Amazon Games is very committed to MMORPG titles right now. It brought Lost Ark to the Western world, developed New World (and its upcoming refresh, New World: Aeternum), and now the early access Throne and Liberty release date has finally arrived, leaving Korea, in an attempt to become a global hit.
From my time with it, the free-to-play game feels like a solid experience, but it lacks soul and polish that I hope will be fixed post-launch. My full Throne and Liberty preview goes into my thoughts as to why the game, in its current state, can’t quite compete with the best RPGs on the market.
Key Takeaways
- Throne and Liberty is a free-to-play MMORPG with a paid early access period starting on September 26, 2024.
- The full release of Throne and Liberty arrives on October 1, 2024.
- The MMO focuses on PvP and PvE, with a classless system that lets you swap weapons effortlessly.
- Narratively, Throne and Liberty focuses on yourself and other players locating fragments of the Star of Sylaveth.
- Throne and Liberty is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
Throne and Liberty Early Access
I only had a couple of weeks ahead of Throne and Liberty’s early access launch on September 26, 2024, to enjoy the fantasy world of Solisium. Due to the servers being limited to reviewers and content creators ahead of the official launch, my massively multiplayer online experience with Throne and Liberty had only scratched the ‘online’ part, so I’m reserving my full judgment for the official release.
All Flash, Little Substance
One thing is abundantly clear when it comes to Throne and Liberty – there are a lot of flashy combos and abilities that look and feel fantastic to use. The classless nature of Throne and Liberty’s combat makes it easy to switch weapons and use a variety of weapons, and you can equip two weapons at any one time. I typically found myself using daggers and staff during my time with Solisium, pulling off fantastical spells while fading in and out of reality near enemies, slicing away at their health in quick ways.
However, while it’s exciting to watch, it doesn’t feel nearly as good to play. Unlike New World, bringing you close to the action, or Lost Ark’s action-packed nature, Throne and Liberty feels utterly mediocre. The tab-targeting feels dull, and multiple times I found my character not hitting an enemy he really should be hitting. It comes across as serviceable at the best of times and clunky in many others.
It also follows a similar problem that other MMOs like Black Desert Online suffer with, that being too many different systems. You level up your character, then use items to level up your skills, and use items to level up your weapons… you get the picture. It’s even worse when leveling up different things takes time, forcing you to press and hold rather than popping up with an ‘Are You Sure?’ box that says yes or no.
Fortunately, the Throne and Liberty gameplay loop its saved by the morph system. There are a variety of morphs you can unlock that boil down to three categories – ground, water, and air – that allow you to interact in the world in interesting ways. No longer are you riding on the back of a horse mount, but you’re now a wolf-like creature scurrying across the fantasy lands of Solisium or diving across the skies as an eagle.
An Uninspired Story
Throne and Liberty’s story feels equally underwhelming. I wasn’t expecting anything vastly impressive, but my 10+ hours of the MMO have left me unbothered by the lore or fate of Solisium’s cast. In fact, I can’t remember a single character’s name during my time with Throne and Liberty so far, most of them being fetch quest NPCs that do little to hook me into the world.
The main narrative follows you and other players looking to find fragments of the Star of Sylaveth to stop Kazar, a being and incarnation of pure evil, looking to conquer Throne and Liberty’s world. Of course, it’s fairly hard to be enamored with the narrative when ‘other players’ are missing, from my experience, but it’s a cliche hook that gives you enough to start your journey in the MMORPG.
What’s made it really hard to fall in love with the game is the fact that the localization is abysmal. NPCs will speak in Japanese before suddenly switching back to English and then back again, all in one conversation. Even worse, the subtitles hardly match the text being spoken by the character, implying very different emotions. An early instance saw the subtitles concerned for another NPCs life, while the actual dialogue implied it was nothing to worry about.
Beauty and the Beast
Fortunately, Throne and Liberty’s graphics are seriously impressive. In fact, it’s one of the best-looking MMOs on the market, and the moment I stepped into the first area of Solisium was a moment of awe – my jaw physically dropped. Some character models look absolutely impressive, even for random NPCs that have little to no influence over the narrative.
The Throne and Liberty system requirements were no match for my Ryzen 5 7600 and 4080 PC build, and I had no performance hiccups while playing the game on the highest settings possible. I’m concerned this will age the game more than a stylized experience like World of Warcraft, but for now, it looks like a truly modern MMO.
However, it is still hard to enjoy a world-threatening narrative in an MMO when you’re practically the only player around. During my time with the review servers, I only spotted one other player in the European server, meaning I’ll need to wait before I can provide my full review of the MMORPG.
The Bottom Line
Throne and Liberty feel disappointingly dull so far. The flashy combat looks amazing, but feels clunky and mediocre, while the story doesn’t capture my interest just yet. Admittedly, the world is breathtakingly beautiful, but I need to see it filled with other players before I can give my full opinion of Amazon Games’ latest MMO.