14 DAY TRIAL // The SpellForce series has been well represented in the last several years, as publisher THQ Nordic went pretty crazy with the expansion after the release of SpellForce 3 back in 2017. We’ve had Soul Harvest and Fallen God standalone expansions released, as well as SpellForce 3: Reforced, an upgraded version of the original launched five years ago.
But if you’re waiting for another SpellForce 3 standalone expansion or SpellForce 4, you’ll be disappointed to hear that won’t happen anytime soon. The next entry in the series is a departure from the traditional mix of RPG and real-time strategy elements and it’s called SpellForce: Conquest of Eo.
Developed by Owned by Gravity, SpellForce: Conquest of Eo is set in the same fantasy world as SpellForce 3, Eo. However, unlike any of the previous games, the next one fully embraces the turn-based genre.
The best way to describe SpellForce: Conquest of Eo is Heroes of Might & Magic meets Master of Magic. The game borrows many mechanics from these franchises but adds a lot more depth to make the gameplay experience a bit more sophisticated.
In Conquest of Eo, you start as an unremarkable mage looking for your master’s very dangerous work that could reverse the status quo. With just a ruined wizard’s tower at your disposal, you must become the greatest of mages by spreading your influence, expanding your grimoire, raising powerful armies, gathering resources, and upgrading your tower with new rooms.
The three classes that I got to play – Artificier, Necromancer, and Alchemist, feel pretty unique. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to developing a path for your wizard, but the start is the same for all three. They play differently at the management level, but you’ll be recruiting the same inexpensive goblin armies at the beginning of the game.
Each of your units can be upgraded to level 15, and for each additional rank you can choose a perk that can increase damage, armor, life, regeneration, effectiveness against specific enemies and so on.
Although I’ve been getting attached to my goblin armies after winning a few fights and gaining some levels, I found that there are far more powerful units that could replace these. But that’s the beauty of Conquest of Eo: you learn by exploring, expanding your grimoire and your influence.
Spreading the influence of your tower is crucial for the development of your wizard’s path since this is the only way to upgrade it additional chambers that help grow your economy needed to sustain your armies.
But you don’t have to play Conquest of Eo like Master of Magic and fully focus on learning new spells. While spells can certainly augment the power of your armies, many of them have specific uses. The one that I like most lets me move my tower to a new region with more resources.
While you can choose to play either of the three classes and lead your troops in battle, you won’t actually participate in warfare. However, each army has a spot specifically available for an apprentice or hero that you can hire. Here is where things get tricky though. These can usually be recruited from special buildings on the map that you need to discover.
What I didn’t like is that the apprentices that you can hire aren’t always a good fit for the class you’re playing. For example, I got to choose between two necromancers while playing Artificier. There are many synergies between troops and having undead and mortal units in the same army is more of a hindrance rather than a benefit.
Not to mention that there’s a pretty interesting crafting system in the game that allows you to make glyphs and artefacts that can be equipped by your units. These provide various bonuses or effects that can have devastating consequences for the enemy, you just need to discover the recipes first.
Conclusion
There’s just one problem: if you don’t like turn-based combat, stay away from Conquest of Eo. Otherwise, I can’t recommend this enough, even if you haven’t played any of the previous SpellForce games.
Review key provided by the publisher.
