SpellForce: The Order of Dawn
In a world beyond imagination... In their immeasurable greed and constant thirst for power, the thirteen most powerful Mages of all time doomed the land, hurling it into an endless spiral of chaos and despair. Entire countries were wiped out in the blink of an eye when the devastating power of the Elements was unleashed – Elements summoned by dark rituals. Continents shattered like glass, the pieces strewn about like leaves in the wind. Huge armies, bound by the the power of ancient runes, brought war and destruction to the lands that survived the initial onslaught. All that was left were a few islands, connected by magic portals. Now, only a few years after the end of the Convocation, evil is back – stronger and more powerful than ever before – to finish what was started. Yet there is still hope. The prophecies tell of a human. A human damned to immortality, bound forever by the power of the blood runes… Soon, the time will come when the power of one may change the destiny of many. For better or for worse... Summary of the most important features: Innovative game design: The unique mixture of RTS and RPG elements offers a brand new game experience. High degree of identification with the hero-avatar, whose skills and strengths can be improved by the player Click’n’Fight: This revolutionary control system guarantees instant action, the best possible overview and completely new tactical possibilities in battle 6 races – Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Dark Elves, Orcs and Trolls – that can be used simultaneously (!) to build settlements and fight battles More than 30 different enemy races, from cowardly goblins to powerful demons and dragons A multitude of spells, divided into different categories of magic (white, black, elemental, etc.) Persistant game world with continuous, gripping storyline and myriad sub-quests Awe-inspiring 3D graphics with zoom levels from isometric to 1st-Person-views
Also in series
Reviews View More
Spellforce brings me back to when me and my brother were young teens, our parents had bought us a “gaming pc” and a handful of games for it. We picked it up right away, fell in love with the fantasy world and began building our own settlements filled with humans, elves, orcs (and the many other races).
What blew our minds was the ability to scroll down into the game, giving you a third person perspective and manually taking control of the avatar. Allowing us to stroll through the little settlement we had built. This only continued throughout the game, as the levels were huge, the battles were fierce and we found ourselves wasting countless hours trying to kill every darn enemy/camp out there if possible.
When I was younger I didn’t really follow the story, I knew I was a rune warrior out to save the world and I just let my mind fill in the blanks. Coming back to this game as an adult and taking my time to engage with each character this time, I can safely say... I kinda get it now?.. Ok that's a lie I don’t really, and I still had to google what was going on at the end. But basically you are a rune warrior that's been summoned to defeat an evil circle mage, you need a phoenix stone to destroy him and prevent him going back in the past and messing everything up... That's a very vague explanation, there is way more to it, play the game.
As far as the game looks, I really enjoy the “old pc” graphics, there is still a lot of creativity with the characters and the settlements you can create, each designed around each race. The elves being my favorite with all their buildings fitting in with nature, very much giving me Rivendell vibes. Everything is very bright and colorful. (remember this for future reviews of games in the series)
The voice acting... Ok here's where it flops for most and kills all immersion. But again, growing up with many many games with dire voice acting I feel like I've developed some immunity to it and think it adds to the charm/humor.
My only real gripe about the game is at times it can feel a little bit slow. Mostly due to navigating when doing sidequests. There are “bindstones” that act as teleporters around the map. But in some cases I still had to wait a good few minutes just for my character to dash from one area to the next, just to pick up one item and then wander all the way back to where I came from. (You can get items to increase movement speed, so maybe that would have fixed it. My mage build did not allow me to equip such things).
I feel like I've talked enough about this now.. Maybe? I’m not a reviewer, I just like to waffle on about stuff I like. If you want to check the game out you can get “Spellforce: Platinum edition” on steam or GOG pretty cheap. This includes the base game AND the extra DLC, if you are looking for a new fantasy RTS/RPG to play. :)
I wouldn't call it bad, but it didn't catch my attention beyond a few neat things.