Conquest of Elysium 3, Pre-order on Desura

[son_of_monfort]

So I was just browsing Desura today, when lo-and-behold I noticed that the Upcoming tab had a link to a February 20th release pre-order of Conquest of Elysium 3. Now, for those that are not familiar with the name, you MIGHT be familiar with it's more famous older brother, Dominions 3. Both are made by a small-time (one man, I think) development company called Illwinter Games. They used to be connected to Shrapnel (Dominion 3 is still sold there).

Dominions 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, it is an excellent strategy game full of monsters, magic, rival gods, giant armies, and spell-slinging. Something like a cross between Risk and Master of Magic.

Conquest of Elysium was a different line of strategy games by Illwinter, a bit more simple than Dominions 3, focused on smaller playtime (Dominions 3 can take quite some time to play). CoE2 is free, IIRC, so people can download that and try.

The graphics are very retro, but I've always found them strangely pretty. Illwinter is known for using pretty deep mythology as a source for its monsters, and thus the aesthetic is a bit... unique. Here are some pics:



And one of the map:



Anyway, I'm in. Of all the games I know, Dominions 3 is the one that has stayed on my hard drives the longest and that I've put the most hours into. The AI for Dominions 3 was pretty brain dead, so I hope CoE3's is better. Thankfully CoE3 is far less expensive than Dominions 3, which was always sold at a premium price.

[The Innocent]

Ooo, this is great news! Preordering now.

[pakoito]

But I hate desura :(

Link: http://www.desura.com/games/conquest-of-elysium-3

Price: 21€ which is half what Dominions 3 still costs. 5 years later.

[Bison]

This looks pretty sweet SoM.

[son_of_monfort]

Sorry for the hit and run. Makes me look like a spammer. I was locked out of the website then realized, the reason for this is I named myself son_of_monfort rather than my normal son_of_montfort. Hard to get into a website if you type your name in wrong!

[Malawi Frontier Guard]

Son of which Montfort exactly?

[R-F]

Urgh, why does he charge such silly prices for his games? :|

[Starry Vere]

Wow, thanks for the heads-up. Dominions 3 is amazing, and this looks like a similar flavor.

[Vexing Vision]

NICE!

Much earlier than expected!

[The Innocent]

Urgh, why does he charge such silly prices for his games? :|

Because for what you're getting they're fair prices.

[son_of_monfort]

Son of which Montfort exactly?

Simon... :-)

Actually, my name comes from a friend. He used to use "Son_of_Cato" for his blog and, since I started down my path into history because of my interest in the Albigensian Crusade, I used "Son_of_Montfort." So I guess that makes me Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leiscester, the famous one.

Urgh, why does he charge such silly prices for his games? :|

This is far cheaper than Dominions 3. And Dominions 3 was worth every high priced penny.

[gp1628]

Everything has its pros and cons. Illwinter does their games as a hobby, not as a business. So discussions about how much more they would make if they would cater to the masses doesnt tend to go over well. They seem happier with an elite crowd than with an "I bought it because it was cheap" crowd.

[gp1628]

There are some interesting AAR's (LPs on some forums) showing up about the game
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=161

[HlicesArerich]

This looks pretty sweet SoM.

[gp1628]

A DEMO version of Illwinters new game, Conquest of Elysium 3, is now available at Desura.com http://www.desura.com/games/conquest-of-elysium-3 Purchase price for the full game is $30