Sorcerer King: Rivals

[h3]Be the scheming Starscream™ you always wanted to be in this [i]“sniveling second in command rebellion simulator”[/i]..[/h3] What do you get if you take one dose of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and mix it up with some more open world RPG elements and a slight dose of Civilization thrown in for a good measure? Well, I for one found the mix to sound quite awesome, and honestly this game comes quite close to being great, yet stumbles a bit on its execution.. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3347635960 The core gameplay loop centers around exploration on a sprawling map of different biomes while constantly upgrading your towns defenses to withstand the might of the evil overlord that up until recently was your boss. You also have to equip your heroes as well as his/her cronies with ever improving armaments and magical trinkets, something that is fun in theory but ends up being kind of a chore.. As you explore the unknown you will stumble upon enemies of different varieties as well as interact with peculiar points of interest that weaves an interesting story and fleshes out an otherwise rather dull and repetitive world. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3347635983 This game almost gets it, almost.. I really love the side stories tied to the random taverns, caves and graveyards strewn around the landscape and the choose your own quest adventures tied to them are both fun and rewarding. I also do kind of like the general exploration and simplified town management this game got going. There are a few neat ideas here, best of all a trait system connected to the adventuring giving you different options if you react to the world like Jean-Luc Picard rather than Satan. However, what it lacks is variety.. I quickly found that no matter what army I picked, the game ended up more or less in the same grind for supremacy through sheer force of magic and archery. Sure, the priest class begins a bit differently and follows a slightly different techtree than the tinkerer, but in the end the units and towns are more or less identical and after a few maps you have been through it all.. This is a weak recommendation.. Don’t get me wrong, I do think there is a decent game here, and getting it on sale will most likely net you a weekend of joyful “We got HOMM3 at home.”. However, if you are looking for a new forever game like most of the 4X titles such as Civ or Endless Legends tend to be, look elsewhere.

[h1]The Good[/h1] [list] [*] [b]Graphics.[/b] Artwork, graphics, and game effects are decently nice. [*] [b]The Sorcerer King.[/b] You often interact with the Sorcerer King, balancing your needs and his growing powers, and trying to undermind him at every step. This concept, while not as deep fully fleshed out as I would have liked, made the game more engaging. [/list] [h1]The Bad[/h1] [list] [*] [b]Slow gameplay.[/b] Per faction, there's only a handful of buildings and units to build, but all of it feels so slow and cumbersome to build. [*] [b]Bad exloration.[/b] Moving around and exploring feels tiresome. Choosing a faction with poor mobility makes for a frustrating time. [*] [b]Bad UI.[/b] The user interface is a bit clunky as there's a lack of information on screen. Equiping units, leveling up characters, finding map information, and other general 4X actions also unintuitive, feeling like it takes one to two additional clicks to complete. [/list] [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] [b]Sorcerer King is not recommended.[/b] I appreciate the development team trying something new. But it just doesn't work well together.

[h1] Король-колдун одобряет [/h1] Данный продукт - упрощённая версия серии игр Elemental. Чуточку меньше стратегии, побольше RPG. Относительно игр 2010-2013 года обладает большей стабильностью, разрешение и запуск без танцев с бубнами. Жаль, что последний раз обновлялась 1 октября 2020 года (рыночек порешал). К мультяшной графике привыкаешь. Сюжет не блещет глубиной, но тексты юмором иногда улыбают. В целом, для любителей 4X стратегий, рекомендую!!! [hr][/hr] [h2] Для товарищей, которым требуется русская локализация:[/h2] Большая часть переведена кривовато, но позволяет понять общий смысл. Авторы ZoG Forum Team (портал Zone of games). Перевод датируется 24.11.2018. Ссылка: https://www.zoneofgames.ru/games/sorcerer_king_rivals/files/6927.html Порядок установки: [olist] [*] Скачиваем игру; [*] Удаляем папку /Мои документы/My Games/SorcererKingRivals (если игра была установлена ранее); [*] Удаляем архив SteamLibrary/steamapps/Sorcerer King - Rivals/data/Data.zip; [*] Удаляем экзэшник SteamLibrary/steamapps/Sorcerer King - Rivals/SorcererKing-Rivals.exe; [*] Скачиваем русификатор; [*] Распаковываем содержимое русификатора папку с игрой; [*] Экзешник с версией 2.3 ("SorcererKing-Rivals.Steam.2.3.0.0") переименовываем в "SorcererKing-Rivals.exe"; [*] Остальные два экзэшника можно удалять; [*] Наслаждаемся игрой. [/olist] Всем приятной игры!

The game is still buggy after such time since release.

Pretty interesting 4x. Good for a playthrough or two. The main game mechanic was pretty interesting as it was pretty narratively driven for a 4x. The positives were the hero questing, available heroes, and gearing and leveling individual units. The cons were that the gameplay can get repetitive, and the equipment management mindnumbingly tedious. I didn't run into any bugs or crashes. I'd give it a "Damn kids are messing up my ancient scrolls in the lost magi library" / 10.

I purchased the key at a really low price and enjoyed the game for a short period before noticing it's only half of FE:LH, this is a simplified version of that game. Not REAL bad as long as you think of it as a patronage to the developers. Maybe though $10 would be more like it. 6.5/10

Completed the campaign on some theory crafting after messing around a bit. Stack archers and archer heros and get the ranged unit passive along with a decent tank and just steam roll everyone to the ground. Using tinker makes it even more easy with imba items.

Old but gold game. Very different approach to Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, easy to get into and time after time I love to return to it, making another playthrough with new variations. Can recommend it still though it has it's age, it's time over time fun get back to it and play.

good. just different enough to be enjoyable.

So much potential, just slightly bad design, slightly too few options, played a map once and wasn't impressed.. then forgot and played it again... as soon as I saw the end zone, I remembered it, and was sad when I did. But for the first few hours, it was fun, and I had hopes... now I'm hoping I don't forget it was a disappointment.