Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes

Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is a 2004 South Korean game from studio Blueside that functions as a companion title to the larger Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, placing the player in the same fantasy world shortly before the events of the main game, this time however with a considerably stronger emphasis on action-RPG elements rather than commanding entire armies. Here the player controls individual heroes from the various factions in the conflict between the human kingdom and the dark empire, progressing through a series of missions that combine direct action combat with smaller tactical elements of commanding accompanying units, pushing the game closer to the action-RPG genre than to the full-blooded strategy of its older sibling.

Combat itself combined fast, several-button combos with simple orders given to accompanying squads, which could be sent into formations, ordered to attack, or held in reserve for the decisive moment. The story fills in the fates and motivations of key characters from the Kingdom Under Fire saga before the large-scale conflict described in The Crusaders, offering fans of the series a deeper insight into the political intrigue and personal dramas of characters who in the main game appear mostly as army commanders.

Critics praised the depth of the series' world and mythology, though they pointed out that the action component doesn't reach the quality of dedicated action RPGs, while the strategic component is noticeably simplified compared to Crusaders. The game was also released exclusively for Xbox and sold only in limited quantities in Europe, so it is among the console's harder-to-find titles today. Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes thus, despite its smaller scope, remains an important addition to one of the most ambitious Korean game series ever to reach the Western market. For fans, it was a welcome expansion of the lore and insight into the motivations of heroes who appear in Crusaders mostly as distant commanding figures.