Enjoy a spin-off from a long-running Korean MMO
What were you doing in 2010? Chances are you weren’t playing a Korean MMO called Vindictus, also known as Mabinogi Heroes, which won the grand prize at the 2010 Korea Game Awards. It’s still going today, has been praised for its combat, and Defying Fate is a spin-off story.
Awarrior enters a sunlit valley. She wears highly feminised armour that’s a little draughty around the thighs, and carries a sword and shield. Adual-blade wielding male character is also available at startup, but the extra protection will probably come in handy later, especially when I start looking at the alternate costumes.
The game is full of artefacts from its MMO heritage. DefyingFatetakes place in the same universe as the original Vindictus, features some of its characters and you can swap costumes at any time, as well as perform emotes which, in a singleplayer game, appear somewhat redundant but might hint at a future co-op implementation. The outfits for the female character, Fiona, range from some serious armour with horns and a surcoat to a little white dress straight out of a Twitter bot’s photo library, and everything seems to come with high heels. Even her metal boots end in stilettos that somehow still allow their wearer to walk over mud without sinking in. Oddly, the male character, Lann, doesn’t suffer from this problem, as while he has fewer outfits available they’re all sensible, sturdy armour rather than mankinis or low-rise denim shorts.
YOU CAN SWAP COSTUMES AT ANY TIME, AS WELL AS PERFORM EMOTES
Still, Fiona’s handy with a sword, and that’s lucky as this is an action RPG that takes a big leaf out of FromSoft’s book. Almost immediately, having killed the first of many roaming gnolls –wolf or hyena-like creatures who stand on their hind legs, use crude weapons and are all over the game’s artwork –you’re presented with a glowing thing that shoots abeam into the air so it can be seen from far away. Interact, and it becomes a checkpoint you can rest at to restore health and respawn at when you die.
Enemies patrol up and down like in an MMO, and can be aggro’d from quite a long distance. Their arrows will pass through gaps in cover, while melee units charge at you, so it’s quite easy to get swamped if you’re not careful. This leads to a cautious style of combat in which you attempt to pull one away without bringing the rest down on you too. The fights are not to be rushed into, and I found that dual-wielder Lann was a better choice at the beginning even though he can’t block. Fiona can, as you might expect from that shield, and there’s a button dedicated to it, marking a strong difference between the two characters’ fighting styles. She also seems to be the ha
