There’s something truly amazing about witnessing a group of relative strangers come together online to defeat a formidable creature in a game, demonstrating the power of collective effort. While enabling voice chat can sometimes lead to unexpected comments, more often than not, these games foster friendship, kindness, and camaraderie.
I’ve had some incredible experiences playing MMORPGs, and I hoped to create more with Throne and Liberty.
Throne and Liberty begins with a lavish cutscene depicting warriors battling darkness, evil mages, and hordes of enemies, while sacrifices are made to hold back the tide. It’s a brutal and captivating opening, after which you begin by designing your character. The creation mode offers a remarkable level of detail and customisation.
The story is steeped in high fantasy, with the player cast as a “Star-Born”, someone imbued with a fragment of a star, granting them unique powers and the potential to become the saviour of the universe. A narrator keeps you updated on the plot as you progress, and you meet a host of interesting characters along the way. I found the story engaging and captivating from the start. While it’s easy to lose track of the narrative thread amidst the multiplayer action, the narrator helps keep you grounded in the overarching plot.
Soon after venturing into the world, you’re thrust into combat. The tutorial introduces the basics: you choose a primary and secondary weapon from a chest. Will you opt for a tank build with a greatsword, or a ranger style with a bow and daggers? And combat is straightforward: you press the attack button, and your hero strikes the enemy until one of you falls. You also have a timed defensive move that functions like a parry, as well as a selection of special attacks on hotkeys with cooldown timers. It’s a simple but enjoyable system with enough depth to keep you engaged.
Exploring the environment is easy, thanks to a unique ability that allows you to transform into an animal spirit. One moment you’re running across the countryside, and the next, you’re soaring through the air as an eagle. It’s a fantastic mechanic that makes traversal enjoyable rather than tedious.
After completing the tutorial, the game opens up, offering numerous activities and quests. While you can undertake solo quests, the real fun lies in the multiplayer content, where many players work together to complete objectives and defeat enemies. This can be initially confusing but becomes easier with practice. Joining a guild and playing with friends on voice chat elevates the experience significantly.
Throne and Liberty is PVP-focused, and the challenges ramp up as you progress and level up. The constant threat of attack can feel overwhelming at times, but it also becomes quite addictive. However, if you’re looking for a more casual MMO experience, you might well find it to be all a bit too intense.
For a free-to-play game, Throne and Liberty is visually stunning. The amazing vistas and world design perfectly capture the high fantasy aesthetic. However, the menus can be a bit confusing, and the screen can feel cluttered at times, but that’s common in many MMOs. What is good is the audio; the sound design is excellent, with well-acted voiceovers full of personality.
You may not come to Throne and Liberty with high expectations, if only as many free-to-play MMOs on Xbox have been underwhelming. But Throne and Liberty feels different, thanks to its impressive visuals and wealth of content. The PVP focus and reliance on a large player base might not appeal to everyone, but it’s a strong start, and it’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves going forward.
Throne and Liberty: A New Era of MMORPGs Dawns on Xbox and PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/throne-and-liberty-a-new-era-of-mmorpgs-dawns-on-xbox-and-pc/
Download Throne and Liberty for free – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/throne-and-liberty/9MWWJQLQ590G/0010
