There are so many things to be stunned by when you look at Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders™. Should you be worshipping the jaw-dropping graphics? What about the realer-than-life cinematics, the outstanding character models and animations, or the fact that the battles happen on-screen with fifty high-poly characters swinging swords and hurling spells without the Xbox® dropping a single frame?
Sure, all that is astounding and impressive, but that’s all inconsequential if the game doesn’t have a great setting for it all to happen in. What good is an army of CGI soldiers with no CGI home to call their own?
Fortunately, we’re in luck because there’s no shortage of setting material for this game. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to find in a fantasy novel. Our land is called Bersia, a place struggling in a cultural conflict between east and west, in the aftermath of a worldwide conflict 50 years past.
The events of the game revolve around an artifact called the Ancient Heart, which (at the time the game begins) is thought to be lost or only legendary. As with such things in fantasy stories, it turns out to be all too real. The last time that the Ancient Heart was sought, it spawned a war that came to be known as the Second War of Heroes. So devastating was this conflict that the continent is sundered to this day, divided into the following great powers.
Ecclesia A religious state, Ecclesia is home to Patriarch Dimitri III, whose stated goal is to convert the barbarian races to his own faithor exterminate them from the face of the world once and for all. The Ancient Heart is, in his eyes, a heretical object not to be spoken of, under pain of excommunication or worse. If it is real, Patriarch Dimitri would like nothing more than to see it destroyed.
Crusaders have the might.
Azilla Currently, Azilla is under the rule of the mere figurehead King Angelo. In the aftermath of the last King’s sudden disappearance, the country was briefly plunged into chaos, during which time, the entire region was annexed by Patriarch Dimitri and taken as a protectorate of Ecclesia. There are Azillians who object to this arrangement, but they dare not speak out against the Patriarch.
Hironeiden Though the Hironeidens follow many of the principals of the Church of Ecclesia, they have been at war with the creatures of the Dark Legion for many years. Some of their principals have been reshaped by this constant conflict. King Saul has ruled the Hironeidens through their trials and remains a strong King for his war-torn people. Hironeiden lies to the east of Azilla, buffering it from the Dark Legions.
Vellond A region populated by what men call monsters, Vellond is home to orcs, dark elves, ogres, and worse, ruled over by their terrifying King, a half-vampire named Waldermar. If the region were not so strife-torn, these powerful creatures might have spread farther, but as it is, the dark elves constantly scheme for ways to overthrow Waldermar, who they consider inferior and unfit to rule over a race as noble as they. The Ancient Heart, if it could be recovered, might give them the power they need to assume their rightful place.
Dark Elves are not to be trifled with.
Hexter Actually a section of Vellond, Hexter is the name given to the area populated mostly by orcs and ogres, as opposed to the dark elves. Hexter is actually ruled by a human King, Regnier, whom the dark elves hope to woo into an alliance against Waldermar.
It is now 50 years after the Second War of Heroes, and the peace of Bersia is starting to crack. The Dark Legions are on the move once more. Their motives unclear, but the devastation is unmistakable. A small town near the Hironeiden border has been destroyed. In retaliation, the armies of Hironeiden invaded Hexter, and the Patriarch has declared the new conflict a Holy Crusade to recover lost ground from the heathens.
Once again, the fires of war burn brightly in Bersia.
Now is the time when great Heroes are desperately needed.
