Monster Knight Chronicles Wars

10,000 years before the original game takes place, there was a period of strife known as the Dogma Wars. This struggle is between the Yshrenian Empire who are harnessing the power of the Knights in a bid to conquer the world, and the Athwani Mage Kingdom who are trying to stop them. These events would shape history to come in the Monster Knight Chronicles Wars saga, and Knight Chronicles: Origins tells the story of the unsung heroes who lived through this period of unrest, only to be forgotten in the annals of time. Like Monster Knight Chronicles, you'll spend much of your time in Origins operating from a central-hub; a contrived steam-punk train that includes all of the staples of a traditional RPG town. There are shops, black-smiths and a few NPCs to interact with. It's a closed environment that forgoes the kind of sprawling environments typically featured in a game of this kind. Origins plays a touch like an MMO, with a sequence of attacks assigned to a menu at the bottom of the screen. During battle you'll automatically lock onto foes and perform moves depending on your selected ability. You'll need to keep your attack bar populated with the appropriate balance of skills to succeed in battle. Unfortunately there's very little framework to these battles because the narrative is threadbare at best. The game does very little to contextualise quests, settling for little more than "he's evil" justifications. The reward of XP and upgraded equipment is enough to keep you interested though. Origins is not a lonely experience, and can be played online in four-player co-op or offline with AI partners. Both options result in the gameplay feeling less solitary than it would otherwise, with new AI characters frequently proposing themselves for recruitment, and new quests designed to improve your team dynamic.