Throne and Liberty is a new MMORPG that has captured the attention of many, an attempt from Amazon Games to once again publish a winner in an overcrowded genre. Developed by NCSOFT, it’s been out in Korea since December last year and has already evolved and made smart changes in that time before its western release. After spending a significant amount of time levelling to the cap of 50, finishing the main story, exploring the world and dabbling in some endgame content, I’m still enjoying my time with Throne and Liberty, even if it does play it somewhat safe and familiar, at times.
The first thing that stands out in Throne and Liberty is its sheer beauty. From sprawling landscapes to intricately designed cities, the game world is just gorgeous, arguably one of the best-looking MMORPGs to date. It’s one of the prettiest I’ve seen, that’s for sure, perhaps only rivalled by Amazon’s own New World from a few years back. With highly detailed environments and weather effects that significantly enhance the sense of immersion, it’s easy to lose yourself in dense forests, swimming in oceans, or soaring across the landscape.
To its credit, the game streamlines various systems that would typically feel cumbersome in traditional MMOs. Instead of managing mounts or obtaining different movement abilities, Throne and Liberty lets you morph into creatures like wolves for faster ground movement, and you can also swim and fly with ease, morphing into an otter or a bird. This flexibility provides a dynamic way to explore the vast world, cutting down on the tediousness often associated with travelling. Fast travel is there too, of course, but you move swiftly enough that I didn’t mind finding my own way for the most part.
The story itself is well-crafted, too; NPCs are voiced, and key points of the narrative are summarised effectively through narrations, ensuring you always feel connected to the ongoing plot. I appreciated this, especially when I tuned out during some longer back-and-forth scenes of dialogue. This, combined with a questing system that offers variety, particularly in the main story, helps keep things fresh. The developers obviously wanted to avoid making questing repetitive; there’s a noticeable lack of filler tasks like “kill x number of enemies” or “collect x items.” Instead, quests are more thoughtful and engaging, making the progression feel natural, with some surprises I won’t spoil.
“…it streamlines various systems that would typically feel cumbersome in traditional MMOs”
Combat is another area where Throne and Liberty mostly shines. It feels fast, responsive, and impactful, with up to 12 skills that you can assign to hotkeys to trigger and juggle cooldowns. It’s visually distinct, and you can have two weapons as your “class”, which makes for some potentially interesting builds. I focused on a Greatsword/Sword-and-Board character and enjoyed leaping into the air and slamming down my sword with spinning slashes and shield bashes while avoiding enemy attacks. It’s not entirely original, but it’s satisfying nonetheless. The co-op dungeons I’ve tried so far also may not be revolutionary in terms of design, but they’re enjoyable and well-paced.
Something else that really sets Throne and Liberty apart is the loot system or the lack thereof. This will be a choice that you’ll either love or hate; to be fair, in some MMORPGs, I have more loot than I know what to do with and often sell it all or reduce it to scrap. Here, you are mostly tied to one weapon and must focus on upgrading it, from a specific upgrade resource tied to rarity. If you obtain a higher rarity version of the same weapon, you feed the older one into it to upgrade. This upgrade system means there’s a lack of variety in what gear you’re using, and it can make the process feel a little underwhelming.
A similar system applies to skills, where you have to obtain skill books to enhance your abilities. Early on, these books are fairly common, but after level 50 and once you’ve completed the main story, they become harder to acquire. This makes it more difficult to respec or switch builds as you progress, locking you into the choices you made early on. While this system isn’t inherently bad, it does place some restrictions on players who want more freedom to experiment with different playstyles.
Throne and Liberty primarily had a large focus on PvP when it initially launched in Korea, and while you can somewhat avoid these battles, the game’s approach can be problematic for players focused on story progression. When an area is marked as “in conflict,” other players can attack and kill you, even if you have no interest in PvP. This makes completing story quests in these zones frustrating, especially when you’re repeatedly interrupted by aggressive players.
Some technical hiccups persist, particularly with flying and platforming mechanics. While the ability to fly adds a lot of verticality and excitement to exploration, sometimes, your character may glitch during flight, teleporting randomly or causing the camera to freak out. This becomes especially annoying during platforming puzzles, where precision is key.
The console version, in particular, also suffers from targeting issues when using a controller. While I mostly didn’t miss having a mouse and keyboard (I played on Xbox Series X), and the team have done a good job of translating the experience to console, the targeting system can feel clunky, often locking onto the wrong enemy. Some of the menus are also quite daunting, and navigating them without a mouse click can be somewhat of a pain.
But these are all potentially things that will be balanced and ironed out over time. Amazon Games, to their credit, seem to be committed to their MMORPG investments, and developer NCsoft has proven that in the past as well. MMORPGs often end up very different in a year or two from when they launch, and what’s here is a very solid foundation.
It’s worth reminding you at this point that the game is free to play. You can experience all of what I’ve described without dropping a cent, and that’s pretty impressive. There are in-game purchases, battle passes to engage in, and cosmetic bits, like cute morph alternatives and outfits. While you can use a currency to get skill books, I don’t think it’s enough to tip the scales in the sense that it feels pay-to-win.
Despite some challenges and perhaps a lack of originality in structure, Throne and Liberty remains incredibly fun. The levelling experience up to 50 is engaging, the main story is well-executed, and the game world is vast and full of opportunities for exploration. The positives, especially the visuals and combat, outweigh the negatives, at least in my first 25 hours or so.
The endgame remains something I’ll need to explore in greater detail, but Throne and Liberty’s free-to-play model with a fair amount of content ensures that you can at least experience a large chunk of the game without being pressured into purchases. It has launched feature-rich in the West, and launching day-and-date on PC and consoles is impressive, without any noticeable kinks.
Considering Korea has already seen an expansion, and the team have applied positive changes before bringing it to a global audience, I’d say the future looks quite bright for Throne and Liberty, and I’m keen to see if it continues the momentum.
Throne and Liberty is free-to-play, and out now on Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
