Last Kingdom drops you into the role of one of four possible character classes that can be greatly expanded as you continue to gain experience. These include Knight, Swordman, Shaman, and Wizard. Two of the classes focus on the European portion of the mythos, while the others are Japanese in origin. The Knight is based on the chivalrous order of warriors in medieval England known for their (usually) gracious treatment of ladies and staunch sense of personal honor. Complementing these knights are the English Wizards — practitioners of ethereal manipulation who conjure supernatural events by sheer force of will. On the opposite side of the cultural spectrum comes the Swordmen who are representations of Japanese Samurai and the Shamans who symbolize the animistic ancient religions of the region. This cultural duality exits to add a dynamic element into the game and give players a far more diverse set of options in terms of actual role-playing.

The first hours of your questing in Last Kingdom act as a tutorial of sorts where you can ask other players for help in deciphering the economics and mechanics of the game, which are actually rather simple. You interact with the world by means of your mouse, single-clicking to attack and pick up dropped items, at the same time using the keyboard to chat with other players and enter in more specific commands. You can buy and sell equipment with merchant NPCs as well as other interested players. Every item you encounter, from the most useless knife to the dirtiest rag, will have some monetary value with the merchants. For the more advanced players, there are ways to construct special items by way of forging, which requires special tools. The different items you can forge depend on what materials you acquire while mining. The included user manual details the many different styles of equipment you can create, ranging from powerful armor and weapons to rings and amulets.

Once you have sufficiently moved around within the initial town, the experience you acquire will eventually allow you to choose one of the four primary classes, giving your character more of an identity and an improved look. The way you distribute your character points in the first five levels will determine the best path for you to take in your virtual life. Upon reaching level five, you can choose a job for yourself and will be able to switch at any point before you receive a class upgrade: Once your Swordsman becomes a Swordsmaster, you will no longer be able to change your occupation to Knight or Wizard. In total there are seven levels to each class and each requires you to attain a certain amount of experience points to advance. The character development system is fairly standard, with Strength, Vitality, Dexterity and Intellect all being major concerns, affecting your hit and magic points, armor class, and striking ability. Killing monsters nets you experience, gold, and items, allowing you to strengthen your character for whatever exciting quests lay ahead of you by means of either a guild or the official NetAmin designed missions.

All the character interaction in the world would be worthless if there were not some type of quests driving a larger story. NetAmin has set up over twenty initial quests for players to undertake which will net extra experience and other bonuses for players who decide to complete them. The number and style of these quests will increase and become more diverse as time goes on, including anything from slaying powerful monsters to all-out assaults on the Prince of Darkness himself. The great thing about online RPGs is that they are generally easy to update, leaving the direction which the designers may decide to take, open-ended.