Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom Q&A

When Blueside Studios announced last year that the next games in its Kingdom Under Fire series would be an action-oriented role-playing game rather than a real-time strategy sequel, many fans were quick to express their disappointment on message boards and forums. Of course, very little was known about Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom at that time, but with every new morsel of information that's released, it seems that more of the series' faithful are converted. Blueside Studios takes player feedback very seriously, as director Henry Lee explained to us during a recent interview.

GameSpot: How has development been going since the last time we saw the game?

Henry Lee: We're onto the final brushing-up/composition stage. It's almost literally evolving into a whole new, different game each day. Especially on the visual side, it's become a lot better than how it looked during the early phases.

GS: What did you think of user feedback to your announcement?

HL: Well, the most singular, prominent piece of feedback we received was, "Awww, why can't I command hordes of troops this time?" It was a bit of a shock to realize that there are so many people out there who still enjoy our previous games…more than we imagined, especially "Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders."

In Circle of Doom you'll control a single character rather than an army.

Although you don't get to control hordes of troops this time, the game will still keep you on your toes. This time, you will be controlling a single character (in the case of multiplayer mode, up to four players can form a party) who has to face hordes of enemies that rush in to pound you to death. And they will come at you from every possible angle--from the ground, the ceiling, underground. Some will even pop out of walls and shrubs to ambush you, while dozens of enemies will fire arrows and dodge in formations, cast different magic spells to hinder your attacks, and the melee types will rush in quickly to take you down. The massiveness of the previous KUF series is still there; it's just that this time, you will have to face that massiveness with only your own character. Multiplayer games will be a bit easier due to co-op, but it will still be a tough challenge. Oh, and did I mention that with the enemies, it's a fight until the death? They won't be giving up, so in other words, winner is last man standing, and it better be you.

GS: Has development been affected by the initial fan feedback?

HL: Since Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom takes a detour from the KUF franchise's RTS roots, we are focusing on delivering a whole new gaming experience while maintaining the grand scale that has been our signature throughout the series. Of course, some of the fan feedback was much more suited for implementation to a massive RTS, so we decided to use them in our next title, (I'm not sure if I can officially announce its name yet, sorry), which will be a traditional KUF-style RTS. We're really excited by the fact that there has been so much great feedback and suggestions that made a huge impact not just on the development of Circle of Doom, but also on the development of our next title. As always, it's surprising how many innovative ideas the fans can deliver to us and how much of it really does get implemented. So keep on sending those suggestions!

GS: How much have the previous games influenced this one?

It's not hard to figure out why the heroes are hoping to escape the Dark Dimension.

HL: Well, it is still a highly magical place, if not more so. Spell-like powers are abundant, and the main characters are all from the previous series (some go way back to the first KUF for the PC). Plus, the storyline for this game is a link from The Crusaders to the next KUF title. Many of the heroes that the fans have loved through the ages (pun intended) will come back--albeit in a slightly changed, different form. They're all trapped in the Dark Dimension, and all will have compelling reasons to return to the Age of Light, where the world of Bersia is about to face the most horrendous fate yet. And this will be directly linked to the next title's story arc and plot, of course. You will be able to play as previous favorites, including Celine the Elf Archer Queen (if you know who this is, you're probably one of the old-timer fans that we love), Kendal the Ecclesian Knight, and others. Players will finally get to know the inner turmoil and challenges that some of their favorite characters face.

GS: How has it been working on the 360 hardware? What benefits has it offered, which have helped the game evolve?

HL: I'm sure everyone working on the Xbox 360 hardware will agree; the Xbox 360 is a fantastic monster. It sometimes gives you headaches and sleepless nights when you try to explore some innovative things for performance. But it also has incredible features that make some parts of game development a walk in the park. We're using as much thread as possible for maximum performance this time, and it's been great--both in terms of game development and learning more about the Xbox 360.