do you remember Master of Magic and liked it? than this game is for you. if you don`t know Master of Magic just think of Civ5 and combine it with Spells and Fanatsystuff like undead etc. I Like it

Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a gem of a game.

If you enjoy turn based strategy and tactical combat in a fantasy setting that is graphically very pleasing to the eye...then this game is worthy of your attention.

You will read criticism of the AI in some reviews; but this is unwarranted in my opinion. There is no strategy game AI of which I am aware which can seriously challenge a human who understands a game’s mechanics; especially power gamers who will exploit every aspect of a game’s systems and the AI to gain advantage. I don’t criticise that style of play; I just point out that those players are better playing multiplayer against human opponents once they mastered the game. So far I have not mastered the game and the AI is putting up a very credible challenge.

I am having a lot of fun. I hope the developers will continue to support and improve the game with an expansion in the new year.

I am giving the game 5 stars for the sheer fun and pleasure it delivers.

This is a good alternative to civ 5. It reminds me of the Fall from heaven 2 fan made mod in Civ 4. The main issue is the fact that it only has 3 races but it still is worth playing. The leader customization is pretty cool.

I think the game is great for what it tries to be. Simple yet engaging, with 3 well balanced races. My only complaint is that there aren't enough spells, nor are there enough races. I would like to see maybe 20 or so races with different options and specialized units.

At first glance Warlock looks very similar to Civiliation 5. On closer examination it has more in common with Age of Wonders and the classic Master of Magic. Compared to Civ 5 there are three major differences.

The obvious difference is the fantasy setting with magic and all sorts of mythological creatures. Perhaps more importantly the game is much more focused on combat than Civ 5. Not only is it virtually (if not completely) impossible to avoid war, even at the most peaceful of times you will be fighting a lot to conquer neutral cities and to gain access to resources and powerful items. Thankfully combat is a lot of fun, with a lot of different units with different abilities, powerful lords that can be recruited and equipped with weapons, armor and artifacts, levelling up of units, etc. In contrast to AoW and MoM and similar to Civ 5 combat takes place directly on the world map and not on more detailed maps, which reduces the tactical complexity of combat somewhat but also speeds the game up.

The third difference to Civ 5 is that there aren't as many successful playstyles. For example in Civ 5 it is possible to win a cultural victory with a single city in your civilization. In Walock on the other hand expansion is of major importance no matter what type of victory you are aiming for and differences in what playstyle is the most useful depending on which type of victory you aim for are more subtle. This results in less replayability. The game also originally lacked multiplayer capabilities, although this is now being beta tested.

All in all, this is a fun game, that is not as complex or replayable as any of the games that it seems to be inspired by (i.e. Civ 5, AoW, MoM) but still worth playing if you like strategy games and in particular 4x games.

The delight in playing Warlock is it is, to me, a throwback to the classic concept of a 'beer & pretzels' game. In other words one you played for fun while having a chat rather than a deep intense play experience that needed hours of careful study. Its a game I keep on coming back to when I want 30-45 mins of fun gaming and can't really be bothered with any deep complexity.

Now if they would sort out the MP mode so it became possible to play long winded mega-large campaigns then it would become utterly fantastic.

If you've played Masters of Magic back in the 1990's, then Warlock is its little brother that tries to be, but falls short.

Of course, two decades later, the visuals are amazing and should be. Music could be quite nice, but repetitive. Sound effects are nothing but pretty 'standard'.

The game puts you into the role of one of the pre-made avatars or create your own. With a recent update, you can set starting world attributes and end-game goals. Unlike MoM, the game plays out primarily on the over world map. All battles are done there too. The only time you change screens is to access the options, diplomacy and city building/recruitment screens. Your units can level up, gain special abilities and 'gear up' based on the global researched abilities through various city structures. At random times, "Lords" appear for hire. Taking regular units a step further, you can equip these "Lords" special gear you find or purchase.

This is one of those turn-based semi-strategy games that require no brains to play. You may end up playing the game for an hour or two, then realize how repetitive the game is and quit for a few weeks before you get another nostalgically MoM yearning. However, DO NOT BE disheartened. Fortunately, the developers are actively making updates to the game. So you can expect some nice little tweaks every now and then.

I noticed a lot of reviewers are comparing Warlock with Civ 5, but I feel this is the most inaccurate comparison, even if they are similar in game play style. If Warlock should be compared to another game, it should be with Masters of Magic. Of course, like I said, Warlock is not MoM, but if you've played that era of games, then Warlock probably just needs some time and much much much more tweaks.

Having not played an RTS since civ 3 and warlord 2 i took up this game on a whim. I was not disappointed and while i feel depth may be shallow for real pro RTS players i found this a nice game, to get back into genre on. I enjoyed it immensely, and can still go back to this game and have loads of fun. About only real disappointment was the fact that lizardman race was not a new race, but a special tile. For 20 bucks this is well worth the investment, i do however feel it could have been more complex.

i would compare this game to civilization series in some ways for the gameplay because you build a city and you have the tile yields. the core mechanics are kinda like civilization but in this you can use magic, and the units and buildings are all completely different. this game also can make the maps a little bigger because you can go through portals to other worlds with are basically another map inside the map...mapception!!! the game only has 3 races, so that is a disappointment, but you can choose from many different leaders to give your race different bonuses.

Hello. This is my first review so i will have to apologize for it not being perfect. Anyway onto the actual game. To begin with the games controls are actually very easy to understand since it is a turn based strategy game after all. That said while it is not quite as complicated as some games there are still plenty of interesting sections that should keep everyone interested in it. the magic system is very interesting and there do appear to be a lot of spells since i have not seen all of them yet. that said it is not the most impressive magic system i have seen but it is still very good for a strategy game. onto the actual factions they seem to be very well balanced among themselves (this is just vanilla, other factions will be reviewed on their respective expansions). they all seem to have strengths and weaknesses which suit them well and are fairly interesting to play as. the only real issue i have seen is that the diplomacy could be bigger and have more things to do.their developers seem to be working on the diplomacy (and other stuff) to make it better which is why i gave this game a five and not a 4 instead of a five since improvements are always good for a game. I would suggest that if you are looking to get in on this genre that this should be one of the games you look at buying.

I'm not sure I really like this game very much.

It is in a lot of ways similar to Civilization V, with some magic added to it.

There are three different races and the game is very strategic, it just didn't grip me as much as Civ V did. YMMV.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane - a spiritual successor to Master of Magic - has a lot going for it. The user interface is solid, the spells are cool, and the units are many. Unfortunately, the game suffers from weak diplomacy and a lack of difficulty; the AI is utterly incapable of using the many tools it has at its disposal. If one were able to play against other human players, this would be less of an issue, but multiplayer functionality is only in Beta as of this review. Overall, it was a great buy for the price I paid ($4.99), but it's not the sort of game whose challenge will keep you coming back for more.

so what if it looks like a CIV V clone. this is fun!!! i had a ton o' fun playing the CIV 4 Fall From Heaven mod because i was desperately looking for a fantasy-themed CIV - and Warlock pretty much hit the spot. A good (but not true) successor of Master of Magic - I dunno, but there still something about MOM that makes it a true classic. its like Master of Magic is Led Zeppelin and Warlock is...hmmmm.

If only this game were like civ. There are no real strategy and the game is lacking in races and genuine strategy.

The game is pumping out dlc like there was no tomorrow, why could this content not be included in the original game?

If you like civ, buy civ. If you like fantasy buy Heroes of Might and Magic, not this mediocre dlc fest :(

This game is like Civ 2 in that you need to city spam as hard as possible and there is no drawbacks to it. If you do not like the city spam style of civ 2, you will not like it in this, nor the cheating the AI does with its spells and seemingly endless mana pool.

Civilization + Fantasy = Warlock: Master of the Arcance.

Every unit counts and can become rather strong in late game.

A very good game for players who enjoy Civilization.

Not much else to say other than, less reading, more buying. ;)

Entertaining game similar to Civilization V, but much lighter, focused on the world of Ardania, who has played the Majestic saga, remember your enemy units and buildings, is not a AAA but I doubt it will pass well, that if who have some experience in these games, starting in the difficult level as their difficulty is quite low.

As for the multiplayer in this moment is in beta, so that I can not say anything because I have not tried yet

I haven't been playing many strategy games before, but there was something about Warlock that appealed to my curiosity and I'm glad I gave it a chance. I loved the not-too-serious fantasy setting with dozens of different units, loads of spells and special abilities. The game is easy to get into, even for newcomers to the genre, but still offers quite a lot of possibilities and variance. The customizability of your mage makes it even more fun to play again (and again...) with different perks and starting spells and races. I've had four different playthroughs so far, each lasting about 10 hours and I'm definitely going to play a lot more. So in terms of enjoyable gaming hours per pound/euro/dollar, this is a no-brainer.

There are a few minor quirks. The documentation and in-game tool tips are mostly good, but they do leave some things unexplained and sometimes you just have learn things by trial and error (or by alt-tabbing out of the game and consulting the wiki). Also, all your opponent's units and cities are identified by colour only, which can make things difficult for colour blind people like myself (it's mostly manageable, but I hope they'll eventually patch in some kind of "colour blind mode" with additional symbols or text for easier identification).

The developers have been supporting the game with free updates, which aside from bugfixes also included new content, and there are also 4 DLC packs for sale. I can whole-heartedly recommend the "Return of the Elves", which introduces a whole new race to the game. The other 3 DLCs also enrich the game, but aren't quite as substantial in comparison.

So, in a nutshell, if you're at all interested in turn-based fantasy strategy games, this is well worth your time and money, in my opinon.

Fun title, apaprently similar to Civilization V, but different in enough ways to make it a worthwhile acquisition. Honestly, it is refreshing to see that 4x titles are making a comeback, both in historical based, such as Civ, space themed such as Endless Space or Sword of the Stars, and fantasy based such as this (which somehow reminds me of both Civ V and the Fall from Heaven mods). In true Paradox style, it is nowhere near done at release, but that makes it endearing, and I am hoping that the end product will be extremely enjoyable when its developement is finally "complete". All in all, I'd recommend this title, particularly if one likes turn based strategy. Sure, it is no Alpha Centauri, but then again, what is?

Incredibly similar to Civilisation V, but with technology, road-building, culture stripped out; everything is gone bar combat, and it works here perfectly. In the fantasy setting, the world is often a more dangerous opponent than your enemy mages, with most of the challenge getting your armies to your enemies in one piece. If you are familiar with the Fall From Heaven mods in the Civilisation series, you will know what you're in for. With multiplayer currently in beta, this game will only get better!

After seeting all those great historical and space 4X strategy games, don't you feel the fantasy setting is really falling behind ever since Master of Magic. Warlock is an attemp to succeed the spirits of Master of Magic. The graphics is surprisingly similar to Civ 5, but the gameplay is not that similar. The system is not as perfect as Civ 5, but this game has a lot of potential.

A game similar to the Civilization series games, but with a greater focus on military units, combat and combat effects (spells). While new technology is acquired by research in the Civilization games, Warlock focuses on constructing special buildings in your cities, which in turn enables you to recruit more powerful units s well as buying upgrades for your older units. The most powerful buildings require special resources (like pumpkins, silver, etc.) which can be hard to find in some games.

If you like the Civilization series games - you'll like Warlock too. However, if you really love all the features in Civilization 5 - you might find yourself looking for more of them in Warlock, which has a bigger focus on conflict than micro management.

This is one of the most intense 4X strategy games that I have ever played. After a few turns you'll be bogged down in near constant combat until the games conclusion, but you'll enjoy every second of it. The game features a unique map-based city construction model that forces you to hyper-specialize your cities in order to maintain the exponential economic growth that's necessary to win the war of attrition against your rivals.

Spiritually similar to games like Master of Magic, Warlock is a surprisingly awesome combat focused 4x strategy game. The units are varied and numerous, the strategy is surprisingly deep and satisfying, and the game features a sense of humour that is genuinely hilarious and endearing. Overall, I would highly recommend this game to anyone with even a passing interest in the 4x genre.

Though it appears simple on the surface, Warlock is a great way to kill hours at a time with solid features and interesting units. Also, it is a major advantage to me that there are a few "viable" ways to play- ranging from swarming the enemy with level one swordsmen to creating a top tier unit and upgrading it until it is essentially invulnerable. Definitely worth the money in my opinion.

This game is good, but a weakness in the AI is holding it back. A decent player will always win, even on impossible. This is mostly because the AI does not press its advantage and it is far to docile. There is a patch coming soon that hopefully will remedy this, as the core game is really good

The game is basically civilization style war with magic and upgrades. I would strongly suggest trying out the demo. I found the demo to be a good representation of the game. I would not recommend getting this game only because you like civilization. I would recommend playing the demo to make sure the game is right for you.

Warlock is a sold fantasy 4X, particularly given its low price. The city building is much simpler than most games of the genre, but it makes up for that with a good tactical combat system in the vein of Fantasy General. The AI is better than Civilization 5’s AI maneuvering injured units away from you and it understands how to use direct damage spells to good effect. It does suffer from favoring quantity over quality, which makes it weak out of the early game.

Warlock’s main weakness is that some features feel unpolished. For example, the alternate worlds you can explore are defended by more powerful forces than the AI players can build, so any army that can take the alternate worlds can easily win a conquest victory on the main world of Ardania. It also lacks the ability to enable or disable victory conditions, although the developers have stated that they will add that in when they add multiplayer. Despite these flaws, Warlock is worth buying for fans of the fantasy 4x genre.

A few things bothered me about this game, one of them is that you aren't given the same options as the AI in, for example, diplomacy.

If you want to carefully ask a warlock for a minor donation of mana or gold your only option will be "demand" which means that either they comply or war is declared, the AI gets a relationship bonus called "gifts" if you comply to any of their demands, however if you demand resources from the AI you will get a negative relationship changer called (IIRC) "ruthlessness".

Another one is that the resource holy ground seems incredibly scarce, it may just be that I had only taken over 70% of a XL sized map but seriously, only two holy grounds? I mean I understand that they are supposed to be rare but fucking christ, I got temple building missions every other turn and my god relations bounced around like a fucking ping pong ball.

But aside from this the game is incredibly fun, maybe not deep or groundbreaking or whateverthefuck.

I mean, I was excited for the release, but I hadn't even downloaded the demo until yesterday and I've already sunk ~14 hours into the game.

Considering the low price and how fun I've already had it's definitely worth it.

Warlock Master of the Arcane is a pretty surprising title. You would never guess judging by the trailers or any other official media released that this game is fun.

Warlock is a turn-based hexagonal strategy game where the objective is to defeat the other warlocks in the map. This is not like Civilization, there is no diplomacy option for the most part. You're not trying to build the best society. Its all resource based, gaining mana for spells and money and food for your army is key to victory. It's basically “Do you want war now or later?” You're pretty much under pressure a lot of the time as soon as you meet another warlock.

Which goes into the biggest issue. Depending on how randomized a map is, you can be caught in between another warlock and neutral enemies making you unable to expand. Its seriously frustrating when it happens and unless you know how to strategize accordingly you'll have better luck starting the match over.

You're going to be sitting there just waiting and the tables can quickly turn around if you make a mistake or didn't plan well. On top of that you pretty much have to buy an engagement ring for every action you take. There's no undo function but the game autosaves the last two turns letting you reload incase you did something bad. The problem with that is you have to redo all the actions you did again making it another 5 minutes wasted.

Besides that, the game literally has you tensed up anticipating each turn. What completely keeps you at the edge of your seat is the magic system. This is a double-edged sword since the other warlocks can use spells as well. There's plenty of diverse spells ranging from thunder bolts to firestorms. There's a lot of variety when it comes to enemy types and race options. There's also a lot of surprise elements with neutral enemies popping up from time to time. There's lots and lots of replay value to be experience here. The AI can act a bit stupid but there's multiplayer to make up for that. You won't learn a lot from the tips during a game but you'll figure out how to play effectively after a couple of games. This game for sure will eat up any time you have once you get hooked.

The details in the character models fine but could really use some more antialiasing. Jaggies are noticeable and the textures are okay. Given that the game is only $20 I can't really knock it for not having high production values. But given the genre it suffices for the most part.

The music doesn't really attract my attention but the voice acting is pretty awesome. The goblins are the funniest to listen to and everybody else has a specific voice for each unit type so it's easy to differentiate between all of them. The Warlock voices on the other hand don't have much lines and often repeat sentences that don't match the actions that they take during negotiations.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a game that borrows from others, adds a couple of new things, and spices it up with surprise elements. It's worth the price and its a great time waster for your indoor stays during the summer.

Gives feeling of old fashion Fantasy General, but tweaked with modern look and playability. I recommend this game to anyone who likes turn-based strategy that isn't too serious but reminds lot of Fantasy General, Battle of Wesnoth, etc. type of games.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a turn-based strategy game set in the fantastical world of Ardania. It features a Civilisation like world with the map divided into hex grids. Compared to Civilisation,Warlock feels dumbed down; and that’s a really good thing. You don’t need to micromanage as much and you can concentrate on the other aspects of the game. Warlock shifts gears and it’s clear that combat is the main focus of the game. There are three factions in the game — humans, monsters and the undead. Each faction has a different playing style.

Warlock has a really unique spell system. You can cast a spell any time you want but each spell requires a certain number of turns to be cast. Some spells though can be cast twice a turn which is especially helpful if you are out exploring. There is no real campaign mode. The City system is different from other games as well. Each building requires a hex and can only be built within the boundaries of your city. You gain additional hexes as you gain experience and your city levels up.

If you ever wished turn-based strategy games were less complicated and more action oriented, Warlock is the answer to your prayers. Lack of multiplayer is a bit disappointing but hopefully it’ll be added in the future.

* Overall: 8.0

Civilization IV/V with speels instead technologies? Yes, that's true. Typical 4x game where our mission is to win competition of mages by few ways. First and most easy is to destroy others mages. Second - to discover last spell (Unity)on list of spells. Third - to control all Holy Grounds and fourth - to won battle against one of god's avatar.

It sounds very good but in fact Warlock was realised a little bit too fast. Good example is diplomacy - totally poor with only three options (declare war, demand money, demand mana). Also we have possibility to enter other worlds - but if we decide to explore it we discover really stron units there and need stron army to conquests. But when we trains armies our rivals are closer to get Unity spell. Also in Ardania our scouts meets very often hardests units in game. This element of game should be more balanced!

Positive thing - managment of cities, very good animations of units, spells and graphic, big maps and really good fun. A little bit pity game was not realised later and there was no mont since game's debut when we have got two DLC.

So I may recommended this game to 4x fans but remember - You will be dissapointed by many things. Hope after patching game it will be more funny.

My gameplay here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI6Rcj64GDY&list=UUQBdOkeUwuFLaxxM3J2PhDQ&index=4&feature=plcp

The game is really fun and is a good value at $20. While it's probably not as deep as other 4X games, it's not exactly shallow either. The game plays a lot like MoM/Civ and is a nice hybrid on it's own. You choose a wizard at the beginning and you can customize them too. There's various abilities that give you some interesting strengths and starting spells. The options for creating a game is really cool too, tons of options.

Once you are in game you start with a city and can build some starting units and buildings. There are tons of different types of buildings and many of them require specific land assets (gold mine on gold resource/silver for silver weapons/ect). There's a lot of really interesting ones too, so makes the expansion of your territory (through new cities) very important.

While there are no tech trees to research, as you build new buildings you can open up other kinds of advanced buildings. For instance, building a thieves guild will enable building tax offices or building certain armories will enable unit upgrades or recruitment options. There's a tons of stuff and each race has a nice amount of unique buildings too.

Units can be recruited various ways, obviously though normal means (correct building) but they can also be summoned and even rewarded for capturing or clearing certain map objectives. I only played a few games but there seems to be a ton of different units and some of the higher level ones even have special abilities. Mages can case ice bolts, some can fly, other like clerics can heal (as well as attack).

As mentioned above you can also improve your units in a few ways. Being in combat gains them XP, at at certain intervals they level up. You can then choose 1 out of 3 (different ones per level) bonuses to apply to the unit. Also, when you build certain building you can then (for a cost) apply new armor bonuses or things like silver weapons which increases their damage.

The main objective of the game is to defeat the other wizards (in MoM fashion), but there is also a lot more going on the map. There's neutral factions, monster spawns to be cleared, quests (like kill a certain monster and sack a town) to be completed, and portals to different worlds to explore.

The overall quality of the game IMO is REALLY good...the art is really nice and the amount of content you get for the price.

Looks like Civ 5, isn't Civ 5. that sums it up.

it would kind of be like playing Civ 5 in only 1 era, but that isn't quite right either, its significantly more focused and the single unit/single tile works better here.

can become kind of boring as the sense of progression you get from tech stomping isn't there but still worth it @ under $20

This game is a little gem. A cross between Age of Wonders and CIV5 it became addicting very fast. Also the game worked for me right out of the box so to speak and I had it playing for almost a whole day without any issue. There are some minor bugs I found but no game is free of bugs and these did not impede game play at all. Also there is a DEMO for this game so you can try before you buy, it is on STEAM. On sale for $9.99 this is a very good deal!!!

Nice indie game, especially for the price, following the footsteps of Civ 5. It is not Civ 5, though, by a long shot. It is still very fun, especially if you like the fantasy settings and combat. Diplomacy is absent and your main goal is to reach powerful units and spells as soon as possible to destroy anything in sight. Being able to cast spell is a lot of fun. Units are well designed. I was hoping combat would be more tactical, tight now is exactly as in Civ5, which is a disappointment. I also dislike very much that they are embracing this horrible new trend of releasing many DLCs just to cash out on the IP. All in all, the main version is going to be OK and fun for enough hours to recommend it for such a low price.

Having played through some games in Warlock: Master of the Arcane I feel that I have the feel for the game.

At first you might think that Warlock is some sort of Civilization clone. If you think that, you are mistaken. In warlock cities work differently and the flow of the game is also different.

The strength of Warlock is that although it looks like a complicated grand strategy game, in reality it is not. In fact once you understand some basic stuff it becomes quite simple. The lack of complicated tech tree and diplomacy is one of the biggest advantages an disadvantages at the same time. It makes the game to be almost casual fun, because it lacks depth. It is up to you to decide whether it is a bad thing or not.

In my playtime I have not encountered any bugs, so that might mean that the game is stable. Art and sound design is appropriate.

Overall the game is good.

This game does what it says on the tin.

It's a brilliant little 4X game and for the price tag it is well worth it.

It does, however, have a few downsides. For a start there are no game options beyond players + map size. Want to slow down research a tad? Toobad for you. Want to turn off the tech victory? Once again, too bad for you.

This last point is actually close to annoying as I want longer games but everything quickly becomes a rush to conquer other nations.

For the price tag, however, these downsides are minor at best when you are presented with the gem you are given.

There are some definite flaws and a big caveat, but overall this is an incredibly enjoyable game and more than worth it for the price.

First the big caveat: This is a tactical wargame with a thin strategy layer of city/resource management on top. Combat is the meat of the game. Given that understanding, it plays really well. The AI holds up well enough - it could definitely use some improvement but I would say it is putting up a way better fight than Civ V did on release.

Some of the flaws: lack of hotkeys for much of anything, UI can be clunky at times, magic is random research - no directed research of spells or schools of magic, and there are only three races present along with a dozen or so leaders. Speaking of leaders, the "customization" options are abysmal.

Some positives: The three races each play very different than the others. Units follow pretty standard fantasy tropes (this is a plus in my book) so it's easy on the immersion factor. For all its clunkiness, the UI would actually be pretty damn good if there were some hotkeys. The AI plays a decent game in the short term (longer games may derail it - haven't had a chance to play more than a couple shorter games).

I'd recommend the game as long as you can get past the big caveat I mentioned.

A 4x game in the style of Civilization V. But that's mainly on the surface. Most of the gameplay revolves around warfare, and the diplomacy is extremely minimalistic. The game lacks anything like Civilization's happiness mechanics so there is no reason not to spam alot of cities which will put off some players.

This is a great classic tbs fantasy game. It has the feel of civilisation but it reminds me more of the classic microprose game Master of Magic.

The game is easy to pick up but can be tricky to play at times. Graphics are clear and well defined. Sound and music are fine and suit the game.

This game is a time sink so dont expect an hour or two and has a good one more go type feel.

Well worth the cash if you like turn based games.

Great game.

While it might look similar and play similar to Civilisation 5, this game is more focused on the war aspects and economy building. It is a war strategy game.

You have 3 resources, Gold, Food and Mana. Gold is used for building units and maintaining the upkeep of most combat units. Food plays a similar role, but are not needed for building units.

Mana is used for casting spells and maintaining the upkeep of enchantments and special units.

Combat mechanics are complex and terrain plays a huge role.

Most units also have special abilities which add another layer to how battles will turn out.

Spells range from direct damage spells, to AOE spells, to debuffs and buffs. There are also enchantments that boost economy and city growth, or more insidious variants that affect enemy units and cities.

Early units never lose relevance as it is possible to upgrade them into more powerful variants with Gold, or equip them with better Armor and Weapons. Units gain experience over time and through combat as well, and these experience can lead to perks that make your units stronger.

A fun TB game in the vein of Civ although lacking the strategic depth of the latter. Unit variety and combat is the meat of the game but the lack of polish (movement cost, terrain bonus and several minor game mechanics aren't obvious for example). Look at it as a quality indie game rather than a AAA title and you wouldn't be disappointed.

Pro: Interesting setting, nice variety of units, combat can be quite tactical, streamlined interface, one of those 'just-one-more-turn' game.

Con: Lack polish, dumb AI even on the highest difficulty (tactically, diplomatically, strategically, you name it and the AI can't do it...well) difficulty curve is uneven: punishing at the start due to AI's unit spam but a cake walk towards mid-end game.

Note: the majority of cons are non-issues in multiplayer.....once they actually implement it.

I was a bit sceptical at first. Homewer after playing few games (winning and loosing) I finally learned to love this game. But I have to warn you - this is no Civilization in fantasy settings. If you want this (as did I) look for Fall from Heaven mod to Civ IV. But again, dont throw this game away. It is not Civilization but it is great, funny and interesting strategy game. You have to really plan your advance in the game. AI is quite hard to beat sometimes. In the end, you will find this game to be very nice and funny challenge. I have to recomend it.

This game is just very, very good. It offers nice balance of units/economy, which isn't becoming boring even in the end, nice semi-tactical battles, and a great dose of humor which we liked from Majesty so much.

Building city is both innovative and simple, something I didn't actually see in this form in any title I played (instead of field yields, city buildings that take fields). Whole empire development feels streamlined and natural. Cities grow naturally, and elder ones will be both well-developed and hard to conquer. You can spam forts like there's no tomorrow, but your economy will suffer. We also have special resources, which allow special buildings on them - adding a bit of strategic planning and territorial lust.

The spells are simple to use, but offer many perks and uses. There are types of damage, so attention to enemy units and spells pays off. Gods and religions are here too, and add a dynamic and shifting mechanism, making game fluid and interesting.

All in all, I heartily recommend!

This game is great.

It's a combo between CIV 5 and Heroes of Might And Magic 6.

It's plays faster than CIV, right at the start you'll have 2 units that are strong enough to take over neutral cities. The units are more useful than in CIV because you can keep upgrading them, making them very useful. And the game looks great,very good indeed.

Pro's

The graphics look great.

The fantasy setting is very well done.

Upgrades for units are really useful.

Slinging spells around is really fun.

Con's:

The diplomacy is quite basic (as in VERY).

There is no tech tree, you can research but you can't see what you'll be able to research afterward (i think its random).

Worth the money, very much worth it.

This game is awesome.

Focus on tactical battles on a strategic map, and finding a delicate balance for your economy. Very well balanced game, because I haven't found an uber strategy yet :P, with different strengths and weaknesses between the different teams.

Soooo much fun slinging spells around the map!! Can turn a dire situation into a doable one :)

If you like Elemental FE, Civ V if it was quicker and fantasy settings, Master of Magic without tactical battles, then this game is for you.

One part Civ 5, one part Heroes of might and magic and one part Elemental; Fallen Enchantress. Good city building options allow you to give each town a different feel, plus occupying an enemy town will grant you access to different troop types not usually accessible to your race. The combat all takes place on the strategic map using a hex based system much akin to civilization 5, however this game seems to manage to utilise the one unit per hex system much better. Then of course there are the spells. Instead of technology you research spells, some of which require favor from one of the 8 different gods. You can only cast one spell a turn so while it adds a nice tweak to the turn based combat it is never completely overpowering.

In short, this is a good game and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the three games mentioned at the start, or any turn based strategy/4x game.

It is just a great fun game that is a little bit of city management, spellcasting and diplomacy along with a lot of war :D

Do remind a bit of Civ 5 with the layout with the hex grid and one unit per square idea.

For me this is a must buy

Warlock Master of the Arcane is great turn based strategy game set in the land of Ardania (the Majesty series).

At first glance the game looks similar to Civilization V or Master of Magic, but should be viewed on it's own so I'll just describe some of the major differences.

Like a statesman you have your Lord that gives you some perks through the whole game.

Instead of culture/technology you research magic and get quests to fulfill every couple of turns.

There are also multiple portals to lands that are defended by powerful creatures for you to conquer and settle.

The combat is hex based and boils down to how powerful you can make your unit by various upgrades and magic buffs, fortunately the interface accounts for all this and gives predictions how the battle may go.

It really is a good blend taking the best elements from a lot of classics and making them it's own.

Not to mention your trusted adviser is back and a lot of humor spread through the game via the in game encyclopedia.