KnightShift 2, the sequel to the real-time strategy role-playing game from Reality Pump Studios and Zuxxez will be all role-playing and zero real-time strategy, as the developers focus on what many fans of the first game thought was the most remarkable and greatest aspect of the game - the solo and multiplayer role-playing.

While we don't want to spoil too much of the story, we'll give you a light overview: the player dons the role of an adventurer fond of questing and gathering treasure for fame and fortune. One day he unearths an ancient artifact of unknown origin and power that seems to be on every bad guy's wish list. After avoiding several attacks and thefts of the strange artifact, the hero seeks out the wisdom of a powerful mage who explains that this object is very dangerous and has the potential of destroying the world with the release of an unspeakable evil. From there the player embarks on the standard "save the world" adventure with many stops along the way and many distractions and quest that will ultimately lead to a lot of combat, treasure hunting and fun.

The action will offer twitch-based, action role-playing as the original game did, but will do a better job of fleshing out the backstory and making the game worlds that players explore a bit more populated, beautiful and fleshed out. The adventures will be non-linear for the most part and players will decide whether or not being good or evil is a more profitable matter or not (this will allegedly have an affect on the game, but Zuxxez hasn't offered details on that aspect of the game yet). Beyond the over-arching storyline, players will get to engage in plenty of side-quests served up by numerous non-player characters scattered through the worlds of KnightShift 2 – one of the more entertaining aspects of the original game.

These worlds will feature more detailed terrains and characters, some familiar and new monsters and humanoids to battle and new larger than life enemies that will stand out amongst the armies of undead, wildlife, mythological beasts and pesky humanoids. The game retains enough of the original's settings and creatures to serve up some familiarity, but enriches it with tons of new goodies that fans will appreciate.

While we don't have the full details on all the classes in the game we can tell you that some of the more familiar classes like the Knight (or fighter if you prefer), Barbarian and Wizard will make a return (albeit slightly tweaked). Some new classes to be included in the game are the Necromancer and Dwarf - the Dwarf is an axe wielding fighter who will have the ability to wield two weapons at the same time and can wear heavy armor, while the Necromancer has the ability to summon the dead and use poison-based magic. The Wizard will be able to use powerful fire based attack magic to take on enemies as well as summon a powerful golem to defend himself against enemies. We also assume that fighters and Barbarians will get new skills in addition to tweaks to old skills.

Like the previous game players will have two bars to keep track while out in the world - life and mana. Mana, as was the case with the last game, is used for magic and skills. We're not sure but we believe that magic will be inventory based like the previous game (ie you equip it to the character), but we could be wrong..



The single player campaign will be divided into ten or so worlds with an overall storyline and lots of minor sub-quests to partake in. We assume gates, teleporters, towers and other fun elements will make a return to this promising sequel, but we'll have to wait and see.

One thing worth noting is that the game will feature areas and structures that are grander in scope than the previous game, along with monsters and boss characters that dwarf the player. The bosses in the game will be quite different from all the others enemies on the field, injecting their special powers and hulking mass into the gameplay. Regular enemies may also be tied to the world through terrain types, time of day (day or night), location, etc., making different types of settings offer different types of monsters to battle. These monsters will now have both close range and ranged combat attacks - and in some cases - may use the same magic that the player has access to against them.

RPG games need NPCs that are woven deeply into the backstory like the Gandalf, Asland, etc., that serve to enrich the game experience and guide the player to a particular set of events. Some special NPCs will play a prominent role in the game, serving up quests and providing some much need atmosphere to the game. Some unique NPCs will also be thrown into the mix to interact with players at various points during the adventure to add more drama and fun to the story.

While the multiplayer portion of the game will be similar to its single-player counterpart, maps will be created for multiplayer that use shorter storylines to make the game more interesting when playing with your friends online. Zuxxez is balancing online play so that it is fun and works well when more than one player is thrown into the mix. There aren't too many details about multiplayer at this point, but we assume that the online portion of the game will support LAN and internet play via Zuxxez' online matchmaking service. The bite-sized story approach to play will make it easier to grab a quick game session with friends online while offering something a bit more substantial in scope than KnightShift's original multiplayer concepts.

All told, KnightShift 2 will offer 9 character classes, 4000 different items, a revamped and vastly polished 3D game world, improved AI for enemies, day and night cycles, boss characters, grander locations and a story packed with irony, humor, and clichés galore. The game is currently in development and will be released in early 2005. We'll have more on this game soon, but you can learn more about it from its official site .