Online game "Fox Legends"

How to release an MMORPG in 2022 that will interest a sophisticated gamer who has seen the best examples of the genre? The question is complicated, and different studios have their own answers to it. Fox Legends developers have made in the project graphics, decent-looking and on mobile devices, and PC, frozen with the story, but allowed to simplify things to the limit. You want - the hero will only listen to your commands. And no - the game, following the example of many browser-based entertainment, can pass itself. You will only have to watch the spectacular battles and drink tea.

Unlike most releases from Esprit Games, you have to download a separate client for Fox Legends - you can't just run it in your browser. But then it becomes clear why such requirements. Looks and sounds novelty not bad, it has a change of weather effects, and a lot of staged scenes with voiceover dialogue and complex animation. MMORPG fan, familiar with Blade & Soul, will immediately experience a fit of nostalgia. Even the entourage here is similar, based on Eastern myths, more precisely on the Chinese literature in the genre of "wuxia", where the warriors of light fight all sorts of evil spirits. Well, and the affairs of the heart are not forgotten.

It all starts with the choice of the character of one of the four classes. Swordsman has the weakest defense and regeneration, but the strongest attacks. Muse is more balanced: has maximum regeneration and equal to everything else, but she is a support character. Guardian uses a spear and is well protected, although he does not set damage records. Shooter with a pair of pistols in attributes close to the swordsman, only fights at long range, not head-on. In addition, for each protagonist can choose a gender - except for the music, which comes in either a woman or a little girl. If the standard appearance does not suit something, the editor will help, allowing you to customize everything - from the color of hair and eyes to the shape of lips and chin.

Then, getting to the starting location of the game, we find out the plot of the story. In the story, Princess Suri of the Chungu clan is supposed to guard a mysterious relic, but she is hunted down and attacked by the demons of the Legion. Fleeing the chase, the fox-girl finds herself in a peaceful settlement and asks the locals to give her protection. Of course, she is provided protection, but even here she is overtaken by monsters led by the winged sorceress Xetra. This is where we get into the fight, chopping and shooting crowds of enemies until the princess recovers from her wounds. The adventure begins.

Almost immediately you are given a pet. This is a lun ("dragon" in Chinese), which accompanies the hero everywhere. Later you can unlock other animals, which are called kriegs here, and change them depending on the necessary skills. A little later the character is provided with a racehorse - a horse is very useful, because the rapid movement between locations is not always available. Orienteering helps mini-map in the upper right corner of the screen - if you click on it, a global map opens where the points of interest and key actors are marked. In principle, going through the icons on the scheme does not force anyone - in Fox Legends on the machine you can put everything, from driving and fighting to putting on items and drinking elixirs.

It's simple. You run around the map, talking to characters who give you tasks, usually about protecting civilians and killing a squad of demons. Dialogues are given as text with voices of actors in the background or in the form of staged scenes, so it's interesting to follow the story. Battles can be divided into mandatory (according to the script) and secondary - at will. The latter are the ones the game introduces when it first offers a test of the Frontier. In fact, it's a skirmish with a boss in a special arena, where you get the essence of spirit for the development of the moon. According to the story, our pet lost his power in a fight with Xetra, and visits to the Pendulum help replenish the dragon's power. But such duels are available only in the course of the hero's improvement: the second time they are allowed there, for example, after level 30.

There are other interesting things associated with the Limit. If you do not defeat the enemy in the allotted time, the monster becomes stronger - and then it is much harder to defeat him. But success makes it possible to pass an additional test with a prize. In addition to these, there are other fights with bosses, for which are given reinforcement materials and equipment items. Every now and then opens a portal to the Kingdom of the Moon - the local equivalent of the test tower, where you must defeat several monsters in a row. Sometimes along the way you run into Legion units or descend underground - such an excuse to stretch out is not to be missed, because the rewards there are really useful.

Fighting, of course, isn't the only thing involved. Fox Legends also has tasks that only your pet can run. If you need, say, to gather some resources, just assign a hand dragon to do the job and he'll get to work. A timer in the Krieg window will show how much time the beast has left to do everything. Among the activities are a treasure hunt, activation of magical gizmos like altars and portals, training in Haart at the Academy location, as well as real detective investigations. Not to mention the multiplayer fun - what without them in an MMORPG. By the way, you can attack any hero anywhere, except the peaceful villages. Particular benefit these attacks do not bring (for duels are open arena), but nothing prevents to test the power of idle interest.

There are also funny missions: in one place you have to pet a fox for experience points, in another - to drink wine with Prince Drax on a bet to see who will collapse under the table first. However, most of the actions in the game are tied to the level of your hero. The complexity of the locations grows gradually - there are territories even for 700 and 800 level characters, such as the Valley of Illusions and Troymyria. Krieg cells, again, are not all open, but it's quite realistic to unlock a couple during the first day. There's even a photo mode in the interface. True, to use it, you must also increase the level of the hero.

To the character progression, the developers screwed a very "sticky" mechanics. It's worth talking about before touching the traditional MMORPG rules. It's about pets, of course - starting with the starting dragon and going down the list. Each hero has three boxes to place these animals, which you can later unlock in the number of dozens or even hundreds. All three run with you, helping in battle, but if the squad gets the "weakest link", he can be replaced at any time to pick up more useful in this or that situation skills. And given that all fairy beasts have their own progression and several stages of development (the same moon is dark, celestial and ancient), the variation turns out to be immense.

The rest is organized according to the canons of the genre. The hero builds up his power by growing in levels, replacing his equipment with more advanced ones, and upgrading every move and item individually. You have a total of four or five skills at your fingertips, plus an ultimatum attack - all of which are rendered as interactive icons at the bottom of the screen. There are also a few passive skills that can be upgraded as well. During the tutorial the game makes it clear that the important role given to the rank of the character - the higher it is, the more damage you inflict. Usually it is, but in reality no one is forced to change the rank at the first opportunity, and the outcome of the fight in the end is determined by combat power points, the quality of equipped items and the abilities of pets.

The main currencies in Fox Legends are three: coins, gold bars and jade. As you can easily guess, the coins are given to you generously on the slightest occasion, for the ingots you have to fight, and green stones are hard to find. All resources can be exchanged for useful things or bonuses, and the most significant enhancements are given just for jade. And to get it allows or activity in completing tasks and multiplayer, or real currency. In principle, as for the mobile port, the game is quite good - the developers are not a sin to throw a small amount. But here it's up to you to decide.

The first and main social activity in the game involves joining a clan. You are allowed to do this almost on the first day of the game. In return, the gamer is given a weekly income in gold bars, access to group activities and clan events. You can collectively pound bosses, free lands from monsters, perform detective assignments like "Rumors" and other things. If you already have a faction, to assemble a squad, just enter the mission window, and the algorithm itself will add your partners. There is no need to hysterically call for help in general chat.

As is customary in the genre, you can be friends or enemies with those around you. In the first case, you have a choice between an ordinary relationship and a romantic one, with the creation of a couple - both types of connection are rewarded with different bonuses. Fights with any heroes outside of peaceful locations are not condemned, but are not encouraged, because for these you will not get the loot. But the arena battles allow you to get valuable resources. Also, the inhabitants of the servers involved in economic life - there is a black market and auction for the sale of rare trophies, and if you want people even create trade unions.

Fox Legends combines several strengths at once. It's free and offers "lazy" gameplay from browser games, so it doesn't require much effort. In addition, there are interesting mechanics with kriegs reminiscent of "Pokémon", and fans of classics of the genre like Blade & Soul will find familiar cultural motifs, mechanics and design elements here. As for the mobile entertainment transferred to the PC, the design here is very decent. Music pleases with variety, dialogues with characters are voiced by actors, there is a full localization. In general, it's definitely worth a try, especially considering that large computer MMORPG out nowadays not so often.

Zarium. September 2022