VINDIGTUS: DEFYING FATE

Enjoy a spin-off from a long-running Korean MMO

- Ian Evenden

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE TBA

DEVELOPER Nexon

PUBLISHER Nexon

LINK s.team/c/2814860

What were you doing in 2010? Chances are you weren’t playing a Korean MMO called Vindictus, also known as Mabinogi Heroes, which won the grand prize at the 2010 Korea Game Awards. It’s still going today, has been praised for its combat, and Defying Fate is a spin-off story.

A warrior enters a sunlit valley. She wears highly feminized armor that’s a little drafty around the thighs, and carries a sword and shield. A dual-blade-wielding male character is also available at startup, but the extra protection will probably come in handy later, especially when I start looking at the alternate costumes.

The game is full of artifacts from its MMO heritage. Defying Fate takes place in the same universe as the original Vindictus, features some of its characters and you can swap costumes at any time, as well as perform emotes which, in a singleplayer game, appear somewhat redundant but might hint at a future co-op implementation. The outfits for the female character, Fiona, range from some serious armor with horns and a surcoat to a little white dress straight out of a Twitter bot’s photo library, and everything seems to come with high heels. Even her metal boots end in stilettos that somehow still allow their wearer to walk over mud without sinking in. Oddly, the male character, Lann, doesn’t suffer from this problem, as while he has fewer outfits available they’re all sensible, sturdy armor rather than mankinis or low-rise denim shorts.