Aura Kingdom Game Review

Aura Kingdom is an Anime inspired free to play MMORPG published in the West by Aeria Games. It has cute 3D Anime graphics, tab-target combat, a large variety of classes to choose between and is probably one of the most polished Anime MMOs on the market right now.

Unfortunately, the game has a low population due to problems with pay to win and a poor publisher.

Aura Kingdom is a tab-target Anime inspired MMORPG by Aeria Games. It offers some of the best looking graphics in an Anime MMO along with one of the most complete experiences you’ll find in an Anime inspired game.

Aura Kingdom is one of the few Anime MMORPGs left with any semblance of a population.
Is it because Aura Kingdom is just that good? Is it because the market lacks an alternative for people interested in Anime MMORPGs to flock towards?

The Anime niche right now is almost dead. People refer to TERA and Blade and Soul as Anime MMORPGs but the reality of it is that games like Peria Chronicles, Soul Worker and KurtzPel are Anime-inspired games we should be looking at.

So – with Aura Kingdom being one of the only Anime MMORPGs left.. let’s go over whether or not you should be playing it in 2018 or avoiding it altogether.

Aura Kingdom’s character creator is more or less what you’d expect from an Anime MMORPG.
It gives you the basic multi-hair choices, a few varying faces with slightly different features and eye colors, skin colors, etc., but overall the character creator in comparison to other MMORPGs is severly lacking.
Especially when you look at games like Peria Chronicles and KurtzPel which are both due in the next couple years.
Honestly, if Aura Kingdom gave me the ability to actually go ahead and create an avatar that looked different to the 400 other people running around I’d call it one of the best Anime MMOs ever.

Which leads me to my next talking point: The gameplay.
The game plays very well for an Anime MMORPG. Granted, the official Aeria servers are absolute garbage; honestly, I recommend playing on a private server.
It really enhances the gameplay of the game when you’re not stuck behind a 2 second delay between actions.
Movement is incredibly fluid and looks very high quality for an Anime MMO, especially considering when it was made. Even games like Twin Saga, which was released after Aura Kingdom fail to play as well.

Now, the combat-aspect of the gameplay is another story.
It is, of course, a tab-target game as opposed to an action one but from the leveling we’ve done it is obvious that the combat, for a tab-target MMO is very high quality.
Now, I do stress that this is an Aeria Games game and I have a biased hatred for Aeria Games due to them shutting down games faster than my wife shuts me down when I’m drunk and horny.
I cannot believe they shut down Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine. That game was one of the most unique games I’d ever played as an MMO.
Regardless, the combat, even for an Aeria Games game performs very well. Quite exceptionally even for an Anime MMO.
The special effects, the movements, the variety of skills.. it all looks and plays out very, very well. Honestly I wouldn’t believe you if you said this was an Aeria Games’ game.

Which leads me to the next part of this review: The classes.
Aura Kingdom has 14 classes in all. The Guardian, Duelist, Ravager, Wizard, Sorcerer, Bard, Grenadier, Gunslinger, Katar, Battle Bow.. yes, Battle Bow.
“Hey, boss, what’s that.. that uhh.. profession called? The one that uses a bow in battle?” “A Battle Bow, clearly.” “Ah, right. Yeah. How silly of me.”
The Tachi, Scythe, Holy Sword.. yes, you can clearly tell they have a penchant for imaginative class naming. And finally, Shinobi.
That’s quite a sizable, if not varied selection of classes to choose from and honestly, they all play fairly differently from one another which is something I enjoy.
I cannot stress enough how much I loathe having multiple classes with subtle differences between them to differentiate the classes.

You, the player, are an Envoy of Gaia.
Equipped with a trusty Eidolon companion, and concerned for your sanity after witnessing another Envoy of Gaia transform into a demon, you venture out with the assistance of the Church of Navea to find a way to stop the demon army of Pandemonium and prevent your descent into their ranks.
The story in Aura Kingdom is fairly generic – but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. The fact that an Anime MMORPG actually posesses a storyline that you can follow is quite something.
Most Anime MMOs are simple carbon copies of one another that – in essence – involve you running from little hub to little hub killing a few monsters.
And while this isn’t a whole lot different – it isn’t, trust me, the fact that the story pushes you between zones and propels you further into the game is something I enjoy about Aura Kingdom.

Graphically, Aura Kingdom is a beautiful game. I mean if you compare it to something like Soul Worker Online then sure.. it pales in comparison.
But for the kind of game it is: A large, proper RPG with explorable areas like most traditional MMORPGs.. it’s probably one of, if not the best looking game out there.
The characters are cute, the animations are adorable, and the overall feel of the game is very Anime-esque.
It’s probably the highest quality Anime MMORPG in the West as of January 2018.

Speaking of, just because it looks the best and possibly plays the best doesn’t mean it is the most well received.
Quite the contrary.
Many players left the official Aura Kingdom servers due to the poor handling from Aeria Games. They handled Aura Kingdom about as well as all their other games: You know, the ones that all ended up shut down? Yeah, those ones.
So the general population – on the official servers, that is, is quite low. Like, the kind of low you tend to avoid because you won’t really see anyone else around.
The private server alternatives, though – one in specific, actually, has a fairly large population for an Anime title.

Now with a level cap of 80, it stands to reason that there should be a world large enough to fill that urge to explore.
Nobody likes small games – nobody likes games that lock you into little areas separated by instances.. like Echo of Soul. Another of Aeria’s terrible lineup of games.
So the fact that Aeria gives you large areas to roam and lose yourself in is a great feeling. Although most Anime MMOs allowed you to anyway, so this isn’t anything new.

Speaking of wandering the world – what would the game be if it didn’t have many different aspects of PvE, hmm?
Let’s quickly break down exactly what Aura Kingdom offers us:
Dungeons – Traditional instanced dungeons that you tackle with a small group.
Raids – Traditional instanced raids that you take on with a larger group than dungeons that provide increased difficulty.
Quests – Both the main scenario and side quests are available in the game to alleviate the need to grind out your levels.
Professions/Crafting – Then you have your varied list of professions such as Fishing, Archaeology, Gathering, and Cooking.
Other – Then you have some fun things like Card Duels, Guardian Knight.. yes, don’t ask me what that is, after reading the wiki.. I still have no idea, Gaia Chronicle, and Player Housing.
So all in all, there are a lot of features to partake in in Aura Kingdom. With regards to PvE at least.

Now for those of you interested in destroying one another and showing who has the larger e-peen, Aura Kingdom offers two different forms of pissing-contest:
1v1 Duel – A 1v1 confrontation between two children hiding behind the anonymity of their computer furiously attempting to think up the best way to make the other kill themselves.
5v5 Arena – Where the real magic of teamwork, unity and camaraderie happens.. Who am I kidding? You know everyone in PvP just sits there raging at everyone else for sucking.

That’s a very good question.
The official Aeria Games version of Aura Kingdom is definitely not worth playing.
It is filled with bugs, it is run poorly, the rates are terrible, and you’d be supporting a company that shuts down games that’re no longer making them enough money to continue.
Speaking of private servers though.. I would definitely recommend playing through one of the larger ones as the game is definitely worth it.

Operating System: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64 Bit
CPU: Intel i3-550 / AMD Athlon II X4 620
Video Card: Geforce GTS 250 / Radeon R7 240
RAM: 4GB
Hard Disk Space: 60GB

Operating System: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64 Bit
CPU: Intel i5-2500 / AMD FX-6300
Video Card: Geforce GTX 560 / AMD HD 6950
RAM: 8GB
Hard Disk Space: 60GB