Stardock's Sorcerer King Launches On July 16th

Stardock’s turn-based strategy game Sorcerer King [official site] has been hanging around in Early Access for a while now. But now it is taking the next step. It's growing up. It's graduating. It's getting a mortgage and losing its childlike innocence in favor of grown-up cynicism. It's finally doing that thing all the big games are doing: it's getting a release date. (July 16th, in case you were wondering.)

In case you missed the original memo, the upcoming strategy title will have you playing as one of the six sorcerous sovereigns (try saying that three times fast. Hah!) ruling over this fantasy realm. Unfortunately for you, the Sorcerer King is out to destroy the shards that power the wizardry in this world in his bid to become a god. Your job? To stop him. (And beat up everyone else, of course.)

Equipped with a random map generator, Sorcerer King features all the standard accoutrements: city-building, monster battling, item-crafting, and more. But there’s a twist, however. And it sounds interesting enough. The Sorcerer King, the ultimate bad guy, is operating on a different level from you and your posse of opponents. He'll be amassing power and throwing down, even as you squabble with your peers. Steam user reviews of the Early Access version seem mildly disgruntled with the level of depth provided, but the game will apparently appeal to fans of Fallen Enchantress.