The grind is real. I've always hated grinding in MMOs, and Riders of Icarus is no exception. Apparently mage classes can cast spells while moving, which I think is an excellent feature.

However, I've only played the berserker class so far, so I'm not sure how combat feels for other classes. And sometimes the game's targeting system wouldn't work, which kept me from attacking enemy that was standing in front of me. It took me a while to understand that the 'auto attack' command didn't combo attacks. The attacks don't feel fluid and satisfying. While the game's world is massive and invites exploration, the player will find themselves being stuck in one small area of the game's huge world, just because it takes a long time to level up and get to the next area.Ĭombat feels clunky. I'm not a huge fan of the combat system. So having to wait so long to get to that point can be frustrating. Mounted combat is also only introduced around level 15. The problem with this is that it can take a few hours just to reach this point, and the game doesn't get very interesting until past then.Īll of the cooler mounts and content are way past the starter area. They can only leave after reaching about level 10. The game starts off and progresses rather slowly. After the awesome tutorial sequence, the player goes though the starter area. Some of the mounts will require special items to tame, making them more desireable. These mounts can also be transformed into a miniature pet version which will follow and fight with the player.

There's a lot of cool mounts. There's creatures from dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, and dinosaurs that the player can choose to tame. The player can fight on their mount using a crossbow or lance, even when flying in the air. Mounted combat. Ever hated it when your character got off their mount when getting attacked? Well, now you can fight back while on your mount. I found myself spending hours simply exploring and finding cool new creatures to tame. Open world. The game's world and maps are massive. The tameable creatures are also wonderfully detailed. Its beautiful graphics are reminiscent of TERA. It starts off with your character breaking out of jail and flying off on the back of a pegasus into the sunset. Seriously, how cool does that sound? As of this beta session, the NDA has been lifted, so here are some of my thoughts on Riders of Icarus. Please note that since the game is still in beta, this may not be representative of the game when fully released.

Riders of icarus