These factions include the tech-happy walkers, shape-shifting elf analogues the Wild Walkers and the Broken Lords, a nation of paladins and noble warriors who also, perversely, have to consume other creatures' life force to survive. Oh and a race of all-devouring insects called the Necrophage who take on the characteristics of creatures they devour. Obviously I played as those guys. They might be basically taken from familiar fantasy archetypes, but each faction gets a level of visual flair and thematic intrigue that makes them feel unique. In terms of each faction's look, I'd describe the general aesthetic as something similar to the Asgardian segments in the recent Thor movies- there's swords and armour and that good stuff, but it's mixed in with more futuristic elements, including guns and advanced armour when you've hit the top of the tech tree.
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| When winter rolls in armies find their movement severely slowed, and food stocks are affected |
Scattered around the world map are resources, ruins and villages, alongside the cities of opposing players. Exploring ruins is, like in Civilisation, something of a gamble. You might find a tribe of aggressive ogres with dubious personal hygiene, or you might find a rare resource node. Rooting through the wreckage of the planet's broken past is satisfying yet dangerous, and completely fitting with the theme of a world trapped in a cycle of destruction. Special mention should go to the visual style, which recalls the model village style of the intro to the Game of Thrones TV show, with sharp, angular terrain and land features angling up from the hex grid as you discover them. It's lovely to look at, especially when the lands is covered by snow and the harsh winds of winter start sweeping across the land.
Neighbouring villages are less random than ruins. There are several different sub-factions in the game, and defeating their village, or forging an alliance, allows you to absorb them into your empire. That means you can start adding their units to your army. As the Necrophages, I swiftly discovered you can't ally with anyone, even other factions, and must remain in a constant state of war. Each civilisation has its own foibles that affect the way you plan your domination, some less dramatic than others.
Get in a scrap and you'll switch over to the tactical map. Your army stack spreads out into adjacent hexes, not unlike the battles in Civilisation V. You get the chance to set up before the battle, closing off choke points and so on, and then you're off. First the game rolls initiative for each unit, with lumbering heavy hitters typically going last and agile units getting the first hit in. This happens for each round of combat, with the round ending after each unit has had a move. Each round of combat, separate from turns in the world map, lets you choose a target to attack with each of your units, or a position to move to. Then you click play and watch the fight unfold.
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| Personally I found the GUI nice to look at, but cluttered and a little frustrating |
All in all combat's not particularly tactical due to the computer doing most of the work, but you do at least feel like you're affecting the battle in a small way by manoeuvring your army around the hex map, choosing areas to defend and block off and so on. Both your army leader heroes and regular troops can be upgraded and given new weapons as you advance your tech, which provide certain bonuses depending on where you're fighting. Certain armies are better in particular zones; it won't surprise you to learn that the elf-like Wild Walkers love fighting in forests, for example.
Periodically you'll get a quest sending you to explore a particular area or carry out a task in return for a reward. Some quests might give you a few gold, but some of the more difficult or lengthy ones can net you cool stuff like some rare units or new, equipabble gear for your hero. These quests are actually pretty common and do a good job of prodding you out of your comfort zone and into the wilderness to explore. Turtling is generally a poor idea, as unique resources seemed spread out and rare, leading to several furious scraps for needed items.
Of course you could always negotiate for the goods you need. Marketplace trading is a big part of Endless Legend, and the game even has one faction, the Roving Clans, not currently available in the beta, that cannot declare war and must instead dominate the world through trade. The other main supporting system is technology, obviously. This allows you to build in several directions, either focusing on war, construction, economy or diplomacy. Different technologies might unlock a trading post for your cities, or new advanced war gear for your troops or hero.
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| Cities will grow over time to cover several hexes |
One issue I had was that the interface, though neat and nice to look at, felt very cluttered and hard to decipher. There's an array of different symbols and sub-menus, none of which have a particularly obvious function upon first glance. Part of the problem was that my copy of the game lacked a tutorial teaching me what everything meant, but even with one the cluttered mass of windows and the sheer amount of stats and text on display would be intimidating. It feels to me like the current interface is designed more to look nice than to provide intuitive control. You can get past it, but it's an unnecessary stumbling block.
Endless Legend certainly looks the part with that striking visual style, but time will tell if it has enough depth to stand out in a pretty crowded genre. Although it handles familiar 4X mechanics very well, so far it doesn't stray too far from genre conventions. Combat is fine, but not particularly engaging, as you often feel like the computer is doing most of the work. I'm not sold on that slightly clunky interface, either, which sacrifices intuition in favour of style. That said, despite those criticisms I still had a lot of fun, and I'm totally sold on the interesting, unique factions and their struggles. Matches are fast-paced and entertaining, and differ wildly depending on which faction you decide to play. Out on Early Access now, there's enough here to suggest that Endless Legend will be a worthy addition to the 4X roster when it launches in full later in 2014.
