Pangea
Distant future. Research spaceship faces with unknown physical phenomenon in a faraway space.
The outcome is safe - the spaceship manages to overcome the anomaly without visible consequences. Though, on arriving to the Earth, the crew discovers it not the same way, as it should be. It seems, the anomaly represented a point of contact of several parallel layers of reality, where the events were happening a little bit differently. When the spaceship went out of the anomaly, it appeared in another layer of reality, not in the same when it got into the anomaly.
In that reality the Earth was not affected by a meteorite, which killed dinosaurus. Giant reptiles remained the dominant form of life, and mammals were poorly developed. As the result - the intelligent life and signs of civilization appeared much later, and by the current moment the society is on the level of Stone Age.
Primitive tribes and dinosaurs, magic and futuristic technologies are waiting for you.
In the “skirmish” mode you have to find and destroy the other players bases. In the campaign, you must complete the mission task.
For each victory, new unit types will be unlocked.
Pangea is a hybrid of turn-based strategy, tabletop game and roguelike. Heroes' moves across the playing field are determined by dice rolls. Turn-based tactical battles take place in a separate hex based arena.
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Explore procedurally generated maps full of prizes and dangers
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Enjoy colorful tabletop game styled graphics
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Lead 4 unique factions with their own set of units and structures: a warlike primitive tribe, guardians of the forest thickets, terrible monsters and highly developed aliens from a parallel world
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Influence the playing field - change the landscape, construct buildings and set traps
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Unlock many bizarre creatures and lead them into battle
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Uncover the secrets of the Pangea world in a story campaign
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Turn-Based Tactics Games.
Age of Wonders III
EDIT:
I have well over 1000 hours into this game (drat!) and every time I think of putting it down, I keep coming back. It’s been a long time since a game grabbed me like this one. Great game! replayabiliy is insane.
WOW!
Short review: If you have any doubts from the trailers and are thinking “Yeah, I want to get this game.” You are probably right and do so immediately.
For a bit more detail:
I’m not even more than 170 turns on a big map,I can already tell you that this is an awesome game.
– Real player with 3507.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy RPG Games.
This game is absolutely incredible. It stays true to the style and feel of the previous games in the series, while also embracing some of the more modern elements in the 4X genre. Some may find the game a bit “simplistic” compared to other 4x games, but this is misleading. While this game is very easy to learn, and keeps most of the numbers and math pretty simple, there is an incredible amount of strategic depth to this game, and even after over 500 hours played, with 90% of that focusing on just one class, I am still learning new things.
– Real player with 938.0 hrs in game
Conquest of Elysium 5
Conquest of Elysium 5 is the next iteration of the past CoE games with more content, and with nearly the same (pixel art) graphics that were used in Civilization 2. They have gotten a little better over the years, but not much. If you played CoE4, there are three new factions, new modding tools, and new “Planes” within each map to conquer. The biggest difference for me from the previous version was not just that there was more to conquer though, it is that the “more” that exists is also now much more accessible. More on this below:
– Real player with 193.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy 4X Games.
I love this game, I never get tired of it. It strike the perfect balance between complexity and accessibility.
– Real player with 167.9 hrs in game
Eador. Masters of the Broken World
I’m really not sure whether I can recommend this game. I’m kind of on the fence about it. I’m still not sure whether I’m going to click ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ when I finish writing this review…
The thing is, for what the game is and tries to do, it’s probably my favorite game of all-time. I’ve spent THOUSANDS of hours playing this over the years. Things that I love:
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the tactical combat, complete with diverse battlefields, terrain, spells, balance of stats and abilities
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the wide assortment of diverse fantasy units and items
– Real player with 2546.7 hrs in game
I was introduced to the Eador series in the opposite order of release (as of writing this review). I bought Eador: Imperium in early 2017. I sank a good 40+ hours into Imperium, and I thoroughly enjoyed parts of the game. However, the negative aspects of the game overshadowed the positive (see my review here ). After that experience, I was never planning on trying any other games in the Eador series. But on the 5th anniversary of the Eador series, Eador: Masters of the Broken World (MotBW, for short) was given away for free! So I gave it another shot.
– Real player with 253.0 hrs in game
Fantasy General II
The game is very challenging with each scenario akin to solving a puzzle as the best way to take down enemy forces. There is a rock, paper, scissors feel to the game where each unit is equipped to counter at least one other unit type.
Hero ‘skill’ trees are interesting and offer a variety of ways to develop various heroes that have an impact on game play.
There is an overall story that connects a series of individual scenario missions. Each dialog choice can have a significant impact on how further scenarios play out. However, in general, the consequences are inconsistent in results and severity. It is counter-intuitive and requires you to save, load, reload… try again… etc.
– Real player with 1633.7 hrs in game
Made by fans of the original, this sequel builds upon the core of the 1996 Fantasy General game while expanding and improving it in many ways. Among the improvements are useful tooltips and the fact your units no longer get pushed around (which used to be able to force a surrender on them), or a system that rewards you with gold if you can get through the mission quickly, instead of punishing you with a loss if you don’t beat it within a certain number of turns (as in the original).
The different units available to you each have different roles and due to interesting traits can be used to solve problems in a variety of ways while needing support from other units in other situations - after a couple of maps you will most likely already find yourself with a nice mix of them, as there is no simple ‘two unit winning combo’.
– Real player with 477.4 hrs in game
Fantasy Wars
This - on the surface - is a very simple game, but it is complex in its simplicity.
It appears to be a fantasy sim with the diversity of characters you can command, and towns and castles scattered throughout the map; however, there really is no building to be done.
Gold does exist, but it is only to recruit creatures.
If a unit dies - then it is gone, and the longer they stay alive the more experience and skills they acquire.
Thus, there is a short-term incentive to win each map level…but there is a long-term incentive to keep ALL units alive through the campaigns, otherwise the player has to start over with new units with no level skills and experience, and because each level gets progressively more difficult, having an army with mostly new units is almost certain to lose.
– Real player with 170.8 hrs in game
Поражению нет никаких оправданий, а победа в них не нуждается.
- Warhammer 40,000
1C неожиданно анонсировала King’s Bounty II, но лично мне KB2 куда больше напоминает сиквел Кодекса Войны (aka Fantasy Wars на Западе).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JZdZBzLims
- Кодекс войны - это классический варгейм со всеми вытекающими отсюда достоинствами и недостатками. Именно с тактической стороны вопросов к игре почти нет - сражения удались. Придраться можно разве что к тому, что иногда знание/незнание что будет дальше слишком сильно влияет на успешность вашей стратегии. Особенно это актуально в начальных миссиях кампаний, когда у вас еще нет прокачанных разведчиков, которые могут быстро и далеко просветить местность, а низкоуровневые герои дохнут от малейшего фокуса. И проблема даже не в том, что они мрут, а в том что чаще бывает проще начать миссию заново чем продолжать, расставить правильно войска, заранее зная что на этом фланге нужна конница, а на другом лучше поставить пехоту под прикрытием стрелков. Такой сейвскамминг очень влияет на эффективность и вообще на выбор стратегии. Да и реиграбельности никакой из-за того что все условия миссии жестко прописаны разработчиками - всё на что вы можете повлиять, это привести ветеранов или неопытных рекрутов/героев и найти или пропустить артефакты.
– Real player with 95.6 hrs in game
Guardians of Lumen
The land of Lumen is hostile. Monsters, both the Horrors and the Daemons, force the residences to live in 9 strongholds while they prowl the wastelands.
Against the beasts of shadows, two forces strive to keep the people safe:
The Deciphers study and worship the past in hopes of carving a path to the future.
The Guardians fight and serve, ever ready to help even the smallest of citizens.
With the help of ancient spirits, they stand ready against the darkness.
Will you aid them?
Key Features:
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Classic, turn-based combat with modern twists.
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26 Unique Ay, each with their own Ability Tree, Quest and play style
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6 Playable characters each with history, emotions and a story of their own
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An interactive world where your actions are remembered and honoured.
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A unique progression system, unrelated to experience points or skill point grinding
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180 Mini-dungeons
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A story that moulds to your actions.
I hope you enjoy it.
Heroes of Might & Magic V
Update: This game works perfectly for me on windows 10 as well!
Okay first off, for all those who want this game but read the system requirements and thought “Oh drat, I cannot play this on my system, I have a windows 8 and it says up to XP only”. I have GREAT news for you-I have this game, on a cheap 350 dollar notebook from walmart. It has a windows 8 OS. This game-runs PERFECTLY on it. I did not even need to change or alter any compatibility settings or mess with the graphics or audio configuration. On default layout, no changes at all-it runs perfectly. Now, obviously, I cannot guarantee this will be true for absolutely everyone. I can however say given how cheap my own computer system is-I think this game would work for almost everyone running a windows 8 system. Probably also the same with windows 7 but I cannot say for certain on that one.
– Real player with 254.4 hrs in game
Being a Hero’s of Might and Magic noob and quite pedantic (every hero must visit every shrine for every upgrade) the game played quite well, even after I read that you should rush the stages quickly to keep the next levels army size down (it’s refreshing to be punished for taking a stupid amount of time). The battles were fun, large affairs that took time and patience to win, but every battle felt rewarding, and there was a sense of achievement. I breezed through the first few races, then I come to the Sylvan (elf) quest line and I swear the game is broken. I swear there is no way to finish some of these missions. Units that should be able to be removed from a garrison can’t be after a certain level patch, which makes re-enforcing your home town impossible. The only way around is to have a running battle with weak sacrificial units and hope you do enough damage each turn to whittle them down before they hit your main town. Other than that 1 glaringly painful part of the game, it was quite fun to play. Each race plays differently (they are all unique), and while you could make most hero’s semi similar with loadouts, they work well enough with their faction’s units that I didn’t feel a need.
– Real player with 76.3 hrs in game
Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of the East
If you have never played a Heroes of Might and Magic game, shame on you. This series spans back to my early childhood. The Heroes game I played the most was WOG, a custom expansion for HoM&M3. I loved this series and logged countless hours into these games. They are indepth yet easy to pick up, hard most of the time unless you are a seasond vet.
Build up your town. Recruit Troops (this version allows upto 7th level units). Upgrade your buildings to get bounses, like resorces, spells, or your creature dwelling. In HoMM5 you can select from 2 differant upgrades for each creature type. You have a army that is lead by your hero(s). On the map you will be just one person, but if you attack a creature stack or another player the map closes in and you switch to battle. This is simalar to RPGs where u wander around a map and you trigger combat then cut screen, there is your party ready to kick some butt.
– Real player with 220.1 hrs in game
TL,DR: Treats Heroes 3 itch, but doesn’t offer much new.
Pros:
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good ‘ole Heroes 3 with expanded hero and creature skill system
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a bit too cartoonish, but still very solid and stylish graphics and overall design
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every faction is very different gameplay-wise due to new global racial ability system
Cons:
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too many crucial things are random-based, way too many for a TBS
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low variety of interactive nodes on the map: either a guarded treasury, a permanent or temporary + to some stat or an outdoor variety of some sort of a town building. Some challenged nodes like “+1 luck to all owner’s heroes” or an architect’s hut that gives some discount on buildings in owner’s towns or allows to build twice per day would be nice. Alas
– Real player with 119.1 hrs in game
Monstermonger
Disclaimer: I helped to playtest this.
I had really good fun with this - it’s got that “easy to learn, hard to master” feel. The mechanics are straightforwards, but that disguises some depth of strategy, as I found out when I went from the tutorial to the hard AI and got schooled :-) I’m looking forward to trying multiplayer and finding out how much more there is I don’t know yet!
Very easy to just dip in for a quick game, but also very easy to get sucked into “just one more”…
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
I originally downvoted this because I hit a bug fairly early that stopped progression. The developer was very responsive. I sent him some screenshots of the bug and he is making a number of changes. The game is fun, and the creatures are cool. It’s not the world’s deepest game, but it is fun and it’s not expensive. If you like these sort of soft strategy games to relax with, this is actually one of the better ones I’ve seen in recent years.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game