Monday, June 06, 2016

Planar Conquest Gameplay Review

I'm playing Planar Conquest, a turn-based fantasy 4X strategy game by Wastelands Interactive.

Given free to owners of Worlds of Magic, the single-player game has several options for new games, including fairly robust sorcerer customization. The interface is improved in several places, but icons for resource locations has been replaced by a terrible surveyor tool, some map features lack tool-tips, and allies confusingly have red icons underneath their units. Early game exploration gives way to founding cities, which collect resources (gold, food, and mana) produced by citizens that are shared within the kingdom. New cities must be defended against powerful roaming neutral armies, which places a constant emphasis on recruiting units. Units with a variety of special skills are available, while heros can be equipped with items. Spell points are used to research new spells, improve mana income, or increase per-turn spell casting. Vague diplomatic options return: AI players will not tell you what it takes for them to accept a proposal. While the AI players are adept at the game, the turn-based combat lacks innovation. While it is slightly improved over Worlds of Magic, Planar Conquest still has several other issues and remains behind other fantasy 4X games.