The kingdom of Hironeiden a fine and dandy place to live. Open spaces, nice forests, friendly neighbors to the north and no civil unrest to speak of. Until, that is, a group of soldiers on patrol near the borders discover a hamlet burned to the ground. They chase after the culprits and discover a group of orcs on the run.
From there on it's full out war as the orcs and ogres of Hexter move to invade with their new warlord Regnier at the head of their army while the humans mount their counter offensive. It does not go well, as the various forces of Bersia, all with their own goals and intentions, get involved in a huge war that may very well shape the fate of the entire world.
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders is an action/strategy game for the XBOX released in 2004. It was created by Phantagram, the same studio that would go on to co-develop Ninety-Nine Nights. It received a complementary game named Kingdom under Fire: Heroes in 2005, which tells the side stories of seven other characters that already appeared in the previous game.
It received a sequel for Xbox 360 called Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom in 2007, with some of the playable characters returning, and largely removed the Real-Time Strategy from its predecessors, in favor of a purely Hack and Slash. An online-only sequel simply called Kingdom Under Fire II was announced in 2008, but nothing came of it... until its release in November 2019. The English servers were shut down in 2021.
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders contains examples of:
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The game has four playable hero characters. The changes in move set and playstyle can be quite jarring.
- Armor Is Useless: Human soldiers wear metal armor and die just as quickly as anyone else
- Anachronic Order: The different chapters, especially if we include Heroes as well. For instance, Ellen's, Leinhart's, Urrukubar's campaign take place five years before the battles in the main game, but those of Morene, Cirith, Walter and Rupert do not.
- Anti-Villain: The sequel, Heroes, provides a surprisingly large amount of this thanks to the Sympathetic P.O.V.. Despite being classified as the Dark Legion, the protagonists do not really engage in any particularly heinous acts except for the necessary evils of war and showing the occasional callous attitude. In fact, let's have a look at the four of them:
- Cirith is just a regular soldier trying to survive. While she betrays her commander, she only does so after said commander tried to get her killed several times. For the most part, her storyline consists of trying not to get killed and saving her comrades and family from danger.
- Urukubarr is not only not a villain, but arguably one of the most heroic and sympathetic of all characters. He is depicted as honorable and wise and only fights to liberate his country from foreign oppression. In fact, by the final mission of his campaign, one might find themselves joining in on his cries of "Liberate Hexter!".
- Morene is easily the most evil of the playable four. That said, she mellows a bit near the end due to the Break the Haughty situation she finds herself facing, as well as seeming fairly shocked when she has to face Leinhart. In her epilogue, she also reveals a hidden idealist side, having firmly believed in the pride and strength of a united Vellond Empire. There is also her growing friendship with the darkelf commander Ilfa, who she initially despises and distrusts, but grows to respect as she realizes she is an honest one.
- Finally, Leinhart starts out as a casanova and spoiled vampire princeling with little respect for anyone, but the time he spends with the orcs of Hexter, as well as the subsequent Humiliation Conga he goes through before meeting Regnier, actually give him a heavy amount of Character Development, turning him into a fierce and devoted knight who has learned to rise beyond his position of birth and stand up for something he believes in even if it may mean giving up all his priviledges.
- Annoying Arrows: Archers are definitely useful support units to have but nothing stops the hero characters from continuing to run around slaughtering dozens of enemies after being pin cushioned.
- Attack Animal: Hexter makes heavy use of them, with their giant scorpions and swamp mammoths.
- Beast of Battle: Hexter, the orc and ogre nation, uses giant scorpions as siege weapons. They also employee swamp mammoths, which are able to shoot large masses of spores out of their flanks, acting as artillery.
- Body Horror: The late game enemies are twisted fusions of human, orc, ogre, elf, and any other living species present at the awakening of Encablossa.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The ending to Cirith's campaign is...bitter.
- Boring, but Practical: Of the wide diversity of units the game offers, you will likely end up sticking to very basic units like archers and infantry mostly, with a lot of healing magic. Aerial units are easy to loose and many other units like sappers or fire elementals suffer from Crippling Overspecialization or are just not that powerful.
- On top of this, there's the fact that the game features no real form of Level Grinding between missions, making experience points an extremely valuable and limited resource that you will likely use mostly on boosting the main characters, their respective troops, possibly the lieutenant characters, and likely the first archer unit you receive, with barley if any left to invest in other units.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Dragon Tomb and the Battle Balloon introduced early on in Lucretia's and Gerald's campaign become relevant in the endgame.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Advanced units sometimes end up lacking in basic areas. Sappers shouldn't get into a melee fight. Neither should cavalry either (unless it's heavy orc axe cavalry).
- Cutting the Gordian Knot: Several missions have moments where you're supposed to participate in a complex strategic scenario, outmaneuver an enemy, or pull a tactical retreat. If you are strong enough (that is to say, good in melee and with plenty of healing nearby), you can usually just breeze through anyway. Especially jarring considering that the late game expects that kind of combat prowess from you all the time.
- Dark Is Evil: Played straight once you learn about Encablossa and Nibel, the gods of dark and light respectively.
- Demoted to Extra: Every major support character in The Crusaders becomes playable in Heroes except for Kendal's partners, Thomas and Duane. The only major character from Kendal's campaign to become relevant is Walter, Thomas's father and the one who awakes Encablossa.
- Dialog During Gameplay: Most missions have extensive inter-character dialog, normally between the hero (play character) and the two lieutenants fighting with them and sometimes conversation with allied units.
- Easy Logistics: Played straight during combat, your units are comprised of dozens of soldiers, none of whom seem to be carrying any supplies. When you return to camp between missions you can find your troops at their barracks where they, presumably, get plenty to eat and drink.
- Elemental Powers: Magic spells and lieutenant abilities can be elemental in nature. Lightning and fire are the most common you'll run into.
- Eldritch Abomination: Encablossa.
- Elves Versus Dwarves: Averted. Both are races driven to the brink of extinction, elves existing only as Protectorates under Hironeiden now, dwarves being scattered to the mountains north of Ecclesia, making it easy for them to bond over their shared situation, especially when the dwarf elder takes in elven refugees. It is said that they did not get along well in the past, but the dwarves and elves we see in Rupert's campaign are good friends.
- Enemy Mine: The characters team up against a shared enemy for the final missions.
- Exposition Break: Aside from updating your units this is what world map screen is for, especially in the late game when you would have no idea what's going on without Regnier filling you in on events that happened before most of the characters where born.
- Fantastic Racism: Something of a theme. All the races of Bersia have grown to passionately hate each other during previous wars (with the exception of elves and dwarves, curiously enough, who get along very well). This is the reason the all-out catastrophic world war depicted in the game breaks out easily, despite being instigated by an outside force. The nations do not investigate their situations properly, instead believing they are just dealing with The Usual Adversaries, and jumping straight into all-out aggression.
- Gameplay/Story Segregation:
- During her campaign, it is repeatedly brought up that Lecreta still has the sword Retherin, her ex gave her. Despite this, the player is still free to buy her new swords throughout the game.
- The Tree of Healing magical spell is implied to only work on Dark Elves in-story, due to their biology as forest creatures. Despite this, the spell will work on orc troops and Gerald human troops in Regnier's campaign.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: If you play Regnier's campaign before Kendal's, the appearance of Encablossa can be this. You're on your way to catch up with the Ecclessian army when suddenly an Eldritch Abomination shows up and starts devouring everything in sight. Kendal's campaign gives more context to what is happening, but it's still pretty alarming.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: The game basically starts you off with your average Black-and-White Morality Standard Fantasy Setting, then completely turns the concept on its head. To give a few specific examples:
- It's the "good guys" who start the war. Even though they've been deceived, it was still humans who instigated the raid on Greyhampton and it was the complete distrust of humans in the words of their dark elven neighbors that kept the war growing more intense.
- Regnier, who just screams Obviously Evil Evil Overlord, is trying to keep the world from falling to The End of the World as We Know It and proves instrumental in preventing the worst when it does happen.
- Similarly, the plans of most of the "bad guys", while ambitious, would keep the world in a comfortable status quo instead of destroying it. Several of them have reasonably sympathetic motives.
- Kendal, who is one of the more heroic characters, is working for the Ecclesians, one of the most vile factions. Walter, who pulls a Defector from Decadence on Ecclesia, commits the most atrocities of any of the heroes and ends up unleashing the Sealed Evil in a Can.
- God and Satan Are Both Jerks: The world, as it exists at the beginning of the game, is under the control of Nibel, the god of light, but the nations are still divided and its far from peaceful, especially in places like Vellon and Hexter. And when the age changes to the Age of Darkness under Encablosa it just gets worse. The Age of Light is certainly better than the alternative, of course.
- God of Evil: Encablossa, as the god of darkness, torments the beings of light whenever the age of the world swings from light into darkness.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Played straight with Gerald, Lucretia, and Regnier all use swords. Averted by Kendal, fights using both a hand mace and a staff long warhammer.
- Hero of Another Story: All of the playable characters are this to each other, really. Rupert is the most obvious example, as his journey to gain the support of the elves and dwarves is alluded to in Gerald's campaign, but becomes playable in Heroes.
- Hide Your Children: Played straight with the justification that all of the events where characters are visible on screen take place on battle fields. Possibly averted with Thomas, one of Kendall's lieutenants, the youngest character in the game. He fights on the field along with Kendall and can get the crap kicked out of him (though he usually doesn't, being quite skilled as a fighter and a magician).
- The Horde: Basically how the human kingdoms see the orc and ogre tribes, especially after they are united by Regnier into a single organization (the commonwealth of Hexter).
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Taken literally. Leinhart doesn't seem to greatly care for his vampiric father, the King of Vellond.
- In the Hood/Malevolent Masked Men: Regnier has a large brown hood and short cape. However, the hood casts only a partial shadow. The rest is completely covered by layered metal which completely conceals his face, no even leaving eyes holes or any normal facial features to look at. It's impossible to be sure with the hood but it appears that the "mask" is actually the faceplate of a helmet from which Regnier's massive horns extend.
- Immortality Inducer: The Ancient Heart, at least for Regnier.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Gerald. He seems to think of himself as more of a soldier than a 'knight' but he fits the trope.
- Knight, Knave, and Squire: Kendall, Duane, and Thomas, in that order.
- Level-Map Display: Type 1. Each combat has a map of the available area, used when directing units.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: It is according to Regnier. He seems to have actively sought it out previously and regrets it's loss after the Ancient Heart is destroyed.
- Made of Iron: Regnier. He traipses around the desert in what amounts to a metal loincloth and a cape and shrugs off whatever comes his way, including Rupert's suicidal final attack with no apparent ill effects apart from annoyance.
- Let's not forget the time he's caught in Gerald's trap, where an entire forest is set ablaze with Regnier's forces trapped inside. The troops celebrate, believing they've finally taken down Regnier... until they see Regnier calmly walking toward them through the flames as if nothing happened.
- Medieval European Fantasy
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Regnier, for his in-game world reputation alone. Furthermore, Regnier isn't his real name. Originally Regnier was 'Rick Blood', which probably qualifies as another example.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Walter, convinced that the Ancient Heart is evil, absconds with it intending to destroy it. Too bad the Heart contains the evil god Encablossa, who is now free to bring darkness upon the world.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted, you spend a fair amount of time playing as Lucretia, the dark elf, leading the forces of Vellond, who certainly the bad guys until the god of darkness starts destroying the world.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leinhart is the Prince of Vellond but he's out in the field kicking ass with Regnier, if you really consider that a constructive use of a noble's time.
- Obviously Evil: Regnier. He's tall, dark, has horns, wears spiky armor; Essentially the guy looks like Dr. Doom co-playing as Skeletor.
- One-Man Army: All of the playable characters.
- Our Elves Are Different: Regular elves are your average fantasy elves, but have very little relevance to the story. Darkelves are one of the main factions, though. They are a nationalist race organized into feuding city-states, they heal while in forests, they shoot three times as a fast as a human and they refer to themselves as High Elves.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Played straight. Ogres are noticeably larger than other units on scene and speak in broken fragments.
- Our Orcs Are Different: They are shorter and squatter than humans and ruled by ogres. There are no named orc characters in the game but we hear their units deliver some rather dim lines.
- "I got axe for jou!"
- "Orc riders... ride!"
- Our Vampires Are Different: Vellond is ruled by vampires and half-vampires are used as their representatives in dealings with other Vellond races such as the dark elves and the orcs.
- Out of the Inferno: Regnier gets to do this.
- Padded Sumo Gameplay: Towards the endgame you may begin to experience this as the enemies become tougher and tougher.
- Playing with Fire: Regnier is capable of igniting himself and his sword as a special attack. The fire spreads to whatever he attacks for a short time afterwards.
- Point of No Return: It's pretty clear when it's coming, luckily. This is partly because it appears to be the end of the current quest, when you are trying to prevent Walter from destroying the Ancient Heart so you probably aren't expecting to do a lot of backtracking after that point anyway.
- Punched Across the Room: Regnier's combos can end with him delivering a straight punch that will stagger or throw back anyone on the receiving end.
- Ridiculously Fast Construction: Played straight, differently from other examples. Because the game isn't an RTS the construction doesn't appear on screen but there's nothing stopping you from switching a unit from infantry to cavalry or siege weaponry between missions, even if you're in the desert miles from the nearest city.
- RPG Elements: You are able to select equipment for your leader and two secondary characters as well as the units as a while.
- Run, Don't Walk: For a squad focused military game there isn't much marching for the foot troops. You can order them to go slower and keep quiet but by default it's nearly a sprint.
- "Save the World" Climax: Eventually becomes the main quest of the game though it begins metaphorically (saving the human kingdoms) when the head of the church gives you a mission and gets literal after that mission is completed and the god of darkness starts destroying everything.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Played straight. All of the heroic characters wear complete clothing and full body armor. The villainous characters are all Stripperiffic including full dressed Leinhart, who models what appears to be skin tight leather evening wear.
- Justified in that the villains are half-vampires and darkelves, who are superhumanly agile and fast, but lack the constitution and strength of humans, dwarves or orcs. When Lucretia's group first encounters heavy human infantry, they are confused why anyone would slow themselves down that much with metal armor, especially when it just makes you vulnerable to lightning magic (which is a very common sight on Bersia's battlefields).
- Siege Engines: Human units can employ seige weaponry such as catapults and ballistas.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: On the cynical side with a few idealist characters. The game largely feels more cynical with several characters clearly motivated entirely by their own desires. Good people exist, Gerald standing as a prime example, but these people are often forced or ordered to do unpleasantly pragmatic things. Even Gerald, at the end of the first mission, coldly orders his soldiers to take one of the dark elves for interrogation (read, torture) and "kill the rest". There is a god of light, Nibel, who seems to also be the good god of the world. But it's eventually revealed that Nibel had to basically cheat Encablossa to get the current arrangement of the world, which is then put back on the track to darkness due to human action.
- Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: Heavily on the serious end of the scale. Battles are loud and bodies stay on the ground for sometime after mooks die. The plot also takes itself seriously, even approaching Cosmic Horror Story in the end game.
- Special Attack: Each commander has two lieutenants who not only have their fighting abilities but can be called on to assist with a signature attack during a fight.
- Story to Gameplay Ratio: The game falls in the high middle range. While the game has an extensive story, it is often told while playing the game itself in the form of character dialog. However this is intercut with world map "cut scenes" of debate between characters and information exchange which can be quite lengthy and numerous.
- Stripperiffic: Any female from Vellond, apparently. Basically every female character and model in the game apart from one. And Regnier as a male example.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Do not break the Ancient Heart!
- Trap Master: The player can become one whenever they have access to a unit of Sappers.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: To an extent. Many missions have multiple phases which involve the appearance of enemy reinforcements in certain locations or a sudden shift in completion objective. If you stationed your troops in the wrong location, brought the wrong kind of units (for instance, no spears when dealing with cavalry, even though cavalry enemies are exceptionally rare and spear units borderline useless against everything but cavalry), failed to react in time to the altered circumstances or sacrificed too many soldiers expecting the battle's imminent conclusion, you may well be forced to redo the entire 30-90 minute mission, now equipped with foreknowledge.
- Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Played straight for Hexter. It's not directly mentioned but the ogres and orcs don't look like they smell too great. The same probably holds true for Regnier since he lives with them. Averted for Vellond, where the dark elves and half-vampires seem to find the time to wash up.
- Useless Useful Stealth: There are a few sneaking missions in the game, most of which can be easily defeated by taking the enemy upfront instead and supporting with lots of healing. This also gives more XP. However, some missions require you to be sneaky as the enemies have cheating AI to discourage you from fighting them.
- The Usual Adversaries: Played straight with humans and elves fighting orcs, ogres, and dark elves. Averted once Encablossa appears and starts making freakish mutated enemies.
- War Is Hell: Perhaps one of the most subtle examples ever. It's become a cliche by now to point out that the regular soldiers you are killing might have family and loved ones too. However, due to the point-of-view mechanics, you actually experience it in this game, seeing the story from both sides and realizing that you're killing the friends of your previous characters.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In-universe example: Regnier's epilogue states that to this day, it is unknown how Ecclesia learned of the Ancient Heart. However, Walter's campaign in Heroes explains this one, Walter was whispered to by Encablossa posing as God, who told him of it and ordered him to find it, causing the Ecclesians to make a secret alliance with the Kaedes in order to obtain the Heart.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- General Hugh gives one to Gerald, after the latter abandoned his possession at the flood gate to save the former. Calling him out for potentially giving the enemy what they needed to turn the tide of the war in their favor, just to save him.
- After learning from this mistake, Gerald leaves Hugh to die, so he can save the king in the next mission, electing Rubpert, who like Gerald also saw Hugh as a Parental Substitute, to refuse to spend the next missions telling him off, as he goes through Heroic BSoD.
