At present, the available modes in the game are limited to Path of Kingdoms and Single Battle. The Single Battle mode is rather underwhelming, offering only four selectable maps and little variety. The real substance lies in Path of Kingdoms, the main campaign mode, where your objective is to conquer an entire map and dominate rival factions.
At the start of your campaign, you choose one of six factions, such as humans, dwarves, or undead, each featuring distinct attributes across five key categories, including strength, intelligence, unit count, and unit deployment cost. Additionally, each faction comes with a difficulty rating that reflects its inherent strengths and weaknesses.
For example, the undead faction is considered the most challenging to master. They boast the highest number of available units, yet suffer from weak strength and poor accuracy, while also being the most expensive to deploy. Players seeking a tougher challenge can further modify their experience by selecting a higher preset difficulty setting, which impacts troop numbers.
The campaign map is divided into regions distributed evenly among all factions. Each region is marked with a numerical value indicating the number of troops stationed there. On easier difficulties, your regions begin with slightly higher troop numbers than rival factions, offering an early advantage. Conversely, harder difficulties reduce your numbers.
Gameplay unfolds through turns. During each turn, you can click on regions to send troops either to reinforce your own territories or to attack an opponent’s region. You can deploy up to five groups of troops per turn. Sending troops to your own regions merely increases their defensive strength, while attacking an enemy territory initiates a battle sequence.
Before combat begins, you must organize your army by purchasing and placing units around your general on a grid-based preparation screen. Initially, only two unit types are available, but more are unlocked after several turns as your campaign progresses. Players must spend their entire budget before battle begins, though there’s an optional auto-fill feature for those who prefer to skip the setup process.
Once the deployment phase ends, the battle begins. On the battlefield, you can select individual units, adjust their formations, and issue commands through your general. These orders (attack, defend, and retreat) are simple. However, the system isn’t always responsive; when commanding large armies, you may need to press the attack button multiple times to ensure all troops engage properly.
The general unit doesn’t directly participate in combat actions like attacking but can still be moved strategically across the field. After issuing orders, the fight unfolds automatically as your soldiers charge toward the enemy. While some missions include additional objectives such as winning within a time limit, victory is typically achieved by eliminating every enemy unit on the field.
Battles occur on randomly generated maps, which adds some variety. However, being in early access, the game suffers from technical issues. Occasionally, your troops may take unnecessarily long paths toward enemies or fail to assist nearby allies during combat. At times, units behave as if they are waiting for their turn rather than engaging simultaneously. Similarly, enemy troops sometimes stand idle, refusing to attack until approached.
The most frustrating issue, however, is a recurring bug where enemy units spawn on top of large skeleton and fail to fall to the ground. When this happens, they become unreachable, leaving your troops unable to finish the battle. The only option is to exit to the main menu, which the game counts as a defeat. Losing in this way means forfeiting control of the region and all the troops stationed there. A devastating setback, especially if it happens in one of your strongest territories.
Victories, on the other hand, grant you two types of rewards: evolution points and reinforcement points. Reinforcements can be activated before a battle and essentially guarantee victory, making them especially useful when defending poorly fortified regions. Evolution points are used to upgrade your unit types. Each unit has five upgrade levels, purchased in order, with each tier costing more than the last.
In summary, the game offers a fairly standard strategy experience. While its mechanics are functional and the faction system provides some depth, it lacks truly unique elements to set it apart from other games in the genre.
The early access state means there are still several bugs and rough edges to address, particularly in AI behavior and combat reliability. The game also includes achievements, though some of them currently do not unlock.
