Online game "Life is Feudal: Your Own"

Life is Feudal: Your Own is an online role-playing medieval simulation game where you and other gamers have to fight, hunt, farm fields, learn crafts, and master the mysteries of alchemy. Here you can go from a stick and shovel-hole pants to a personal fortress and shiny knight's armor. And you are allowed to do this as on someone else's server, and on your own map, on which your rules apply. Despite the five years old, the product of the Russian studio Bitbox is still of interest to the public. Let's find out why.

After you create a character, Life is Feudal: Your Own puts you in a setting that's close to medieval - without magic, elves, or dragons. Although this world is fictional, it is governed by logical survival rules. To make simple tools such as a fishing rod or a sling, you need to search the surroundings - to collect fibers in the grass, to pick up stones and branches from the ground. For basic character replenishment you have to shake fruit trees, and to make different complex items or construct buildings you have to join forces with other players. According to the rules, each hero under the control of a live user can develop two professions - peaceful and military. Comprehend all at once you can not, so without the cooperation here can not do. What your character can do well in determines not only your decision, but also the initial characteristics, depending on the race.

There are three nationalities to choose from in the game. Southern Hussians are known for their dexterity and shooting skills, Slavards from the north are quite good at nature, so they are easily given to hunting, fishing and farming, and Gothlungs - natural craftsmen and miners of minerals. However, these traits do not program the destiny of the character for all. If you want you can do anything: gardening and cattle breeding, casting metal and forging tools, building houses, collecting herbs and alchemy. Even if to go to the woods to hunt a bear with a slingshot or to stand with a brush on the main road. It's the same with the combat specialties: if some prefer to be knights on white horses, then the others improve the skills of shooters, swordsmen and lancers. The main feature of Life is Feudal is that there are no useless professions - both on the battlefield and in civilian life, everyone will find a use for themselves.

In this search for his path and create your own adventures is the essence of the game. There is no storyline, nor is there a universal goal. You show up on the map without a penny to your name and in a very leisurely pace develop your character to your liking. Together with other players can establish a settlement or build a castle, assemble an army to defend their territories or assemble a band of robbers. And those who are disposed to peaceful occupations, no one is stopping to set up a farm to grow vegetables, raise animals, cook food for soldiers and sew clothes for them. And the soldiers and farmers equally need blacksmiths with healers - the first provides all the tools, and the latter maintain the health of his comrades. It is rare to find an online game with such a strong emphasis on the social part. Especially heroes under the control of artificial intelligence in Life is Feudal: Your Own is not at all - all the interaction is tied to the live users.

It is not only professional mutual assistance that helps to simulate society, but also the karma system. If you play the bad guy - killing and robbing others, trespassing - you will be labeled a villain and encourage others to repay you in kind. And if you pray and don't commit crimes, your reputation will become good - and then you will get social protection in the form of punishment for aggression against you. However, the laws of karma are reset from time to time, a regular event called Judgment Hour. As long as it lasts, players can attack one another with impunity. Guild members, consisting of dozens of different heroes, wait for this chaos and equip ahead of time to stage mass brawls with their rivals - storming their castles, tracking units through the thickets and killing livestock on farms.

The other side of Life is Feudal: Your Own is not about people, but about nature. The world changes seasons, day and night, and it rains or snows depending on the season - and each of these phenomena has its own consequences. For example, climate affects farm yields. In order to feed everyone, farmers must add more fertilizer to the soil during the cold season-read manure from the stable. Yes, the simulation of the living world is so deeply thought out in the game. And besides, the environment itself can be tailored to your needs: digging tunnels to mine ores or granite, tunneling, removing hills to prepare building sites. Such complex projects can be done by a team, not by individuals, at least because a miner cannot do without strong tools made in the forge.

With the same claim to realism are designed battles and development of characters' skills. Battles are made on the principle of "non-targeting": this means that the blows do not automatically hit the target after concentrating on the enemy - you have to gauge the distance to the enemy, point the direction of the attack with the mouse and take into account the length of the weapon. And the male heroes are able to reach the opponent from a slightly longer distance than the women - even this nuance is taken into account here. Active actions knock the fighters out of breath, they can lose consciousness, not to mention the realistic damage system with fractures and bleeding. Made almost like in real life, but that's why it takes some getting used to participating in in-game battles.

The same is true of tactics. It is well known that success in war depends largely on the discipline of the soldiers. How is this principle realized in Life is Feudal: Your Own? Yes very simply: the commander during the battle gives orders, and the more accurately perform their subordinates, the more bonus they get for it. All you need to do is to put your heroes into the designated area when you change formations on the battlefield - and then the attacks become more effective.

It would be strange if with such a vitality of all the other mechanics role-playing system was built by the usual rules of the genre. In the game, practice is of great importance, not any classes: what you want to develop your character in, that is what he should do.

To raise an alchemist, you must start small - collecting herbs and learning the basics of medicine. The future builder first makes simple objects out of wood, and then moves on to more serious architecture. Rookie farmer ploughed a bed, in order to become a source of various food and clothing for his companions. The same way the military specialty develops: you start with primitive weapons and dummy opponents, but after a while you get a knack, and equip the hero better. In general, everything is logical - if only you had the patience to pump.

It's no secret that there is a later and larger version of the game, Life is Feudal: MMO, parallel to Your Own. They differ from each other, and one does not automatically access the other. For starters, the MMO is larger: its map size is 21x21 kilometers, hundreds of players can act there simultaneously, whereas in Your Own the virtual world is 3x3 km and the participants' limit depends on the server PC power. Usually it is about 64 gamers on the map. On the other hand, you can open your own server to invite your friends and all comers - in short, to arrange a personal Middle Ages. The scope, of course, is smaller, but the atmosphere is cozy.

In addition, the owner of the world is free to arrange it in his own way: to decide what will be the climate, establish role-playing laws, hand out all at the start of resources and bonuses. Therefore, with servers Life is Feudal: Your Own time to time is not necessary - some people get together for a relaxed social and meditative game, while others are seriously wagering a medieval life and get a "return ticket" for quitting the role. In other words, the administrator can remove from the server those who spoil the fun for others. The MMO-version, of course, does not offer such freedom.

Another important difference is that Your Own is sold for a small (due to the age of the product) and fixed fee for which you get all the features at once, while Life is Feudal: MMO is conditionally free. That means you don't need money to register, but you have to pay a lot of money to buy some jewelry or special equipment items - unlike Your Own. Which of the two options is better, everyone decides for himself. There are many people who are more comfortable to get all the content at once and not think about what they can afford in the future and what they can't.

Because of the realistic mechanics and unhurried Life is Feudal: Your Own can seem demanding to newcomers, although it is very logically arranged and gives freedom of action.

The company of friends can engage in the map to build houses and fortresses, wars with other users, hunting wild animals and breeding pets, as well as any crafts of their choice. Here you can become what you want, and even run your own server, invite people to it and build a personal medieval principality. Yes, you have to buy the game for all of the above, but then there are no additional investments.

March 2021