King's Bounty 2 - Switch Review

Much like a fusion of western RPGs (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) and tactic RPGs (Heroes of Might & Magic), King’s Bounty 2 is the long-awaited sequel to a 31-year-old game. Choose one of three characters to follow the game’s story to save the world from a blight that brings with it monsters and destruction. There may be bigger budgeted titles around which look more polished but within the rough jank on display is a game that has true passion behind it. So develop your strategies with those wrinkled brains as we take a dive into King’s Bounty 2.

The Good

The unfortunate aspect of a lot of western RPGs is that there is a lot of pressure from publishers to include certain mechanics or rush a games launch, à la CyberPunk 2077. Fortunately, King's Bounty 2 feels like the devs were able to complete their initial vision.

I've always enjoyed the fantasy genre and King's Bounty 2 just slides right into my DMs with its world and tactics turn-based combat. The world is expansive to explore, with side quests to discover and new friends to make along the way - and isn't making friends along the way the real treasure. Much like The Witcher 3, it is a genuinely impressive feat to see King's Bounty 2 running on the switch, especially in handheld mode. That's not to say that there aren't issues to touch on but most of them are minor and to be expected on a switch version of a game this size.

TL;DR

• True to vision
• Expansive fantasy journey
• Technically impressive

The Bad

Unfortunately, passion and dreams can only take you so far as a game’s production is restricted by its budget. This is mostly noticeable in the King’s Bounty 2’s presentation; characters have awkward facial expressions and the voice acting is questionable at best. There was a character during the tutorial whose eyes would not uncross; safe to say, it was a distraction from the game’s intended immersion. In addition, the main character's voice for the mage felt as though the director was on holiday at the time of recording.

Moving around the world feels slow and clunky, even when on horse (the quickest option for movement). This artificially drags out gameplay time, leading to boredom with travel and exploration which should otherwise be fun. King’s Bounty 2 also suffers from difficulty spikes spread throughout, resulting in negatively impacting a player's progress as they’re forced to grind a lot.

TL;DR

• Visually lacklustre
• Slow movement
• Difficulty spikes

Final Score: 7/10

What we have here is a game that, with some more polish and a larger budget, would have been a strong entry in the RPG genre. However, it is held back by a handful of relatively standard issues which would be expectedly fixed in a third instalment, which I have my fingers crossed for as there is a lot of fun to be had in King’s Bounty 2. Overall, I’m excited to see if they expand upon the building blocks that have been placed here as it’s refreshing to see such an expansive title in the tactics genre.

Thanks you for checking out our King's Bounty 2 switch review, thank you to Koch Media for providing the review code and thank you to our $5 and up Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt

For more reading, check out our review of Cosmic Express.