Dark Throne: The Queen Rises – Android Preview
Dark Throne: The Queen Rises is an Action RPG for Android that involves some NFT’s and couple of other things, but NFT’s first. Development team from “EPIC LEAGUE” claims that the game passed all the alpha and beta tests and is now available for mainstream release.
About Dark Throne: The Queen Rises
The game introduces you to 3 playable characters. A Paladin, Assassin and a Sexy Demon Hunter. Unfortunately, there are no visual customizations – or subclasses (yet?). However, you can play all of them from the same account, and progress each one individually.
The Story
“The kingdom of Balos was shrouded in the shadow of evil. Because of the breach of the barrier, the kingdom has been reduced to rubble.
The survivors embark on a journey in order to destroy the demons and their Queen of the Dark Throne.”
This is an excerpt from the official website located here. However, when you launch the game this is not the case. You are just dropped in some strange place, there is one elderly looking NPC who is awfully suspicious of your presence. He mumbles something about his Queen, but refuses to tell you more until you kill some monsters first.
The Gameplay
After the class selection screen you are thrown inside the aforementioned place. Since there is no tutorial or anything like that, the only thing you can do is step on the blue portal. This will transport you inside the first dungeon 1-F. Some monsters will attack you, gold will be dropped, some items and you are done. Back to the old man and into the blue portal again. Now you are on 2-F. Everything is the same, except the layout which seems to be randomly scrambled. Once again you fight the monsters, collect loot and exit the map when you reach the end. Back to the old man again….
Eventually a red portal starts glowing. You enter, but everything is the same. Same dungeon, same enemies, same goals (kill them all).
Controls & Graphics
I don’t know why, but the game has no real touch controls. You tap to move, the character shoots and uses skill automatically. So all you have to do is tap and don’t get caught surrounded by monsters. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but taps are ultra non-responsive and you often get stuck in weird positions.
The game looks decent, but the post-process filter is overshooting a bit. It can be tuned off in the options where you can also find couple of presets that can help you achieve smoother FPS. The game runs OK on mid-range hardware and is potentially playable on low-end devices as well.
Some constructive criticism and NFT’s
Dark Throne: The Queen Rises feels rushed and unfinished. There are no cutscenes, no tutorials, no dungeon variety. Controls must be improved and some explanation of what the h. is going on is a must. In my personal opinion, the game should still be in beta. At least until basic things are implemented and more content is available. The whole “RPG” thing comes in question when you can’t really customize your characters, and I am not talking only about visuals here. Character development is over-simplified and relies mostly on items you find and crafting.
The NFT’s are the other aspect of the game that needs more explaining. I was looking inside the game store, around the old man and inside every tent I could see, but I found nothing? The developers claim that there are “Totem NFT’s” that should enhance the gameplay and “players may expect gameplay advantages
from reward and character performance“. Where are they? Do they drop from monsters, rewarded as achievement or time invested?
Dark Throne: The Queen Rises can be downloaded from the Play Store for free and is also available on other platforms. Whether you should try it – it’s up to you. To me it feels like the game was built around the idea of NFT’s, but was never finished. Perhaps at later stages the game introduces new dungeons and some variety, but not in the first hour or so.
Finally, all the things missing from the game are explained here. And I didn’t find that source before finishing this article. There is no link to that page from within the game, I discovered it by searching for something else entirely.
Ivica Kiwin – “Dark Throne: The Queen Rises – Android Preview”