Knight Online
MGAME Corporation · RPG, MMO, Action
Overview
Knight Online is a PvP-centric Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that has been under continuous development for almost a decade. Two nations: El Morad and Karus - or more colloquially, humans and orcs - are locked in an eternal struggle for dominance of the Adonis Continent. The PvP in Knight Online is fast-paced, action-packed, and oftentimes frantic. Dozens of players can be seen clashing in PvP zones during all hours of the day. With events such as Lunar War and Castle Seige War, the action becomes massive! While PvP may be the beating heart of Knight Online, much of the game is spent embarking on quests, killing monsters, and - of course - collecting loot. The Upgrade System lets players tempt fate in an effort to improve their existing weapons, armor, or accessories (or lose them in the process!). With its unique ability to let players refine their skills and build their characters and equipment, Knight Online is able to entertain and excite its fans even after many years. Pick a side, build up your warrior, and join the fray!
THE GAMEQ VERDICT1,823 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
The PvP is what players praise: combo timing, party fights and the war between the two nations, which some reviewers call the best PvP they have played in any MMO. Much of the rest draws complaints. Returning players who remember the game from the mid-2000s write a good share of the longer reviews, and what they come back to tends to put them off. 34% of the longer reviews complain about pay-to-win items or premium prices, 26% about bots, koxp cheaters and gold sellers, and 23% about bans, jail or support tickets that go nowhere. Some newcomers never get into the game at all: 17% describe a phone verification step that fails, calls a number that does not answer, or blocks their PC, and both launch week and 2026 brought hours-long login queues that premium players skip.
Several reviews that praise the PvP still tell people not to play, because of the money, the cheaters and the way accounts are handled. This verdict reads English reviews, which Steam rates Mostly Negative; Steam's all-language rating is Mixed.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Combo PvP, party fights and the nation warHigh
21% of the longer reviews talk about the PvP, and 10% go out of their way to praise it. The praise is specific. Players describe skill combos built by cancelling attack animations, eight-player parties, the Colony Zone and the scheduled wars between Karus and El Morad, and they call it the reason they keep coming back. One reviewer put it simply: "The comboing in this game while playing with a team of 8, and ofcourse your own nation, to fight against other groups of the other nation is so enjoyable." Another wrote that "the game actually does have good skillful PvP with a very high skill ceiling."
A number of these reviews tie the PvP to money. Players say competitive gear comes from premium items and upgrade scrolls bought with real money, and that you can't compete without it. One player who recommends the game adds that every PvP area other than the top level band is dead.
Upgrading, merchant stalls and the player economyLow
A smaller group of reviews singles out the item upgrade system and the player-run market, where characters sit in town with a personal shop. One pros list calls it a "Frustrating but enjoyable item upgrading system", and another lists an "Innovative economy (players set up their small shops)". The same features draw complaints too. A failed upgrade destroys the item, and selling means leaving the game running: "Your computer needs to be on for you to buy and sell items".
Where players are split
Nostalgia and coming back after years awayHigh
21% of the longer reviews frame themselves around memories of playing years ago. A few say the menu music or the old fights brought back their teen years, and some are happy to be back: "same nostalgia from ares days. all things aside im enjoying it and found a few english clans". Others found more paid items and more cheaters than they remembered, or a queue they never got past. One wrote that the old days only feel good because of nostalgia: "Game was good, not good anymore." A few veterans tell anyone who didn't play it back then not to try, and a few point nostalgic players to private servers instead.
Leveling speed and the grindMedium
9% of the longer reviews talk about the grind, drop rates or slow progress, and they disagree about which way the game has gone wrong. A few veterans complain that leveling became too easy on Steam, with quests that hand out gear that used to be valuable. Others say the high levels are still a wall without paid boosts, and that low drop rates plus potion and repair costs make solo farming lose money: "You cannot afford to repair your weapons and armor because you simply cannot make enough Noah (gold) to sustain any kind of combat solo." A few players say they enjoy a slow grind for its own sake.
Community and the English-speaking populationMedium
13% of the longer reviews talk about language in the game. A lot of these say chat, clans and guides are almost all in another language, which makes finding a party or learning the game hard: "I got two chars to 60 and i dont think i met anyone who spoke any english." A few disagree: one found English clans, and another met "plenty of genuinely nice and helpful people." Some players also criticise the game's own English, with quest text, item names and tips that are mistranslated or wrong.
What frustrates players
Pay-to-win items and premium pricesHigh
34% of the longer reviews complain about the cash shop (the Power Up Store) or premium subscriptions. Players say competitive PvP needs paid scrolls, gloves, armor and upgrade boosters, and that the paid experience boost leaves free players far behind. Some add that the monthly premiums cost more than a World of Warcraft subscription. Others say the game isn't really free to play, because premium also skips the login queue and improves drops. A few players say you can earn everything in game without paying, though one admits money "does help out alot".
Bots, koxp cheaters and gold sellersHigh
26% of the longer reviews mention cheaters, bots, hackers or gold sellers. The word that keeps appearing is koxp (also kosp), a cheat program that players say farms the same spots around the clock and kills quest monsters before anyone else can touch them. New players feel it first: "I have been trying for 4 days now to kill 20 Lamia, but the same hacker has been camped there and makes it impossible to kill even one." Long-time players describe a ruined economy and bosses taken by cheaters. Reviewers also object to Genie, the game's own paid auto-play bot, which they say blurs the line, and to gold and item sellers advertised alongside the game. A few 2016 reviews say cheaters were being banned more often than before.
Bans, jail and support ticketsHigh
23% of the longer reviews talk about bans, jail, game masters or support. The stories are similar: accounts blocked or jailed with no explanation, paid items lost, and tickets answered days later with canned text. One reviewer wrote: "Ticket response are generic and automatic." A cluster of reviews from late March and early April 2023 describes a wave of bans after a coin duplication bug; one player said the team "blocked and banned 30% of the active players randomly without giving us a valid explanation". One player found a never-used account already banned, and a few say getting out of jail costs money.
Phone verification and blocked PCsMedium
17% of the longer reviews are about getting through account verification. In 2018 and 2019 players describe having to call an international number that rang busy or did not exist: "You have to call an international phone line to even create your account". Later reviews describe SMS codes that never arrive, codes the game rejects, country codes that cannot be changed, and an error saying their computer is blocked after the first attempt. Some players got through after a support ticket, and others say they uninstalled. Longer reviews from players with under an hour on record are most often about this.
Dated graphics, interface and controlsMedium
17% of the longer reviews criticise the graphics, interface, camera or movement. New players describe slow turning, cluttered menus and resolution settings they couldn't find or fix; one said "Moving character is like driving a tank." A few players who recommend the game shrug off the dated graphics and say the PvP makes up for them. Others say the game has barely changed in years, and one wishes it would move to a new engine.
Bugs, crashes and disconnectsMedium
15% of the longer reviews mention bugs and 9% mention crashes, failed launches or disconnects. Players describe quests that cannot be completed, wrong tooltips, disconnects during character creation, and a war event that kicks players out. Some veterans say the same bugs have been in the game for years.
Login queues and server capacityMedium
Queues and failed logins come up in 8% of the longer reviews, in two waves. In launch week players report queues of hundreds or a thousand people and disconnects partway through, and a catch-22: "have to get premium to get in game due to que but cant get premium before getting in game." From spring 2026 the same complaint returned, with players describing waits of several hours on a single main server; one wrote "Only one server being available is a big mistake."
A hard start for new playersMedium
8% of the longer reviews describe a confusing start: no real tutorial, unclear quest directions and nobody to ask. "The game does a bad job of guiding you through your journey and doesn't teach you much," one player wrote. Two players say it is close to impossible to learn without a veteran friend to teach you.
Thin servers and calls for a fresh oneLow
6% of the longer reviews talk about population. Some say the lower-level zones and secondary servers are empty and ask for merges; others say an old server leaves new players far behind: "It needs a new server."
Anti-cheat software and antivirus warningsLow
A small number of reviews object to the Xigncode3 anti-cheat, which some say stops the game launching, and to antivirus programs flagging the client: "Windows defender will flag up trojans in the install file". Two also complain that closing the game opens a browser page.
One player per household without premiumLow
A small number of reviews report that two people in the same home cannot be logged in at once unless one has premium: "You need to buy premium if you want to play with your brother in the same house".
3. The player conversation
The tone is mostly bitter and often personal. Dozens of reviewers first played Knight Online as kids or teenagers, came back on Steam, and wrote long reviews explaining why they left again. Most positive reviews are a line or two ("best pvp", "nostalgia", "good game"), and some of the longer ones carry warnings about cost and cheaters.
What people write about depends on how far they got. In longer reviews from players with under an hour on record, phone verification and blocked PCs come up far more than anything else, and few of these players reached the PvP. Players with 100 or more hours write most about cheaters, pay-to-win items and the PvP itself, followed by bans and support.
The complaints changed over time. Launch week in late January 2016 produced 347 reviews at 27% positive, dominated by queues, disconnects in the queue and premium prices. The phone verification complaints start in mid-2016 and are the steadiest thread from 2018 to 2024. Late March and early April 2023 brought a burst of negative reviews about mass bans after the coin duplication bug. In 2026 the queue complaints came back, this time pinned on there being one main server. Pay-to-win and cheater complaints run through every year.
4. What the developers could do
- Reduce the power gap from paid items. Players say PvP and leveling are decided by the Power Up Store and premium boosts, and some say that makes the free-to-play label misleading.
- Stop koxp bots and cheaters at the farm spots. Players describe cheaters camping quest monsters and bosses; one says a reported video takes days to review while the hacker sets up a new account in an hour.
- Make phone verification work for international players. New players describe SMS codes that never arrive, codes that are rejected and PCs blocked after one try, and some uninstall before creating a character; a couple ask for email verification instead.
- Explain bans and give a real appeal path. Players describe bans and jail with no stated reason, canned ticket replies and slow responses, and the 2023 dupe-bug ban wave is still cited.
- Add server capacity and let players buy premium outside the game. In launch week and again in 2026 players describe hours-long queues, disconnects in the queue and needing premium to get in when it can only be bought in game.
- Add a proper tutorial and fix the English text. New players say they could not tell where to go, and players across the years criticise mistranslated quests, items and tips.
- Make free farming pay for itself. Players say low drop rates plus potion and repair costs make solo play lose money unless they buy premium.
- Allow two players on one home connection. Families and housemates report that only one can play at a time unless someone pays for premium.
