Dekaron / 2Moons Review (Level 1 - 30)

One could say that Dekaron’s gameplay is part of the new generation of combat design in MMORPGs. By this, I mean that gamers will find it very convenient and very easy to get adjusted to the combat setup and skill-use in this game. In fact, the true highlight of Dekaron is the ability to dispose of enemies quickly, right at the start of the game. Unlike MMORPGs where players have to grow stronger in order to feel stronger, this feat is entirely possible right at the beginning of the game, similar to 2029 Online. This makes the grind-sessions feel far less lengthy or obnoxious as found in games like Rohan: Blood Feud, Fly for Fun or Perfect World Online.

Disposing skills on enemies is quite fun and the bloody aftermath can be gory but suiting to the game’s dearth ridden atmosphere. One of the real highlights of the combat and gameplay is the Segnale’s awesome looking whip attacks…the developers just did a phenomenal job making it all look authentic and having the enemies react and respond appropriately to the attacks.

Another highlight of the gameplay is that even though there are still the traditional hit/miss roll dice being used to cast, attack and defend, the transition of the roll dice with the actions on-screen are completely and entirely seamless. For instance, if the invisible dice roll a successful block for the player character, the animations on-screen will actually show the character block an actual attack from the enemy, without clicking or showcasing any kind of blotched animations, as is present in most MMOs.

My only gripe with the gameplay is that navigation is a little clumsy and the keyboard controls act as if they were a last minute addition to the game. Otherwise, the gameplay is spot-on.

Even before reaching level 30, one of the highlights of Dekaron is that players actually get to look cool with low-level armor and weapons. And even though the game suffers mildly from the clone effect, the character models, texture work and especially the lighting, all work well together to bridge a dark and violent world together.

The environments aren’t especially noteworthy and are typically composed of medieval settings with graveyards, hayfields and castle remnants making up for most of the background templates. The character animations and detail applied to the armor, attacks and weapons is what really steals the show, visually. Gamers who like a lot of graphical flair in their MMORPGs will definitely find it executed well in Dekaron.

When it comes to the sound and music it’s not like the game has anything as audibly engaging as Red Cliff Online or Rohan, but the music that is present is good enough to get the job done. Voice over work isn’t bad but certainly not on par with the likes of Fallen Earth. Nevertheless, considering that this is a free-to-play game, that’s still pretty good that it could even draw comparisons to something like Fallen Earth.

The game doesn’t have a strong focus on partying early on in the game. Lower level players will spend majority of their time completing quests and earning enough experience just to wear decent armor and equip usable weapons. Still, IGG’s 2029 Online showed that despite players starting off as low-levels, partying can still play an important role in the general gameplay, right at the start.

The main thing is that most players just don’t seem interested in partying early on, but you can’t blame them too much considering that most of the quests are designed for single players leading up to level 30. There are plenty of opportunities to party, though. So for players who can't get enough of teaming with friends or fellow online pugilists, it's possible to send a party request to any of the players running around grinding away in the early parts of the game. The only time partying doesn't seem possible is when performing a quest inside an instanced dungeon.

While crafting and scavenging don’t play as important role in Dekaron as it does in other MMOs, such as Runescape or Fallen Earth, the fact that it’s more like a violent, combat-heavy rendition of the typical MMORPG formula makes it stand out a bit from the rest of the games on the market. It’s also not shy in offering up plenty of blood and guts as players can dismember and beat the living crap out of any bad guy they come across. There are pets, mounts and guilds, much like any other MMO but hardly any of that is accessible in the beginning parts of the game.

For players who start off and aim to reach level 30, the only noteworthy original feature in the game is probably the instanced, level-restricted dungeons that work as side-quests for players to acquire rare items or unique weapons. Sadly, there won’t be a lot of PvP at the start of the game, but it quickly jumps into that right after level 30.

Dekaron is another one of those MMORPGs aimed at a mature audience that doesn’t focus on anything groundbreaking for players between level 1- 30, but it does focus a considerable amount of its efforts on playability and the fun-factors of beating the living daylights out bad guys, much like Ran Online. Other than its standard-fare soundtrack and slightly unrefined keyboard controls for moving the character around, it’s a fairly cool game that surely delivers on thrills and a bloody good time.

I can’t really say what else the developers could have done to improve the game beyond its current state, but for this to be a free-to-play title it’s definitely a head above many other grind-heavy MMORPGs.

Official Dekaron Website