Last time I visited Ndoors Interactive’s free-to-play 2D sidescrolling MMO, WonderKing, was back in January when the game was still in beta testing and heading into launch. Fast forward three months later and the developers are on the precipice of adding PvP to the game in the form of “Battlefields.”

The initial offering of PvP in WonderKing will be pretty barebones, but functional. The Battlefields system allows players level 15 and above to teleport from wherever they are to what basically amounts to a public lobby, where they can then speak to an NPC in order to arrange a PvP match. The Battlefields themselves consist of three 90 second rounds between two opponents across an initial offering of four maps. Players simply approach the designated NPC and either create or join an existing room. Of course, you can invite other players to join you as well. As I mentioned earlier, the initial implementation of PvP will be fairly barebones, allowing only for 1v1 combat, and without any sort of rewards system in place, well, aside from ranks, which are purely cosmetic. The developers at Ndoors Interactive are really enthusiastic about PvP in WonderKing, however, and they intend to add further incentives for players to want to participate in PvP. Of course, they also intend to expand on the available maps and game types as well. In the interim, Ndoors Interactive will be running a number of events centered on Battlefields that will allow players to earn item mall cash or specific item mall items.

We ran into a number of technical difficulties during the preview that made it nearly impossible to get into a match after awhile, but luckily I was able to get some hands on time with the Battlefields before things got wonky. I admit I’m a pretty big fan of fighting games, and one of the Ndoors people described the system as drawing inspiration from your traditional Street Fighter game and it shows. While abilities, gear, and levels play a role as WonderKing is an RPG, your ability to move, react, and dodge can make or break your performance in PvP. Players can dash around, double jump, and string together combinations of moves against their opponents. In my particular case, I played a Saint (which is a sub-class of the Priest class), and I had a number of bread-and-butter combinations that earned me some pretty decisive victories. The combos didn’t blow me away, as they essentially boiled down to stunning or freezing my opponent in a block of ice and then mauling them, but it was engaging nonetheless. It’s all a bit simple – but it should prove to be an interesting distraction when you’re not feeling up to the grind.

The Battlefields PvP system is set to make its debut on April 28, so start practicing your combos to ensure you’re ready to throw down later this week!