Royal Quest

Game overview

Royal quest is a free to play isometric ARPG MMO that offers a fresh perspective in the genre with its action combat mechanic. The game features a linear quest progression system, but is dull in variety and can often feel repetitive and grindy. End-game is where Royal Quest truly shines, with fun and exciting dungeons and PVP modes that are large in scale.

The graphics are also a positive, with cartoon art styles and color tones that are lighthearted and fun. The game's community is also thriving, with plenty of in-game events and player markets. Overall, Royal Quest is a good action RPG MMO that deserves a shot, especially since it costs absolutely nothing.

➔ Main points:

• Satisfying action based combat that stands out for an MMO
• Fun end-game content such as dungeons and PVP
• Large maps and a colorful and vibrant world
• Thriving player community that makes socializing fun

Trailer

Full review

Adventure Awaits

Royal Quest is a free to play, top-down action RPG MMO that's published by Katauri Interactive that can be played through Steam. When players first begin, they will be greeted by a vibrant character creator that actually doesn't hold back, and offers plenty of varied customization choices which is fantastic. There are four classes in the game and players can choose to be a Warrior, Archer, Rogue or Mage. While they are stereotypical in definition, each of the four classes are uniquely fun to play in their own way, and it really boils down to the player's preferred play style.

The first thing players will notice when entering the world is how large the map really is. Royal Quest has many different zones and play areas that consist of well designed biomes. There's jungles, caves and towns that are separated by singular loading screens, so it's nice to see a free to play game be ambitious with the scale and design of its world. The tutorial does a decent job at introducing you to the basics, and while it's short and sweet, gameplay functions are as you'd expect from an MMO. With that freedom, you are now free to explore the world and begin your adventure, with a catch. That catch appears in the form of linear progression, where you must follow the main story arc which will lead you on from area to area.

The Combat System

One of the first things that you'll be doing in Royal Quest is engaging in combat, and being an MMORPG, there's plenty of loose monsters and critters to kill on your journeys. While Tab-targeting exists, combat is drastically different compared to other MMOs because of its action style dynamic that's similar to games like Diablo III and Path of Exile. The best thing about the combat is that it works in-tandem with the top-down view and the skill bar, which makes executing moves satisfyingly fun and familiar especially if you are a fan of the action RPG genre. Your character also gains skill points and specialization points per level, which will be used to spend in trees to unlock active and passive abilities to grow your character.

An equally satisfying aspect of combat is the loot system. Just like those legendary games, loot drops dramatically on the ground in scattered formations once you've killed a mob, and you need to left click on each of them to pick it up. This mechanic is a welcome addition that once again, tries to make players remember the glory days of ARPGs, and for the most part it works. The buzzkill in this is that the variety and design of the loot is lackluster, so you will often find yourself picking up a similar looking weapon every few levels but with better stats.

The best thing about the combat is that it works in-tandem with the top-down view and the skill bar, which makes executing moves satisfyingly fun and familiar especially if you are a fan of the action RPG genre

Developing Your Character

Traditional questing forms the main bulk of character development, with each quest granting experience points, and killing monsters on those quests will further award bonus experience as well. While most MMOs tend to diversify their questing systems, Royal Quest disappointingly doesn't. The game uses too much of the dull formula that players will easily get tired of, such as fetch quests and kill quests. As players progress further, the quests sadly doesn't get more interesting and tends to use the same mechanics you've already seen from levels before. There is also a main story quest that arcs through the game, and for the most part it's good thanks to it's witty but sometimes silly writing. The same however, cannot be said for the side quests in the game, which just feels like they were added in as an afterthought for content padding.

Outside of questing, there are several other ways to progress your character. There's crafting for better equipment and alchemy that enhances the stats of both crafting gear and gear drops from the world. Gear and equipment will play an important part in Royal Quest, so it's definitely a good idea to upgrade whenever possible, especially to prepare for the end-game content. The end-game content in Royal Quest is probably the best part about the game. For players who stick around long enough, they can indulge in dungeon runs with groups or get competitive in several PVP modes such as battlegrounds and arenas. What's exciting about PVP is that it is large in scale, and has Castle wars that pits you and your guild against another to capture and conquer castles. The dungeons are no pushovers either, offering challenging but fun bosses and fights that truly feels at home in bigger MMOs.

A Colorful World

The best MMOs tend to create vibrant and lively worlds that complements the core gameplay, and it's easy to see that Royal Quest has put some effort into making the world believable. For an isometric RPG, the graphics are pretty to look at and the cartoon art style gives the game an Asian look that will appeal to most players. Perhaps the most striking thing about Royal Quest is the color tones that sets the mood, going for a light-hearted adventure feel in contrast to darker games like Diablo. From a presentation point of view, the soundtrack is the only disappointment as the game uses only a handful of music themes which seems to loop over again and one can't help but feel annoyed by this.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Royal Quest is a fun free to play action RPG MMO that tries to put the lightheartedness back into the genre, and it somewhat succeeds with its colorful world and satisfying combat system. Unfortunately, the game is held back by its poor variety of quests which leads to grind and repetition that can affect your enthusiasm to play for prolonged periods. If you have the perseverance to stick with it till the higher levels, players will be rewarded with more fun things to do at end-game that can mitigate the bore, such as dungeons, PVP and guilds. Royal Quest definitely deserves a shot, especially if you like Asian style MMOs and are tired of the usual combat systems that aren't as satisfying as those on offer with action RPG type games.

Ready to enter the world of Royal Quest? Click here to play now!

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Review summary

1. Adventure Awaits
2. The Combat System
3. Developing Your Character
4. A Colorful World
5. Conclusion