Character and enemy animation still seems a touch slow and stodgy, but certainly superior to the previous games. Once again the flytraps make a return, looking far more threatening in their dark green livery. NPC models are improved, though they still have no eyes! Enemies are now far more fleshed out, and more varied in their design.

Deep greens on grassy ground, soft shades of grey in the ruins, somewhat luminescent blues in the catacombs, and strong yellows and browns in the caverns and dungeons.

Unlike many supposedly realistic PlayStation 2 games that have since become unbearable to look at in the wake of newer consoles, the textures in King’s Field 4 are appropriate and colourful, and certainly more artistic than realistic which works very much in the game’s favour. But after one goes through the – practically required – opening ritual of instant death when first playing King’s Field 4, it becomes immediately apparent that From Software were firing on all cylinders with this game.Įternal Ring preceded King’s Field 4 with somewhat lesser visuals, but it is assumed that it uses the same engine though definitely with improvements, including a persistent world and no loading times. Beautifully rendered terrain, ruined architecture, paths winding through precipitously high mountains, and – of course – dungeons. King’s Field has always enjoyed a particularly subdued atmosphere, as games go. With not a bang nor a shout, nor a particularly over-zealous CG intro, you begin the last entry in the King’s Field series at the entrance to the dark lands surrounding the supposed site of The Ancient City, from whence the evil idol came.Īnd once again, if you take two steps in the wrong direction, you will die immediately.ĭon’t worry, we all do on the first playthrough. Stepping into the shoes of Prince Devian of the Azalin Empire, you are tasked to return the cursed Idol of Sorrow to its place of origin, so that your king shall no longer suffer its evil effects.

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