Wartales – Early Access Impressions

Wartales is a tactical turn-based RPG by Shiro Games. It’s easiest described as a mix between Battle Brothers, Mount & Blade, and Darklands, and like those you create a mercenary group to set out for riches, power, or maybe even infamy. Recently they released a major update for their game, so I thought – why not give it a go (again)? And here I am giving my impressions after clocking in 22 hours or so, which to be fair has me only scraping off a bit of the top of the content provided. It’s a big game already!

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Zodiac Legion – Demo Impressions

Recently tried the demo of Zodiac Legion which you can find on their Steam page, and the best way I can describe it by the few missions the demo comes with is that it is fantasy X-com. The game is tactical turn-based, and while the demo showcase each unit having different stats and weapons, I couldn’t tell if there was any kind of inventory management. I suspect you will be recruiting based on classes, and that will be it, but don’t quote me on that. Hopefully units in the full game will be able to gain ranks, be upgradable and in that way go beyond meat shield status like how they come across in the demo.

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Songs of Conquest – Early Access Impressions

Ahhh, a giant woman have entered the town!

The HoMM-inspired turn-based fantasy strategy game Songs of Conquest is finally here, or well, at least in early access mode. It comes with multiplayer, 2 minor campaigns, and skirmish maps against the AI. I’m a campaign guy myself, so this impression will mostly focus on just that. I also want to say that I’m not a HoMM aficionado. I have played the games in the past, and liked them okay enough, but never really got into them that much. My favorite in this genre is probably King’s Bounty: The Legend from 2008. With that said, here we go!

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Crusader Kings III – Quick Impressions

I have been trying out Crusader Kings III by Paradox Interactive with all currently released DLCs as of May 2022. I played as a custom ruler, starting on “newbie-island”, aka Ireland, in the southern part. While I do like many of the improvements, CK3 unfortunately feels like typical Paradox shenanigans…

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Icewind Dale II – Temple Hell

I can’t critique the full game since I have not finished it, and unfortunately, I’m not sure how likely that will be. Anyways, talk about a game that goes from awesome RPG goodness to a pure bore of the slog +2…

Let’s start with the good parts. The intro, like the first Icewind Dale, is great and gets me into the adventure headspace immediately. Creating the characters for your party is fun – especially now considering the engine was updated to D&D 3.0 edition rule set (which is my favorite version) from 2.0. The prologue and the first chapter have a magnificent feel to them, a freezing old town under siege by goblins and orcs. Mercenaries and guards are all over the place, and with an exciting narrative that steers towards conspiracy and treason.

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