Originally known as War Rage, Chinese developer NetEase renamed its latest war-themed MMO as Conqueror’s Blade, and showcased an English demo version over at E3 2017. If you did not know, NetEase is China’s 2nd largest gaming company, and owns many internal studios, one of which created Revolution Online. Conqueror’s Blade is preparing for its final Closed Beta phase in China.
A mixture of action combat and RTS elements, NetEase is coining the game as “Action Real-Time Tactic”, or ART. Players can choose from 1 of 7 weapons to start with, and at the same time command different troops. Players can switch weapons as they progress, which NetEase is touting as a “sandbox job system”. There are currently 10 different types of troops available to be summoned.
Players must not only control their own characters, but do some micro-managing of their troops, including formation, position, stance, and more. There are also several siege machines at the start of each round to take advantage of. The demo of Conqueror’s Blade over at E3 2017 is said to be 100 square kilometers big, requires 30 minutes to get from end to end, and consists of 160 towns.
Conqueror’s Blade has minimal PVE, and most of the gameplay is all about PVP town sieges, which happens around the clock. There is a heavy element of strategy, and an example is the usage of the right kind of troops in the right environment. NetEase is also teasing armies of different civilizations as future game content updates, most probably to attract the global English gamers.
