Dragon Knight Online (also abbreviated as DK Online) is an MMORPG from the Korean developer Masangsoft. It was released in March 2019 and has received almost no attention. It has only 41% positive reviews on Steam. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch has played it for you.
DK Online is the MMORPG with the worst reviews, at least when considering two things:
- On the one hand, I wanted to test a game that has received at least 100 reviews. Otherwise, it lacks significance when only 5 reviews are posted and all were negative.
- On the other hand, I filtered out obvious mobile games. Otherwise, there would be two titles worse than DK Online with Aura Kingdom 2 (240 reviews, 32% positive) and the catastrophically launched Rebirth Online (283 reviews, 39% positive). However, the mobile aspect is also the biggest point of criticism here.
DK Online, on the other hand, is a full-fledged PC game that you can play for free. At least to a certain extent, as Pay2Win is a significant issue here.
Gender and Race Lock, as well as graphics from the early 2000s
Already in the character editor of DK Online, I am put off by quite a bit. There are five races to choose from, but they are rigidly bound to a gender. Humans and Lycan are male, Elves and Gray Elves are female, and the Diel are female and childlike.
Each race also has access only to the Warrior class and an additional class that is tied to the respective race. But if I want to play an Archer – my favorite class in MMORPGs – I have to choose a childlike Diel. And you can hardly put any clothing on her.
Once in the game world, everything visually reminds me of a Korean version of Age of Conan – which is quite outdated. Although this MMORPG was released in 2019, development in Korea began as early as 2011. Nevertheless, I had expected better graphics.
The control in the game is quite simple to explain: I move with WASD and can activate abilities either with the number keys 1 to 9 or by using the mouse. I am faced with a tab-targeting combat system with partly quite long animations during which I cannot move.
However, I can jump while running, with the Diel doing a somersault in the air while showing off her underwear…
It is also annoying that the character runs quite slowly and there is nothing to speed it up, whether it be a dodge roll, sprinting, an ability, or something similar. Maybe I am just too spoiled by modern games. Additionally, DK Online lacks a swimming animation. Underwater, you simply continue moving normally.
A glimpse into my gaming experience is provided by this video:
On the tutorial island, you only complete loosely story-related kill quests. First, I need to defeat 10 goblins, then 6 wolves, and then again 10 wolves. The next step involves 10 golems and 7 chameleon skins.
On the positive side, the quests clearly lead in one direction. I don’t have to run back to old quest hubs in between. Another positive finding: I can move my entire interface and customize it according to my wishes.
After about an hour of playtime, I landed in the first capital. However, I didn’t encounter a single player, which might be due to the fact that DK Online has a peak of between 5 and 10 simultaneous players online (via SteamDB).
But hey, at least I am spared one of the most annoying mechanics ever: Open-World-PvP. Because while this is active in DK Online outside of cities, there are no other players to attack me while questing.
Boring grind and strange enhancement system
After about three hours, I put DK Online aside. The quests were absolutely dull and the feeling of progress was already close to zero in this early phase. This is also due to the strange enhancement system.
My newly found leather shoes provided 0 armor. That alone is strange and somehow frustrating. At least there was a bonus of +1 to defense against monsters.
After upgrading the leather shoes to +1 and later +2, the armor value remains at 0. Also, nothing has changed in the stats. I have burned materials for nothing. Oh, and later upgrades can also fail. One of my absolute hate mechanics.
Potions as a form of Pay2Win
While the first enemies can still be defeated without any trouble with one shot, the game slowly turned after three hours. It became harder and there were small pauses where I especially waited for mana to regenerate. I haven’t played further, but have read some interesting reviews.
User jswars writes about the game (via Steam):
From level 20, you will not earn enough gold to buy HP and mana potions anymore. You will have to constantly wait for the bars to very slowly refill.
Without potions, you can defeat a few monsters before you have to wait 3 minutes for regeneration. That’s a long wait for defeating 5 enemies.
Potions can be bought in the game as well as in the shop. And exactly this is supposed to play an important role in PvP. Potions have only a cooldown of one second. So who can spam many potions may win the fight.
Moreover, there are boosters, premium buffs for more attack, defense, health points, and mana (30 days for 70 dollars) and there is a buff for additional carrying capacity in the inventory. This is especially important because at 50% full carrying capacity you no longer regenerate health/mana, and at 80%, you can only use normal attacks.
Poor rating is understandable
Based on my experience and what I have read in the reviews, the game seems to deserve its poor rating on Steam. The endgame is built around PvP, but offers some Pay2Win options. Visually and gameplay-wise, it has nothing to offer that is better than elsewhere.
Still, it received 41% positive reviews, indicating that it is at least not a complete disaster.
If you want to try it out, you can do so, as DK Online is Free2Play.
If you’re looking for a good MMORPG, you should check out our list of the highest-rated games on Steam:
