Endless Legend is turn-based 4X fantasy strategy game, developed by Amplitude, in which you're in the role of a kingdom ruler who is on his quest to recover the might of his realm.
The first thing
that impressed me was the map - it is extremely varied. In your wanderings you
will find hills, snow-capped mountains, rivers, endless deserts and vast seas.
Also there are all
sorts of rare places of power, resources, plants and stone circles on which if
you build the right structures they will increase your production.
But Endless Legend
will give you not only various biomes but also big variance of races. There are eight starting ones and fifteen additional which you can assimilate for all kind of
bonuses including unique units. Each of the starting races have unique trait
that make the play with it strictly different than with the others. Few examples
of the traits are no need of food, mobile cities and teleportation between
towns. Also each race will offer you part of its story.
About
the gameplay
Endless Legend
starts as many other 4X games - in the start you will build you first city.
This is your first choice, hard choice, dependent on the resources in the area
and your chosen race.
After that follows
another classic move - eXplore. The map in Endless Legend is divided in
regions, each with its own borders, which you will have to mind when doing
quests, starting wars, chasing enemies, exchanging items and upgrading units.
In your wanders through
the lands of Auriga you will also find many races that will become your friends, allies
or enemies, depending on your actions toward them. The neutral ones you can
make part of your empire either by force or doing them favours (quests). You
will always keep your eyes open for neutral towns as they will give you race
specific bonuses and unique units.
Other things to
keep your eyes open for are the Temples/Ruins and also the veins of rare
resources. In the first you will find resources, items, fights and quests while
the second will help you get the upper hand in your conflicts with the other
lords.
Of course this is
still a 4X game and in your wanders you should not forget your cities
(something that I did too often) and develop them too. As in many other games
from this genre the researches are presented in...research spheres where you
will find all kind of economic, military and diplomatic skills and
technologies. The really nice thing about the researches in Endless Legend is
that they almost don't limit you. You can go full military or economic and
there is nothing that will stop you. The only limitation is that you need
certain number of technologies from one era to advance to the next, but you
don't need certain technologies.
EXplore,
EXpand, EXploit...EXterminate?
All of you who are
following this blog for some time now know that I'm huge fan of turn-based
games and the battle is one of their aspects that I really enjoy. And as any 4X
game Endless Legend also have its own battle system.
Sadly it is a bit
lacking.
When you engage in
combat small field around the place of engagement is circled. This is your
battlefield. If there are other nearby armies belonging to any of the two sides, they will also join the fight (in similar way to Age of Wonders)
But unlike other
turn based games here you have only six turns to win. If you don't manage to do
it the two sides disengage and the battle ends without winner. On your next turn
you can attack again.
Battles also have auto-battle, spectator mode and instant result. I must say that I used the instant result almost all the time as battles left in me strong sense of disatisfaction with their lack of strategy and variety.
But on the other
side here you also have heroes that lead your armies, giving them all kind of
bonuses and can equip items. And here not only the heroes can have items, but
also the units. The really cool part is that you can change the purpose of the
unit totally when you change their sword with a bow or spear.
Conclusion
Endless Legend
brings true enjoyment for all fans of the genre. It has beautiful visuals and
sound, unique races and polished mechanics.
And in my praising
I will get even further and will say that I see Endless Legend as better game
than Beyond Earth. Mainly because of the greatly varied races and simple but
interesting and limitless research circles. Also the game has well made,
living, breathing world.
But unlike its
name Endless Legend don't tell you much about its residents and lacks any form
of campaign. Truly at the start of every mission, depending on your starting
race you will hear short story and while playing you will have main quest
giving you bit of story. But that's it.
Also the whole
game feels really slow - movement, development and battles. Not to
mentions that the AI is trully random, sometimes will be very aggressive,
sometimes defensive and other time will run with tail between his legs. And
this have nothing to do with the race it is playing.
And because I
mentioned the battles.
Endless Legend
gives you good economic and technological variance, but totally lacks epic,
tactical battles and soon you find yourselves choosing the instant result a lot
more often than commanding the battles personally. Here eXterminate is just a
necessity that is brought to its minimum. The game rely a lot more on
eXpanding, eXploiting and growing in economic power.
But despite all
those downsides, the game with its vibrant world is still very enjoyable to
play and I see it having the potential to reach games like Age of Wonders and
Warlock therefore I advise you to try it.
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