Tiger Knight: Empire War Review

Tiger Knight: Empire War is a free-to-play Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) strategy title developed by NetDragon Websoft and published by Oasis Games. Currently it is in early access stage with new content added regularly. It is staged in the Warring States period of Chinese history, and is mainly PVP-oriented but also features PVE clashes of epic proportions.

Before entering the game, there are two separate tutorials which will explain the basic controls and aspects of battle together with tips on how to manage your troops, plus they will reward you with experience and items upon completion. Then it’s time for the character creation process which has a plethora of available choices so as to come up with a unique-looking hero.

This a battle-focused title with action-based combat where positioning, timely use of abilities and quick reflexes will give you the advantage; fight scenes involve big numbers of soldiers hacking down each other, rivers of blood, screams of wounded soldiers and horses, sounds of explosions and everything else that will give you the feeling of the mayhem of a real battlefield of the era. Graphics could use a little polish but manage to look good; one must not forget that the game is still in development.

There are three Chinese factions currently available with another one scheduled to be released (Rome); each one features specialized troops that excel in certain combat roles and also adjutants, exceptional characters with unique skills and abilities that help your troops in battle. Of course, above all is your hero, the supreme General who guides and aids your soldiers in combat; the death or capture of a General is the event that decides the outcome of a match.

PVP game modes are currently three, namely Command, Duel and Time-limited Battlefield and all offer you the chance to kill enemy players while trying to meet certain objectives and earn great reward in the process! PVE action revolves around large scale co-op matches where five players try to capture heavily fortified positions defended by computer-controlled troops. There are two maps currently that depict real battles from the era.

Tiger Knight: Empire War has some optimization issues, sometimes suffer from lag, has graphics that sometimes seem outdated and there are limited maps, but it seems fun and very promising; after all, it’s a work in progress!