RPS Feature Worlds apart
Warlock II is everything I wanted from a sequel to Masters of the Arcane, which, as I’ve implied before, felt like the decent gig before a killer afterparty. Taking place across the fragments of a broken world, it’s 4X strategy in a compact form, as dense as a spoonful of iridium and seemingly built from the ground-up to avoid the cycle of ‘End Turn’ clicking that is a hallmark of the genre. I’ve spent a few days with a near-complete build and have many thoughts to share.
Warlock II is shaping up to be one of the most efficient sequels of all time. After a brief play and a prolonged chat with the producer, I’m confident that the developers have at least tried to address most of the complaints aimed at the original game and the shattered world structure adds a layer of management and strategic planning that I hadn’t expected. It’s also a fine game for people interested in exploring weird realms and the trailer below shows some of the different world types on offer. There’s also a refreshing alternative to the usual earnest fantasy voiceover. This video is narrated by A D Ventureman, Adventureman.
RPS Feature Exiled On Mage Street
Warlock: Master of the Arcane was a solid game that promised a great sequel. The interface and map had similarities to Civ V, some of which were slightly more than skin-deep, but the game had ideas of its own, bolstered by a sense of the ridiculous that was bizarre and humorous but avoided the lure of wackiness. The Exiled expands upon its precursor’s strongest elements and brings the turn-based exploration and conquest to a fascinating multiverse. I played for a little over an hour and didn’t want to walk away.
Strategic spell-biffing is now available in a multiplayer form with the release of Warlock’s 1.2 patch. Multiplayer is still in beta and you can read what happened when I tested it or, if you own the game, jump into a match yourself. The patch also adds Lords and Artifacts, powerful heroes and items to bolster your uncanny forces, as well as addressing balance issues and tweaking the AI. Patch notes are here, although there seem to be lots of minor alterations that people are discovering, so it’s worth reading deeper into the thread if you want to know more. There’s no hotseat, unfortunately, with multiplayer working solely through Steam, but maybe that could change if there’s enough demand.
RPS Feature A tree is punching my capital city
When Warlock was announced I was so pleased at the prospect of turn-based spellbiffing that I didn’t notice that multiplayer was missing from the list of features. By the time someone pointed out to me that I’d be unable to challenge other budding masters of magic to spelling bees I’d already imagined raining fire on the armies of friends and enemies alike, so I just chose to accept multiplayer would be added closer to release. It wasn’t. But a multiplayer mode will be going into beta in the not too distant future and, being one of the foremost magicians in the land, I was invited to try it out. Four players, four and a half hours, stalemate. So why do I feel like I lost?
RPS Feature Never Mind The Warlocks
Perhaps it was a mistake to send a jack of few trades to become a master of one, but strategic sorcery monsterbasher, Warlock: Master of the Arcane, has been in my sights for a good while now. After a great deal of conjuring and conquering, with very little in between, I have the flowing beard and haunted visage of a man who is accustomed to peeling back the fabric of reality and fashioning new life from the celestial clay that lurks beyond. I’ve also got a pretty good idea wot I think about this Warlocking business.
RPS Feature Pointy chat
With only a few days until release, we asked some of the questions raised by beta experiences in Warlock: Master of the Arcane, and also found out how much of an influence Master of Magic really was and why. Plans for multiplayer are discussed, as is the reasoning for avoiding tactical battle screens and sticking to the strategic map.
On the cold floor, a summoning circle has been drawn and, around it, several Paradox employees sway, their forms disguised by wizard’s robes. A susurration builds to a roar, like the scratching of the pebbles at Dover Beach, the air trembles, twisting into new intangible forms, and then a demo version of Warlock: Master of the Arcane appears. Unnatural, I know, but it’s just the way things are done in that neck of the woods. Bet you didn’t know that Crusader Kings II was actually built by a blacksmith, hammering away in his forge? Fact. The Warlock demo can be found on Steam and it includes the tutorial, a preset map, two enemy mages and one to play as. The full game allows customisation of both mages and maps. My thoughts on the beta are here and we’ll have more on the game as the May 8th launch approaches.
RPS Feature Come on, Fido. War keys!
When I was a much younger person, I rarely stopped playing Enemy Unknown and Jagged Alliance. If I did put them to one side, it was usually because I was playing Master of Magic instead. There were other games, of course, but in terms of the amount of time devoted to them, those three were probably the dominant forces for at least a few years. UFO and Jagged Alliance are both receiving new versions this year and, lo and behold, Warlock: Master of the Arcane is the best attempt to emulate Master of Magic’s best features as anything I’ve played in the sixteen years since I bought it. It’s more than a clone though, with plenty to say for itself.
Yesterday we were being a little conspiracy-ist theory about what 1C: Ino-Co were working on alongside Majesty. We suddenly realised we may have been missing something – 1C are publishing the forthcoming King’s Bounty: The Legend, a reboot of the proto-Heroes of Might and Magic game. Except it’s not it – the developers aren’t 1C: Ino-Co, but rather Katauri Interactive, which is basically what The Space Rangers 2 team did next. And, to be honest, coming from the Space Rangers 2 team is I need to get a bit excited about something – but that it’s just received the press award from the recent Russian KRI show is another promising sign.
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