DK Online (Dragon Knights) is the latest offering from free-to-play publishing giant Aeria Games, publishers of Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine and even Battlefield Heroes. Billing itself as a heavily PvP-oriented world, with large guild battles and castle sieges. It has intrigued me so far, but doesn’t seem to have any staying power.
I logged right into the game, met by flashy character creation and colourful artwork. There are four races in the game, and lo and behold, they’re gender locked. Humans (Male), Elves (Female, Lycans (Male) and the Felynx (Female). It’s disappointing that these are gender locked, as I wasn’t really expecting it after playing recent releases of this kind. This is the same with classes as well. Sorceress is locked to Elves, Shadowmage to Felynx, Warrior to all and Paladin to Humans and Lycans. I’m beginning to see the usual suspects, as it were.
)
Jumping straight into the game your character is placed on a starting island, much like the Isle of Dawn in TERA. Here you complete a series of quests which progress you through the island and teach you the core mechanics of the game. Nothing new here.
Graphically the DKO isn't anything special, but the style it is presented in, is colourful and creative and I am interested to see how this flows throughout the game. Combat is traditional, right click to attack, with skills binded to the number keys. The action certainly looks good, along with the colourful skills adding to it. Character progression is handled through a point-spending talent tree; each class has two different trees. From what I have played so far, each tree is offensive and defensive based. Additionally a significant spell is gained every level milestone; these buffs stay casted until cancelled and significantly improve stats such as attack speed or spell power.
)
DK Online doesn’t look like it has the staying power, but its style has intrigued me. From looking at what I’m yet to discover, there are a few features (such as castle sieges and the shape shifting system) which show DKO has the potential to be a great time-waster. Can it be anything more? It doesn’t look likely.
Check back in the coming weeks for our full review!
- Read a PvP developer diary
- Find out more about the Shadowmage
- Learn about the Warrior
