Back in May, there was a report on Massively (link) about a 17-year gaming industry veteran, Jason Bell, heading for Globex Studios to work on the comapny’s new MMORPG, Secret Kingdoms Online. Jason Bell, as mentioned in the article, most recently worked at Turbine Entertainment managing Asheron’s Call. The development team also includes Troy Dunniway, who worked with EA and Westwood previously. Based in China, Secret Kingdoms Online, developed using the BigWorld game engine, was revealed a few days back with new details.
In Secret Kingdoms Online, players will be just a tiny controller sitting on their mounts. Yes, the main focus here will be on the battle mounts, rather than the humanoid characters themselves. In fact, I have no idea why the human characters are even perched on the mounts since even the health bar shows the mounts’ stats. No matter, each class (Mercenary, Knight, Priest, Alchemist, Hunter) will have different mounts as seen below. The Hunter artwork is missing.
There will be some customizations available for the mounts, including changing and upgrading of equipments just like in any MMORPGs, with new looks and costumes coming from the Cash Shop. There will also be an in-game pet system as well, with them being able to aid players during combat.
That is all for now with the features, which I am underwhelmed by. Secret Kingdoms Online is currently in its first Closed Beta test, with promises made to further improve the game before an official launch. Stay tuned~
