This classic RTS has been brought back to life “to apply and operate a blockchain node”

Classic Korean real-time strategy game, Kingdom Under Fire, has allegedly been “hijacked by a crypto-scam company”.

As spotted by Twitterer Tegiminis, Steam player Arsene Lupin – who’s on a crusader to “write a review for every game in [their] Steam library” – posted a review on the game’s Steam page, reporting that the “future is here, and it sucks” and claiming that whilst Kingdom Under Fire “was” a “RTS/RPG hybrid that launched in 2001”, its current iteration runs “Locus Game Chain” in the background when you’re trying to play, “demanding 80-100% of your CPU”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the developer, Bloom Technology, was quick to respond and posted a wall of text explaining there had been “a misunderstanding” and that the developer has replaced the 22-year-old’s RTS’ P2P networking system – previously known as wargate.net – with its own, Locus Chain.

“This technology will be a stepping stone and an excellent example of how online game developers, who sometimes go out of business because of high server maintenance costs, can save up tons of money and focus on building the games,” the developer said. “Old online games can be revived at no significant costs, while modern online games can significantly reduce their service maintenance costs as well.

“As far as we know, Kingdom Under Fire is the first successful attempt to apply and operate a blockchain node as part of the game, so I understand that this is as misleading as it is unprecedented. Kingdom Under Fire was launched free through Early Access because of the need to test the environment in real-time. You can see the progress we have achieved so far and the track record in the Updates section on Steam to gauge how we actually make use of this new tech.”

Interestingly, the game currently sits on an aggregate Steam user score of “Very Positive” – albeit from just 150-odd reviews – although another unhappy player surmises their issue with the game a little more concisely than Arsene Lupin, simply saying this in their review: “Blockchain go home”.

Bloom Technology says: “Kingdom Under Fire: War of Heroes utilizes Locus Game Chain to provide online multiplayer capability without the need of an online game server. The game does not support cryptocurrencies or NFTs, and has complied with all Steam’s guidelines and regulations.” 

There is seemingly no mention of blockchain in the game’s About section or its system requirements.