QCF: Conquest of Elysium 3
onquest of Elysium 3 is an old school turn based strategy game. Swedish developer, Illwinter Design Group, released the game back in 2012 with many small updates and tweaks since. Versions have been created for windows, linux, mac, and most recently android.
At the start of the game, you can tinker around with the map editor or jump right in with a randomly generated world. Similarly, you can take some time to explore the 17 different character classes or get going with a randomly selected one. You really are left up to your own devices here. Blindly play and learn as you go or devote some reading time to a wiki/forum to familiarize yourself with all the ins and outs.
Each character class entails it own set of benefits and subsequent needs. The Baron has a 25% increase in gold and iron income and starts with a well-fortified castle. That also means you need to secure lands with dense populations to tax and iron ore mines to get the most out of this class. The Demonologist can summon demons and attempt to control them, but you also need to acquire sacrifices from surrounding settlements. Uncontrolled demons will pose as much threat to you as they do to your enemies.
There are many different types of enemies/monsters to deal with and each one has their own set of unique attacks and abilities. Giant worms can consume your troops and deal them damage over the duration of a battle. Shape changers can disguise themselves and spring attacks. Rock giants can lob boulders great distances. You will constantly be on your toes as you lead your army across the countryside.
Additionally your weapons are divided into three classes by the types of damage they deal. Those damage types are pierce, slash and blunt. Pierce damage is near useless against skeleton type enemies. Whereas slash damage makes short work of tree monsters. Magic is just as if not even more complex with its varying types, rules, and uses.
For as much variety that Elysium 3 offers, it seems to be governed mostly by randomness. The game will start you in an area swarming with strong enemies just as often it will start you an area with plentiful resources. You can be sailing along for a few hours relatively unopposed and meet that one enemy type which wipes out your troops in single swoop. All the knowledge and experience you acquire is no match against an unforeseen series of enemies that perfectly negate your class.
The presentation is also lacking. It’s mostly black backgrounds adorned with static one-inch sprites and heavily tiled backdrops. Sure it has a certain old school charm to it, but it never quite rises to being spectacular or particularly memorable. The ambient orchestral soundtrack is nice though. It’s definitely a game that relies on the player’s imagination to fill in the gaps.
What we have here is a game that delivers variety is spades. There is so much depth and complexity to the combat in every facet that you’re always engaged. It amps up the replayability to a ridiculous level. Sadly, the random nature also breaks any sense of balance and often leads you to relatively short games where you fell to unfair circumstances. There needs to be some kind of weight added to the randomness where the challenges gradually ramp as you progress and not so strictly random. As such Conquest of Elysium 3 falls right the middle for me. It’s a decent game marred by some obvious problems.