Despite increased realism, King’s Bounty 2 isn’t ditching the fantasy

King Bounty’s 2 was one of most low-key announcements from Gamescom. The turn-based series blends tactics and role-playing, and it’s among my all-time favorites. But it’s been fallow for some time — Dark Side was the franchise’s last release, coming a little more than five years ago.

King’s Bounty 2 (coming 2020 to PC and for the first time to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) will retain many of the features that came with King’s Bounty: The Legend, which was the series revival way back in 2008 (reminder, King’s Bounty itself is a rebirth of New World Computing’s 1990 classic). You still roam around a map, building up your army, taking on foes, and finding magic items and spells. But longtime developer Katauri Interactive and publisher 1C Company are trying to move away from the fantastical fantasy of previous games and giving it a more “realistic approach.”