WARNING: Don’t Download Kingdom Under Fire: War of Heroes on Steam

There’s something weird going on with the ‘re-release’ of Kingdom Under Fire: War of Heroes on Steam.

Fans of the long-running series by South Korean developer, Phantagram, have begun to notice some weird additions to the recently added version of this game on Steam; mainly that the game also runs a secondary application on your PC, Locus Game Chain, without prior consent from the user.

The ‘developer’ of this release, Bloom Technology, have no other releases on Steam, and are listed online as a software company based in Chennai, India. The blockchain app itself runs in the background when users launch KuF from their Steam library and, according to one user, demands 80-100% of your CPU when running. There is currently no information or clarification from either Locus Chain, a Seoul-based blockchain company that was apparently founded in 1994, nearly 15 years before the invention of blockchains in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto; or the company claiming to be KuF’s developer, on why this background application demands so much of the CPU. The need for such large-scale data processing technology on a 2D game from 2002 is, as yet, unclear.

Now, there is currently no knowledge on what information is being obtained from users’ PCs by the blockchain app, but the game is currently listed as ‘free’ on Steam, and there are a number of reviews that indicate the majority of players are completely unaware of the nefarious app running in the background of their PC. Bloom Technology have gone to great efforts to assure negative reviewers that the 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.’ but this assurance, part of a much lengthier reply, is doing little to persuade sceptics that the benefits of downloading this game outweigh the potential risks.

To put it simply, all other games in the Kingdom Under Fire series, listed under the original devs Blueside and Phantagram, are currently listed for £15.99 each for KuF: Heroes and KuF: The Crusaders; where as this decidedly suspicious, potentially harmful release, is available completely free.

We’ll leave it up to you to decide, but the general advice right now is to stay well away from this one. Be safe out there.

Disclaimer: This news article was made possible thanks to the hard work of Steam reviewer, Arsene Lupin. Check out their full review.
Enjoyed this article? Discover 5 Reasons Age of Wonders 4 Could Change RPGs Forever.