The Witcher meets Final Fantasy in this RPG you can play with friends

Amazon’s RPG feels like a decent starting point for those who fancy trying an MMO for the first time.

During Summer Game Fest, I got to try Throne & Liberty, the latest RPG/MMO that takes players to a fantasy world full of ghouls, goblins and other fantasy creatures for some team-based fun.

Check out the trailer for Throne & Liberty below

After a hands-on session with the game, I got to team-up with several other players online and go through one of the main dungeons, hacking and slashing at every monster I came across.

Before that though, I had to create my character, and boy oh boy were there a lot of options to choose from. There are your standard brawlers, your big guys with massive swords, archers, mages, the lot, all with their own unique abilities and weapons. It’s important to choose a class that’ll best reflect your preferred play style, but I was regularly informed that you’re not locked in to one class over another, you can switch and swap as you go.

If that’s the case, why bother settling on one class over another? Well in Throne & Liberty, your progression is tied to your performance in the game, not a convoluted skill-tree that sees you farming points to unlock a new power.

If you like to hang back with the archer build and provide covering fire for your allies, you’ll grow stronger with every arrow you let fly, and you can, of course, pick up and upgrade new weapons and gear, like armour, rings and other goodies.

I really vibed with this way of progressing, and it gave me Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vibes where I could focus on a playstyle that suited me but at the same time be equally rewarded for trying new ones.

Amazon

Something else I really vibed with was the traversal. During my play session, I was informed that our characters could transform into various animals as a method of travel. The “sprint” feature turned you into a dog, and if you jumped off something tall, you could turn into a bird to safely glide to your destination. You’ll even turn into an otter when you fall into water, which is a lot better than painstakingly paddling to your destination.

Once I’d picked up the basics and eyed up the PvP area, it was time to embark into one of the game’s multiplayer dungeons, which felt like exactly what an RPG fan would want.

Combat felt pretty good, albeit a bit simplistic. Your character basically attacks for you, so the only thing you need to do is make sure they’re locked on to an enemy, circle them so they can’t hit back, and occasionally unleash a powerful move.

These moves range from heavy strikes to ranged volleys, healing etc, and they’re all on a cooldown. This means unleashing them all at once is pretty ill-advised whereas timing them appropriately should yield the best rewards.

Upon defeating enemies you’ll get whatever weapon experience you got from your attacks, as well as whatever goodies the enemies dropped, which are shared equally throughout the group. This is regardless of whether you actually attacked the enemy or not, which I thought was a nice touch since it means less-confident or skilled players can still be rewarded for participation.

Amazon

I didn’t get to try PvP, but I’m told it functions similarly to most RPG/MMOs. You’ll only fight players you choose to, meaning no one can rock up and demolish you for your hard-earned loot, you’ll have to show violence back in order to actually engage in a battle. These can be done one-on-one, or more fittingly as a group.

All in all, I found Throne & Liberty to be a delightful look at a solid RPG, and one I can see both casual and hardcore fans getting behind.

There’s a lot of competition in the market right now but I think Amazon’s game does enough to stand out from the crowd, and I can imagine it being supported for a very long time with post-launch updates.