Vortex Gaming

Hive IM unveiled the demo build of its new title 'Architect: Land of Exile (hereinafter Architect)' to the general public for the first time at G-STAR 2024, held at BEXCO in Busan on the 14th.

'Architect' is expected to be a high-end AAA MMORPG based on Unreal Engine 5's realistic graphics and top-tier technology. In addition to adventuring through vast seamless fields and enjoying thrilling battles with unique bosses and monsters, its strength lies in the freedom to explore every corner of the world through unrestricted special movements such as flying, swimming, and rock climbing.

Until the G-STAR trailer released on the morning of the 14th, Architect's in-game screens had been kept strictly confidential. As such, many gamers were interested in the G-STAR exhibition where the demo build of Hive IM and Aquatree's first MMORPG would be revealed.

Before visiting G-STAR, there were concerns about Hive IM's reluctance to show in-game footage, but those worries were unfounded. The demo build itself was only about 30 minutes long, but it showed attempts to differentiate itself from simple MMORPGs by mixing various exploration and combat elements found in existing open-world RPGs, and it showed a unique charm that made one wonder why the game footage hadn't been released earlier.

Hive IM created a dedicated Architect exhibition space with 100 booths in the B2C Hall 2nd Exhibition Hall for this G-STAR. The demo was conducted entirely on PC, and the demo build allowed players to experience a total of two modes: 'Story Mode' and 'Exploration Mode'.

Story Mode consists of about 15 minutes of story quest content, starting with character customization that anyone playing an MMORPG for the first time would go through. Exploration Mode consists of 15 minutes of various exploration-type content that can be experienced in the actual game, such as dungeon battles, puzzle challenges, and flying challenges. Both versions include a simple tutorial for those who are new to Architect, so there should be no major difficulties in understanding either one, regardless of which one you play first.

In this demo, we first played 'Story Mode' to follow the basic flow of an MMORPG. In Story Mode, you can choose one of five classes - Combat Priest, Warrior, Assassin, Mage, and Hunter - and then create your own character through character customization.

In the demo, we chose the 'Combat Priest' class, which decorates Architect's main visual. The default appearance preset is designed to be beautiful, so there was no need to touch it separately, but it was possible to directly adjust various parts such as hair shape, pupils, forehead, cheekbones, cheek fat, jaw position, and body shape. Also, although it was not included in this demo build, the full version will allow you to select male and female characters for each class.

After character creation, the player's journey begins in 'The Abandoned Land', the main stage of Architect, heading towards a giant tower. Here, you can help those in danger due to monsters, and in the process, you can watch the story of the protagonist who gets caught up in a big incident.

All the lines of the characters in the story include high-quality dubbing, and thanks to the realistic movements of the NPC characters and cutscenes that match the dubbing, I was able to immerse myself in the story even more. The graphic direction using Unreal Engine 5 is particularly outstanding in this section. However, perhaps because the expressions of the NPC characters were expressed too realistically, the expressions and impressions of the playable character, which are processed as choices without separate lines, felt somewhat stiff as a reaction.

Even if you choose Story Mode, you can experience basic combat content. Regardless of which class you choose, you are provided with a button configuration that allows you to use normal attacks, four skills, jump, and dodge. Skills are divided into targeting skills that are activated when there is an enemy, and non-targeting skills, depending on their purpose.

The combat is not a method of clearing by simply pressing buttons, but a full-fledged non-targeting combat that requires calculating the distance from the enemy and responding to gimmicks. A lock-on function is not provided separately, and the range of skills is not displayed intuitively, so if you choose a ranged character, you may be a little confused at first, but as manual operation is required more tightly than in a typical MMORPG, you can expect to enjoy more strategic and systematic combat once you get used to the controls. In fact, the combat in the experience build included several gimmicks that required quick reactions with jumps or dodges after seeing the enemy's motions.

Overall, it was a satisfying combat experience, but when turning the camera to create distance from the enemy and then casting a normal attack or skill again, the fact that the line of sight does not face the enemy was somewhat cumbersome. It can be interpreted as a part that requires more precise manual operation, but it would be good to provide related options so that players can choose the camera method according to their preferences.

If you progress a little further in the story, you can fight a giant golem and a boss, and after experiencing Architect's unique non-targeting combat a little more, the Story Mode demo ends when you arrive at 'Babylon', the central village of Architect. If you still feel disappointed at this time, you can look around Babylon and check the interaction elements for the remaining time even after the end screen.

Immediately after that, I played the second demo build, 'Exploration Mode'. The method of playing by selecting one of the five classes is the same, but character customization is omitted here. In Exploration Mode, the player must pass three trials given by the 'Naruru Tribe' character, Architect's otter-type mascot. When you receive a quest, you are automatically moved to the entrance to each trial, so everyone can experience all the prepared content without missing anything.

The first trial is the 'Trial of Flight', which involves passing through several ring-shaped circles floating in the air using flight controls, one of Architect's special movements. It is a gliding system that is automatically activated when you jump off a cliff and press the space bar, which has appeared in many works, so it was not difficult to adapt to.

You must move to the target point while passing through as many circles as possible within the time limit, and you can obtain a minimum of 1 to 3 treasure chest rewards depending on the mission performance at the destination. The composition itself is simple, but the charm of the first trial is that you can look down on Architect's seamless world from a high place.

The second trial is the 'Trial of Leap', which is mixed with several puzzle elements. The player must use special movement controls such as jumping and climbing to ride on platforms that rise with magic and reach the target point. In addition to simply riding and climbing the platform, there are also 'one-stroke drawing' type puzzles in the middle, and platforms that spin around like obstacles in sports variety shows appear, adding to the fun of climbing.

Since the separate stamina gauge decreases quickly when climbing, you could also feel strategic fun, such as finding an efficient route to avoid falling. This is also an element that can be seen in other open-world RPGs, and it can be said that it reflects the trend in order to break away from the typical MMORPG.

The last third trial is the 'Challenge Gate'. The Challenge Gate is a combat-type content that is played by entering an instance dungeon, and it was a space where you could comprehensively experience various fun such as dungeon exploration and boss raid. When you enter the Challenge Gate, you explore a maze-shaped dungeon, and when you defeat the elite monsters on the way to the boss room, you can feel the fun of growing by selecting one of three random buffs, just like in a roguelike game. Among the buffs, there were various effects such as being able to perform evasion dashes twice in a row, which was only possible once, so it was expected that there would be different fun every time you challenged.

At the end of the Challenge Gate, a fight with the 'Giant Bat', which can be said to be the most difficult battle in the entire demo build, awaits. The giant bat uses various gimmicks such as the most basic melee attack, a pounce attack that causes a knockdown, a shockwave that can only be avoided by jumping, and a wave attack that must be avoided by looking at it.

In particular, the laser gimmick that is fired after a brief pause will reduce your health to the bottom if you are hit head-on, so you had to carefully watch what pattern would come next and attack little by little. The fun of identifying the enemy's patterns and attacking with limited skills was clear, so I even thought that if I had the chance, I would like to experience more diverse boss battles with another class.

If you have attacked the giant bat, you have cleared all three trials included in 'Exploration Mode'. Although I didn't achieve the presented challenges 100% perfectly, the kind Naruru Tribe NPC praised the player as a great achievement regardless of the result, and the demo ended like that.

This G-STAR demo was the first time that Hive IM and Aquatree unveiled 'Architect' to the general public. At the press conference held together on this day, Park Beom-jin, CEO of the developer Aquatree, revealed his ambition to listen carefully to users' voices and quickly reflect any inconveniences that users may have, and to always communicate closely. It remains to be seen whether their efforts to differentiate themselves by adding various attempts will bear fruit properly, or whether it will become just another mediocre mobile MMORPG that can be seen anywhere, and we will have to continue to watch their future moves.

The first MMORPG presented by Hive IM and Aquatree together, 'Architect: Land of Exile', can be experienced at the Hive IM booth in G-STAR Hall 2 until the 17th.

웹진 인벤박광석 기자
2024-11-15