Namco gets Mage Knighted

The tabletop miniature-based strategy game Mage Knight is looking to expand its kingdom to games of the digital persuasion, and the first portable battlefield to play host to its crusade will be the DS.

Where the forthcoming PC game Mage Knight Apocalypse will be an action role-playing take on the license, publisher Namco says Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier on the DS will be a turn-based strategy game. As a retired soldier forced to reenter the fray, players will assemble and issue orders to an army of warriors culled from disparate factions to defeat the evil Solonavi and to restore peace to the land.

It appears that Namco is looking to approximate the tabletop Mage Knight game on the DS. The system's touch screen will be used to pick up units, deploy them, issue commands, and roll dice, just as in the real Mage Knight.

While the game obviously is intended to appeal to fans of the license, Namco Hometek business director Jeff Lujan said it's being developed to appeal to nonfans as well. "The sheer amount of storytelling, strategy gameplay, and army customization is a testament to how deep and rich the Mage Knight universe really is," he said.