplay, the combat of Seven Knights: Revolution actually felt quite laggy and brutally sluggish for a fast-paced MMO that spawns large mobs of enemies every few seconds.
The sluggishness of the combat might be fixed in future updates, but it definitely hindered the current experience. Regardless of the pace, the combat mechanics are quite standard. Players control their character, who has four customizable active skills, and summon the Seven Knights heroes to slash the enemies with a huge blow. You can also train your avatar to be proficient in a variety of weapons from gauntlets, guns, spears, swords, shields, and more to devastate the opponents.
The skill-based mechanics also have a dash button that allows players to dodge attacks. The enemy attacks are marked by red indicators and they also make sounds, to give players an idea of where to dodge the attacks and negate damage.
Apart from the standard fighting, players can also conceive spells to provide a boost to their character or simply crowd-control the enemies. Seven Knights: Revolution does focus on the elemental system and the non-targetable skills of heroes, which separate the game from its rivals but it is not something innovative if you’ve played games under different genres. It is particularly disappointing as its choppy performance largely obstructs the supposedly speedy combat experience.
▍Collect Your Favourite Seven Knight Heroes!
One of the best aspects of Seven Knights: Revolution is its transformation system where players are not limited to a specific class or weapon as seen in other major MMORPGs. Players can easily switch between characters with the help of Hero Cards, which transform the current character into the hero that the player summoned.
Players can obtain their favorite Seven Knights heroes with the gacha system. Apart from the signature heroes, the game also launched with over 20 new original characters for the joy of collectors. Players can add up to three Hero Cards in their deck, so that they can switch between different heroes to cope with different enemies. This also gives a certain depth to the combat system, while you will have to keep the elemental weakness and skills buff in your head.
▍A Vast Open-World with Auto-Pathing
Thanks to the powerful Unreal Engine 4, it’s always a pleasure to take a walk in the world of Seven Knights: Revolution highlighted by a vivid and beautiful natural environment. Players can roam around the world and visit different terrains that are aptly marked on the World map. A teleport system is also in place, akin to many other mobile MMORPGs, to help players save time in traveling. The game does give a detailed introduction to each of the characters as players progress through the main storyline. This is done by simply clicking on the yellow highlighted text on the top left-hand side under Mission.
Yes, the game has an extensive auto-pathing system, but players are strongly recommended to disable this feature if they have an interest in discovering the map on their own. Netmarble might be one of those companies that refuse to remove auto-combat from its games. Seven Knights: Revolution is no such exception as players auto-combat as well to grind the different resources present in the different areas of the game.
▍Seven Knights: Revolution Really Needs More Multiplayer Content
Seven Knights: Revolution is one of those niche titles that the fans of the Seven Knights franchise will definitely feel familiar with. However, I hope it could put efforts into developing more MMO content as the progression of the game feels very linear and it offers very little multiplayer content for you to challenge with other online players or friends. Netmarble has said to implement a Guild system in the future but for now, players can only take part in limited co-op battles.
