KUF Crusaders on GOG - gog.la/BaywatchSAURON THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo For metalheads the soundtrack is completely free on both GOG and Steam!

This game has such levels of edgy mid-2000s badassery that it smashes straight through the cringe barrier and right back into looking really fun

"Every single song in the game is metal" Don't threaten me with a good time!

"OH my *God* , he's *RIPPED* !" FUCKING GOLD

After hearing all the English dialogue be so flat and lifeless the whole video, I was absolutely not prepared for that one guy begging to surrender. You could really hear the desperation in his voice.

‘Rick Blood and the Dark Legion’ sounds like a band made up for a movie that only has one song, but it’s unexpectedly a complete banger.

Can we talk about how somebody ACTUALLY LIGHTS THE FIRE ARROWS?!? So many games just have a simple texture switch. What a nice detail.

Orcs being agricultural enthusiasts is something that I wish would be replicated more often.

"We surrender! For God's sake, we surrender! What are you doing?" that's...pretty chilling for a Godsmack concert playing on the same lot as an SCA meetup.

This game is basically exactly as I remembered it. Cool gameplay that requires quick thinking and sound judgement, fun unit building, and some bizarrely bad voice acting sprinkled with a story that's sometimes fun and often bizarre. Your assumption that this was a teenagers "Yo this game is everything and it's awesome" is spot on.

*Ahh my repressed crusading memories have all come back*

"Which god did this vision come from" has to be one of the best taglines to a dramatic twist known to modern man.

This game had the Warhammer treatment of "put so many silly things in it until it loops back into being awesome" and I'm HERE for it

"If you don't want spoilers go to here" - Video immediately transitions to ad for luxury hotels in the Maldives. Yeah, don't think I can go that far to avoid spoilers.

"Which God did this vision come from?" is such a simple but chilling statement and so perfect to highlight what happens I love it.

Rick Blood materializing out of the fire with his orcs, looking like Sephiroth just tagged him in as the drums and snare slowly rise, is un-ironically a badass seal of approval moment

"It's like the cast of Jersey Shore is trying to do a table reading of The Council of Elrond". That was golden.

i'm more and more convinced that Mandalore chooses wich games to review based on whether it is possible to make a Marv electrocuted joke or not

Oh my god, this game actually existed. For the longest while I was convinced I had a fever dream as a kid and that spawned this game haunting my dreams and telling me it was real. But it’s a legit thing apparently. Yet again Mandalore, you’ve helped me find a game I’ve been looking for inadvertently.

I remember playing this game and accidently creating a cutscene worthy gameplay moment. I charged into a squad of enemies that I had hit with fire arrows. As Gerault is yelling angrily with the red glow of fire in the background. Then as he is calmed down the fire also dies down. That was my first experience with the level so that became another level of why I loved this game as a child.

7:04 This is the moment that convinced me to buy. Any game that can unironically present their villain like this is worthy of my respect.

has to be one of the most 2004 games i've ever seen magical

as an edgy teenager who was just getting into heavy metal and Warhammer i absolutely loved this game. as an adult with far more refined taste in music, gameplay, and design, i still fucking love this oddball gem and wish there were more combo action rts games like this and bladestorm.

At first I thought you were joking about "Rick Blood" but no, he's actually called RICK BLOOD.

14:06 - omg when you yourself censored the word "pope" i died laughing. amazing review man. this was and probably still is my favourite video game franchise and im glad you shed some light onto this hidden gem

"The next adventure game is gonna be darker than Druids!" Oh cool, Harvester is coming.

This game blew my mind when I first played it at a sleep over. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Scott is if you are watching this, thanks for letting me come over everyday for a month so I could beat the hard campaign.

"if your soundwave becomes a solid wall its time to start over again" had me almost crying in laughter for no reason lol

You know what, I give them credit for having the archers say "Loose" rather than "Fire", if only they also said nock first it would have been perfect. But big marks for that.

6:00 "With the exception of the main menu every song in this game is metal [...]" Sounds like the main is the weakest point of the game by far.

the medieval apocalypse slant is probably one of my favourite genre gimmicks, honestly. I really like how it's done in drakengard, and little bit in dragon's dogma

For how prominent Gerald is in the advertising and artwork, including the cover, I'm surprised he actually has a relatively minor role in the story. I wonder why he and Lucretia were absent in the final mission. Maybe one day someone will make a sequel without a monkey's paw like the guy who wished for KuF 2.

Man, I fell in love with this series hard, growing up. Even downloaded the older PC RTS and everything. I was heartbroken both when it took them YEARS to bring KuF2 to the west, and then like a year later (a few days ago) they announced it was shutting down, without ever releasing any updates or additional content. Feels bad man. The series deserves so much better.

Ah man, that mid-2000's metal music really takes me back. Remember when everything was rock music, even when it didn't fit? God I have so much nostalgia for that era of media.

14:03 of all things I expected today hearing a dark elf call someone a gigolo with a pretty sick metal track in the background was not on the list. The music seriously reminds me of Prince of Persia Warrior Within

It was weird coming back to this game after so many years and hearing the english voices as the default ones for the first time. The spanish cast went for a really passionate medieval reading, which plays a lot better with how stiff the dialogue can be at times. Still, this game remains a lot of fun, and every now and then I decide to jump back in to experience the glory days again.

Fun fact: In the first mission where you encounter Regnier and you're playing as Gerald, you can actually defeat Regnier. It doesn't change the story, but you get a ton of EXP. It was so sad how this game got absolutely demolished by the reviews at the time purely for the metal soundtrack. I remember seeing 1/5's and 2/10 ratings all saying that the gameplay was awesome, but they hated the music. It was probably my biggest hint back in the day that game journalism was such a joke and it has only gotten worse since.

Once the review really started there was not a single minute where i didn't unironically say "holy shit that's fucking sick" Mid 2000s edge has aged like a fine wine.

I love that mandalore highlights all these weird games that I have literally never heard of. I hope that I can enjoy his work for a long time to come.

I will never forget the kingdom under fire 2 announcement BEFORE it was an mmo. It was the coolest looking game at the time.

If you're wondering why the Dark Elves sometimes call themselves "High Elves", it's because they see THEMSELVES as the true "High Elves" of their people. They're that prideful.

What speaks for the metal soundtrack is that it might be somewhat fitting to the tinkling sounds of armoured troops on the move. And as for the ex-girlfriends in the credits, it might be because they left the crunching developers during the production.

I remember renting this game so much I walked in one day and they just gave me it and Heroes. They said I was the only one who showed interest and the 360 games were needing space, good memories.

LOVED the Strategy + Tactical format of this game. Keeps the player in a constant state of moving, planning, coordinating, researching...punctuated by stress-releasing hack & slash. Lots of clocks on the levels where you need to get to your objective within time limits. Why this hasn't been explored further is a mystery. Would love a remake with better graphics, refined controls, and better voice acting. But don't dare touch the heavy metal. Absolutely signature!!

"Oh my god he's RIPPED." Me too Lucy, me too. (I spent the whole video fanning myself everytime The Dark LordTM showed up because DAMN SIR.

Love how the Orcs just want to farm ahahah, it humanises them!

10:23 Ah yes. Because the type of person who decides to play a game called *Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders* is _definitely_ the type of person to be *shocked and appalled* at the mere _mention_ of the Pope.

I've watched this video twice nearly in disbelief this vague memory from my childhood is more than a fever dream since no one I have talked to remembers it besides me.

I spent SO much time playing this game. I fell in love with it the first time I lit my arrows on fire. The animation of the torchbearer going down the line, lighting each arrow, then flying off to light the woods on fire. This game was so before it's time! This tried to be what Warhammer Total War is today. I actually played Warhammer Fantasy Battle with painted miniatures and tabletop landscapes. So this game was the first real attempt to turn tabletop miniature battles into a videogame, at least the first attempt that made it to Xbox.

Rick Blood sounds like an Image Comics character from the early 90’s. He even has MAXIMUM SHOULDERPADS.

This game looks and sounds more like a proper Berserk game adaptation, than the actual Berserk official game was

21:55 this feels like something straight out of Drakengard

seeing the way the squads move is activating some part of my brain that remembers a combination RTS/pinball game that came out on the gamecube, where you just chuck ancient japanese cannonballs at fortifications and towers to get armies to march on objectives. It was a widget, weird japanese import title, but bounced between the playstyles with a similar fluidity

"Rick rolls one of his friends into oblivion" I see what you did there.

I hope that we get a video covering Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes later on since it did fix some of the problems with The Crusades and added so many fun campaigns

20:00 ate elves ate humies luv me eats luv me tavern luv me furtalizer luv me farm simple as

The "WE SURRENDER" bit was some good voice acting 20:45

I fucking adored the edginess of this game as a young'n. Still do tbh.. I had no idea what I was doing strategically but the metal and the cool action was all I needed to enjoy it and recommend it to all my friends.

For a good portion of the video I couldn't tell if this was some sort of parody. That music is both amazing and bewildering

I unironically want a comedy high fantasy game where everything is played dead serious but they just talk like normal modern day people and have super normal names like Fred and Lucy. "My God he's ripped!" "No thanks to you, dumbass!" "Oh, fuck off dude" "Shut up Derrick I'm sick of your shit".

This is an exceptional review Mandalore, thanks for giving this such a thorough and entertaining review. I'm gonna drop a couple notes and minor corrections just in case anyone is interested. But I highly recommend playing at least Crusaders if you're even a little interested after seeing this video. I did a partial review of the game on my channel but haven't finished it yet. *You don't need to have played War of Heroes to understand or enjoy Crusaders. *There isn't much of a lore dump. The holy book at the beginning eludes to some ominous historic events from the perspective of the humans, but that's about it. *The prequel is one step forward and one step back. The path finding in that one is horrendous. *You will almost always use the map for movement instead of the target, keep that in mind if you're playing for the first time. *This game has a lot of min maxing that pays off big. In a lot of missions you can be rewarded with bonus EXP for thinking outside the box. There is even a bonus cut scene if you complete one of Gerald's missions in a way you wouldn't even think is possible at first glance. *Healing is literally everything in this game, for Humans get Curatio pronto. For Elves and Orcs, rely on Tree of Healing and Berserk. *I'm pretty sure the Dark Elves and Elves call themselves High Elves because it's like arguing who the "real best" elves are. Morene calling Lucretia a Dark Elf after she said that was meant as an insult. *There's a lot of humor woven throughout, especially within Pub dialogue and the pictures for skills in the barracks. You'll find some lore at the Pub too if you're willing to dig. But the translation for the text later in the game is really, really bad. *Darks doesn't just mean Dark Elves, it's referring to Dark Legion. Dark Legion = Orcs, Ogres, Vampires, Liches, Dark Elves, Etc. *Encablossa was the voice talking to the Patriarch, not god. It tricked him and Walter into believing it was the voice of god. The longer the Age of Light occurs without changing over the Age of Darkness, the stronger the Age of Darkness becomes and the more it can influence the world. *The Mini-Games you unlock are only available on Xbox, I don't know why they aren't on the PC port but they aren't fun so I wouldn't worry about it.

There is so much mid 2000's spirit, that my Pentuim IV just booted up himself

That plot twist is straight out of Kentaro Miura's "Berserk" and I love it

This is what Haze would play

Mandalore: "unfortunately for us all, another adventure game video is in the works" Me: "yes!"

"The music is Metal. ALL Metal" - You make it sound as if this was an issue xD

"Wow, are you really winning this battle all alone?" "Nah I'm with the boys--OOHHHHHHHHHHHH"

This game was my childhood. The constant metal music, melodramatic feel, the medieval setting, I fucking love it. Wish I could more easily play this game these days, and by God I would love a more modern take or installment to this series.

This is unironically one of my favorite video games. Im replaying this and heroes now and found your video. Love it, all valid and perfectly explained short comings and excellence. Im really sad this style of game never caught on. It hit my love of rts, hack n slash and RPGs all in one lol but seriously being able to control an army then zoom in and actually take part of the fights is like the coolest thing and i love it. And im actually a pretty big fan of the story and characters, even now. The lies and deception throughout the game to the twist of reignier being like a good guy in the end like... All phenomenal, with some whack moments along the way lol

OMFG YES! I NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D DO THIS GAME HONESTLY DUE TO IT BEING EXTREMELY UNDERRATED! So happy someone gives some attention and love to this old classic, as well as knowing it's on PC at last. :D

I remember this game, I had it on a demo disc I got in a gaming magazine so I rented it from blockbuster...jeez I feel old. I was looking FOR YEARS for KUF:Circle of Doom because I remembered everything about it, including how to break it by getting developer items and I could never remember the title. Thanks Mandalore, I have some downright strange memories of that game, like the batshit insane evil mansion that turns into some giant worldtree thing that's almost like a maze.

"He's a loyal servant of the p-" Genius.

jesus this soundtrack is nuts. some guilty gear “we made a metal album first and made the game based on that album after” energy here.

Ah i remember this game! I thought Gerald was the coolest dude ever. And speaking of fever dream hybrid games Bladestorm: the hundred years war. Now that's a real nightmare world game

Loved this game when I was younger. I was never able to get far on the hard campaigns though. Thanks for showing me what awaited at the end. Bless his holiness the P***.

Dang, the fact that I've decided to finally read through Berserk and then this video pops up... Certainly, this is the work of causality.

Playing this blew Dynasty Warriors out of the water for me. Wish there were hybrid RTS RPG games like this one.

Lucretia’s script and delivery is fucking amazing.

I would have never remembered this game, but the cutscene of them running to the ruined town hit me with a huge wave of nostalgia. Thank you for this lol

"WAIT, LOOK!" *enemy approaches, metal starts playing* How can you NOT like that?

19:12 The only male dark elf in the entire game gets to wear something that almost looks like armour. Coincidence?

I feel Spellforce would be a good franchise for you to cover. Its big enough that it's known and has its fanbase but niche enough that maybe not everyone has tried it or even seen it and is missing out. Also, Its fairly unique.

(21:34) Dude! That cutscene is actually freaking awesome! After watching you talk about what looked like a clunky but pretty interesting game, THAT just came out of nowhere! Metal indeed! 😎

"One far darker than the droods" That sounds like a threat more than a preview

The closed captions for this video were a welcome treat

Crusaders and Heroes was some of the best memories I had back on the Xbox classic, I still have both games and had to set the old box back up whenever I wanted to play it. Seeing Regnier walk through the fire with the Orcs in Gerald's mission has still stuck with me to this day, what a badass scene.

"Don't be afraid!!!" had three exclamation points. That dude is super chill for three exclamation points.

Wow this is like Dynasty Warriors the way I want Dynasty warriors to be played like. The sound design is giving me flashbacks

This game looks like such an unique experience, I think no one genre can define this game

I was 12-13 years of age when both KUF : Crusades and Heroes came out and those games jump started my puberty and introduction to RTS games like no other. I Shared those games with others in middle school and we created a little click of about dozen gamers who were previously heavy into Halo but then we all vigorously got into KUF and shared mission guides, unit combos and hero compositions and introduced KUF to others in school. It felt good helping others with the game who were also new to strategy in general and I always felt excited when a random student would come up and say “Hey you’re so and so right? I just bought KUF because so and so said to get it and I’m having trouble with…” etc.) KUF is an intense introduction to rock-paper-scissors units and strategy while having to juggle between situational map awareness, on the fly tactical decision making AND ensuring maximal personal control of your Hero to increase combat effectiveness. These games meant so much for me and helped me come out of my introverted shell in school as a teenager. Thank you for covering these my man !!! Great memories and despite the age and flaws of KUF; Heroes fixed most of the issues and I can’t think of any other game similar to what you will experience.

1:23 i love the thought of the ancient heart being such a game breaking cheat god himself (being the game dev) removed it and insta banned amaruark.

What I find funny is, that you definitely switched it to Korean at 10:44. But they are definitely speaking Japanese at 10:52! Thanks for this amazing video! I was in search of a game from this series I played back on the Xbox, back in the day. But had forgotten what the name was called. That is when I stumbled upon your channel. Consider doing a follow up on this games Dark Soul’s like successor. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

"The archers take victory!" Used to try and finish every fight with archers as a kid just to hear that line, so hype

I literally thought this morning that Mandalore hasn’t released a video in awhile. I was hoping one would come soon and lo and behold.

Man, this game is like the Dragon's Dogma version of Warcraft, where the generic beginning still has its own charm and then when you get to the end, it shows its own crazy spin on the genre that stands out.

This game really reminds me of the original Drakengard on the PS2. Specifically the dynasty warriors style horde combat system, the completely discordant music, the somewhat dark fantasy setting where everything is going to shit, and the crazy tone-shift right at the end.

19:14 I love how he delivers this

You know I have always wanted more games like this or bannerlord where you're a commander fighting in a war. We always get military shooters or squad tactics but army tactics is never done in this way, which i find to be tragic.

After playing Pathfinder Kingmaker and Pathfinder Wrath of the righteous back to back for past two weeks, the title name has thrown me off a couple of times x)

The fact that you always find games I have never ever heard of amazes me every time. Your reviews are top-tier, keep up the good work !