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.
