The Seven Knights franchise has evolved quite a lot over the years. Admittedly, I haven’t spent too much time with the overall series, but Seven Knights Re:BIRTH certainly caught my attention. I’ve enjoyed my time with AFK RPGs over the past few years, and Seven Knights Re:BIRTH offers some intriguing elements that make playing this game on the go very fun. In addition, Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is a remake of Seven Knights, so this appears to be the best onboarding point in the series to date.
The original Seven Knights launched all the way back in March 2014 in Korea, and Seven Knights Re:BIRTH inherits the game’s legacy and features, including the main story, characters, combat systems, and core mechanics. I didn’t play the original, but I can say that the remake feels like a modern mobile RPG, and it’s an easy game to pick up and play. Like many other mobile RPGs before it, Seven Knights Re:BIRTH begins with a tutorial that takes place in a Prologue chapter, allowing you to test out some powerful characters and try out skills while getting a taste of the main story.
Disclaimer: The build is currently under development and may be subject to change before the official release.
Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is a Beginner-Friendly RPG for Players of All Skill Levels
At its core, Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is a really fun turn-based RPG that carries over familiar elements from AFK RPGs. There are Auto Battle options that let you sit back and watch your units act on their own, but you can also take control by unleashing their skills once they’re ready. At the beginning of the game, the protagonist (the player) only has Evan and Karin as the sole two heroes in the party, but that quickly expands after progressing through the first few stages in Adventure Mode.
In fact, many missions or will fly by quick, especially since there’s a feature that lets you seamlessly complete and start stages in succession. Keys are the main “stamina” system necessary for completing stages, and you can earn them regularly through normal gameplay or recharge them over time. There are hundreds of stages to progress through and obtain rewards from, and the story is decent, but it takes an hour or two for it to become engaging. Each hero has their narrative and ties to other heroes, so you will need to have a solid party before being able to really get into the lore of Seven Knights Re:BIRTH, in my opinion.
Due to my limited time with this preview, I’ll focus on Adventure Mode and the game’s core features, since the former is the primary avenue of character progression in the early hours. I didn’t need to enhance my heroes right away, as Adventure Mode offers enemies that typically are the same level as the party in each successive encounter. However, there are plenty of notable features, including weapon and hero enhancement. You can also summon a slew of heroes from various banners by using Rubies, which could also be used to repeat missions. It’s way too early to judge the gacha, but I’d say it’s been very generous and fair, especially with the constant flow of obtainable Rubies.
These features are par for the course for a gacha game, and you can also upgrade weapon and hero stats by using Gold. Specifically, heroes are enhanced with Gold and other heroes of lower rarity. Eventually, other materials are required to rank up heroes and weapons, but you may have assumed that already if you played other gacha RPGs. There’s also skill enhancement, which requires a separate set of materials, and Transcendence, which involves empowering 4- and 5-star heroes with duplicate heroes.
Seven Knights Re:BIRTH Comes Packed with Features and a Strong Aesthetic
It should be noted that the preview build is still representative of a game that’s still in development, but there are a lot of features that will be available in the release version, barring some potential changes. Players can battle each other in the Arena and Guild War PvP modes, along with Infinite Tower and Raid PvE modes. You’ll need to make some substantial progress to unlock these modes, but it’s well worth it for character progression, since this is where the endgame will likely evolve over time.
There are also Power-Up Dungeons, which can be repeated to grind for certain materials and XP. Grinding in Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is a breeze once you’ve unlocked the Repeat feature, which lets you complete repeatable activities in the background while playing other content. There’s a lot of settings at your disposal, including team layout and skill activations, but Repeat comes to a halt if your team is wiped out, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Aside from features, the presentation of Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is really good so far. Characters can be seen in amazing 3D visuals that really make each character standout. I also really enjoy the character illustrations and cinematic cutscenes in the story, especially the latter. I wasn’t expecting cutscenes to look as good as they did, since combat itself takes a more simplistic approach to visuals on the battlefield.
A Potential Mobile RPG Hit
What I discussed is only a small sample of what the full Seven Knights Re:BIRTH experience has to offer. Although Seven Knights Re:BIRTH shares a lot of traits with many of its gacha competitors, the game has a unique art style that makes it compelling and gameplay that makes it fun without becoming repetitive and tedious. The story does take a while to build up and lead to impactful moments, but the gameplay and progression systems will make sure that you’re wanting to reach those points.
Seven Knights Re:BIRTH knew how to drive my interest by allowing me to unlock more features and systems while experiencing the story. I think this will be key at launch to ensure the game is interesting and engaging, even for those who might feel lukewarm on the story and prefer gameplay. There’s no harm in trying Seven Knights: ReBIRTH for yourself though, as it could be a mobile gaming gem in the making.
Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is coming soon, and pre-registration is available via the App Store and Google Play Store.
Disclaimer: Netmarble provided a build of Seven Knights Re:BIRTH on Android for preview purposes.
