Almost three years ago, Stardock released their first turn-based fantasy 4X strategy game ever, Elemental: War of Magic. Apparently, Stardock’s original intention was to purchase the rights to Master of Magic (Steve Barcia’s classic fantasy 4X game) from Atari, but ended up creating their own universe. Unfortunately, things didn’t go too well, to say the least, and Elemental: War of Magic ended up receiving poor review scores from both fans and critics.
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress was Stardock’s, and Brad Wardell’s (Stardock’s CEO), attempt to fix Elemental’s false start. Brad hired Derek Paxton, creator of the Civilization IV Fall from Heaven mod, as lead designer. The result, in Keith’s opinion, was “an enjoyable 4X fantasy game“, one that Keith says “has successfully redeemed [Stardock] for their past failures”. Stardock offered Fallen Enchantress to everyone who purchased Elemental: War of Magic back then. And, will also offer them the second expansion, Legendary Heroes, by the way.
Legendary Heroes is a standalone expansion to Fallen Enchantress which should include all of Fallen Enchantress’ content and, according to the official site, improves on that with the following major new features:
- Two New Factions: The Objectivist Capitarians and the Industrious Urxen have been added;
- Gain champions through fame: Champions are no longer randomly found; they seek you according to your fame;
- New leveling system: Your sovereign and champions now evolve through a skill tree which allows you to pre-plan your hero;
- New tactical battle maps: Battles now have far more special skills available and initiative is more important. There’s also new combat mechanics to increase strategic options;
- New monsters: Liches and their skeletal minions, banshees and the dreaded Garagoxi;
- More magic: New spells like “Wall of Fire” and “Raise Horde” add new options to battle;
- New Quests, Items, and Equipment;
- Larger maps: A new gigantic sized map;
- Updated Graphics Engine: New visuals while improving performance on older machines.
- Update User Interface.
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes was in beta for the last two months. Today, it was officially released and is now available for purchase on GamersGate, Steam, Stardock and GameStop as digital download for the price of $39,99/€29.99. It should also be available on box form through Kalypso Media somewhere in Q3 2013. The game requires Steam to play wherever you buy it.
Note that owners of Fallen Enchantress should be able to upgrade for $19,99. Folks who purchased Elemental: War of Magic from Stardock prior to November 2010 should receive a free copy of this expansion. Check here to see if you’re eligible. A review will follow as time allows.
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These days will be wonderful for strategy fans… this, then soon the Distant Worlds… time to say good-bye to my family :D
Best fantasy 4X game of all time. Not even hyperbole. It may still have a couple rough edges, but it’s the most complete, and most importantly, FUN fantasy 4X since the first couple HOMM games, if you consider them to be 4X-ish. Better than Master of Magic and I loved the shit out of that game.
Stardock has completely redeemed themselves.
I gave it a spin and wow! its better than before though not yet totally noticeable by me since I think I tried the game while on beta so I am a bit spoiled about what to expect and probably the only thing the patch did was for bug fixes and stuff or I don’t know.
Anyway on an unrelated matter: Steam got Sins Rebellion on their midweek madness and I am not sure if its to celebrate the release of Legendary Heroes or in preparation for the said expansion on the 5th of June was it?
Lastly to anyone who got the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, I will greatly appreciate it if you could PM me on the forums or tell me how it is. I am saving my money for DW shadows since I had Legendary heroes pre-ordered a month back but that Van Helsing ARPG looks tempting.
I’ve only clocked about 1.5 hours of Van Helsing, but so far like it a lot. It’s a perfect recapture of Diablo I atmosphere and spirit. Story is coherent, talking is meaningful, it’s not pure loot farming. It’s less polished then Torchlight 2 though:
armor is not rendered on the hero, hero is a static model. Graphics engine is not optimized – graphics is overly detailed. While it help in creating atmosphere it overburden videocard. On my laptop GF GTX 670M game run smoothly only on low details – anything higher is noticeably choppy. But general impression is very positive, it’s totally worth 13$
PS “recommended” Nvidia 275 GTX is just laughable. More real requirement is 590 or 690 GTX SLI for high details and physics(game use PhysX and have native SLI/Crossfire support)
Thanks! I was expecting something like Torchlight 2 and games like Diablo 2 and Torchlight 2 are more up to my alley than more story/RPG focused ARPGs. I guess I will hold my money for Distant Worlds: Shadows tomorrow then and enjoy Fallen enchantress for now.
It’s not exactly story focused, no more than Diablo I, well, may be a little bit more but not much. And the game is great. BTW I’ve found solution for performance issue – there was obscure option buried in video settings (CPU GPU synch), now game run smooth as silk on maximum quality settings.
“The game requires Steam to play wherever you buy it.”
Thanks for mentioning this (in a world where most game reviewers seem to think DRM a non-issue). I used to support Stardock quite heavily back in the days when they did DRM-free, but stopped with their shenanigans over GalCiv2 (“It’s DRM-FREE!! Aren’t we great? Oh, you want to patch it? Well then you need to activate…”). Going the Steam-exclusive route means I can forget about this and support a better publisher instead.
A bit disappointed by this since Gal Civ 2 despite being purchased from steam would let you download a DRM free one on your stardock account along with vanilla FE. But steam is not too bad though in my experience but I guess it depends on which games you are playing.
Towerbooks3192: “A bit disappointed by this since Gal Civ 2 despite being purchased from steam would let you download a DRM free one on your stardock account”
The Collector’s Edition of GalCiv2 (which came in a rather nice steelbox) required no account and no activation, but any subsequent patches to it did. Stardock’s own account system implemented activation back in 2005 http://www.stardock.com/StardockActivationInfo.asp and as far as I know still requires it. Less draconian than Steam’s “activate-every-time-you-play” but still unacceptable for those who value longevity and the ability to enjoy their purchases after the publisher has moved on, or closed down.
DevildogFF: “I don’t quite understand your stance and honestly, it’s your loss. It’s a fantastic game…”
Went into some detail back in https://www.spacesector.com/blog/2012/10/xcom-enemy-unknown-review/comment-page-1/#comment-279953 – not really worth repeating here aside from saying that there are plenty of *other* fantastic games that don’t attempt to restrict where or when you play. And a good game is one you’ll want to revisit 10-20 years down the road – most of the current online DRM systems are unlikely to be around that long.
I think I get your point. Hypothetically you want something like you could play your Diablo 2 from back then until now and enjoy it at your own leisure without DRMs as long as you have the disc but you worry about Diablo 3 since it is online only and therefore once the server is gone you won’t be able to play it, am I right that your stance is something like this?
If so then I have to agree that as much as possible I shop at GOG and yes I support no DRM policy and want the peace of mind that years from now I will have access to my game however when presented with evils, I would choose the least restrictive and invasive ones rather than lets say Uplay or the rumour I heard about origin.
Towerbooks3192: “Hypothetically you want something like you could play your Diablo 2 from back then until now and enjoy it at your own leisure without DRMs as long as you have the disc…”
Pretty much spot on – I still play (and enjoy) 10-20 year old classics like Call to Power and Homeworld.
Towerbooks3192: “…however when presented with evils, I would choose the least restrictive and invasive ones…”
For this viewpoint (which is likely the most common for readers here) might I suggest some DRM-free alternatives, like:
Eador: Genesis from GOG:
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/eador_genesis
Eador: Eador. Masters of the Broken World (once bug-fixed) from GOG:
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/eador_masters_of_the_broken_world
Dominions 3 from Desura:
http://www.desura.com/games/dominions-3-the-awakening
Age of Wonders 1 from GOG:
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/age_of_wonders
Age of Wonders 2 Shadow Magic from GOG:
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/age_of_wonders_shadow_magic
Battle for Wesnoth:
http://wesnoth.org/
Legends of Eisenwald (currently beta):
http://aterdux.com/projects/legends-of-eisenwald/
Heroes of Might and Magic series from GOG:
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_edition
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic_4_complete
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic_5_bundle
This isn’t an exhaustive list (feel free to suggest others!) and some are several years old, but all have great (re)playability. Anyone who has missed one of these has a good option to Stardock’s offering, until they release on GOG (GalCiv 1 is available at http://www.gog.com/gamecard/galactic_civilizations_i_ultimate_edition so it seems likely other games will follow).
Got all except eisenwald. Steam is no reason to miss an expansion to a great game though. Love your suggestions.
Or I could play it on Steam. I understand that’s absolute sacrilege to some people, but I actually prefer Steam to GoG. GoG is better in theory, since it’s DRM-free, but, in practice, Steam is always easier for me. But whatever, to each their own. Happy gaming….
I don’t quite understand your stance and honestly, it’s your loss. It’s a fantastic game…
Not many game companies man up to their mistakes and do right by the buyers like Stardock has tried to do. The game is vastly improved, fun and still a work in progress – but I mean that as a compliment since this is one company that is very open to customer input and suggestions. I really look forward to some existing mods being made compatible with LH.
I guess the third time is the charm.
Better late than never, I suppose.
FE:Legendary heroes is bait and switch theft from consumers who bought FE with the expectation of a full game not a beta for yet another product..Stardock pulled this “facade” expansion business with Galciv2 as well. I’m not touching another one of their products until 6 month after official release.
Fallen Enchantress is a pretty fun game with butt ugly graphics and lots of UI issues. Not “the best fantasy 4x ever” but worth 20$.
Again with the advertising the game before actually playing it Adam?
Again with the angry post before even trying the game, Eno?
Legendary Heroes is by far and a way, the best Fantasy 4x ever. If you play it, I’d dare you to name one game that has done it better.
Bait and switch? Really?
Ya bait and switch..where they say FE is going to be our mulligan for WoM..and then they take all the beta feedback they got for FE and turn it into a new product. Basically they FE people paided to beta a product they need to pay again to use.
FE is a better game than LH…Warlock:MotA is a much better game than either of them, just on visuals alone, not to mention replayability. FE:LH is extremely shallow in replayability – the “random” maps are all very similar and you end up seeing all the quest and whatnot in 1 playthough. HoMM4, with 10 year old graphics, is a much better game and far more visually appealing.
You have not played the game. There’s just no way.
If you think FE is a better game than LH, then I don’t know what you’re complaining about.
Hrmm, you seem to have it as: LH is worse than FE is worse than Warlock
Let me fix that: LH is better than FE is better than Warlock.
Warlock is fine for what it is, but it’s nowhere near as ambitious or interesting as FE. LH is a complete improvement on FE, so that’s not even close.
In any case, you get LH half off if you have FE. It’s basically an expansion pack. Of course, in this day and age, people don’t even remember expansion packs and just complain about everything. “WHY DOESN’T THE DEVELOPER WORK FOR FREE?!”
After having tried the original war of magic, fallen enchantress, and the betas for legendary heroes, i now find miself unable to play this.
Too many unfinished products made me used to the idea of playing a few turns, seeing what’s new, then pressing alt -f4. I’m too used to trying to love the game then finding out the reasons why i yet cannot then putting my interest elswhere.
Stardock made up for stealing my money with war of magic by providing the expansions free, but it’s been three years of testing new versions of their game to find one that actually works. Well guess what, i’m bored of war of magic, i’m bored of fallen enchantress and i’m also bored with legendary heroes, and i never actually got to like any of them.
I do hope whomever buys it gets a different impression and enjoys the game buying and playing it from scratch however.
I won’t ever understand anti-steam. You have a management software package, yes. But it is not only less intrusive than any other drm scheme on the market, but it also does all the heavy lifting- installations, settings, updates, modding- that used to make PC gaming the inaccessible red-headed stepchild second cousin twice removed to the playstation and ps2.
I became totally enamored with steam when I realized I wanted to play HL2 again, but lost ALL the disks, and VIOLA a quick activation of steam later and I was being streamed the full copy and first expansion to boot. By the time WOM game came out, I was mostly disappointed that it was still on impulse and not steam, but i bought it just the same.
Hopefully this standalone expansion will get attached to my steam account…
Now that you mention it, yes I guess I should appreciate steam even more. The fact that I don’t have to pick a destination folder and all that. I only have to clickity click, wait for download and voila! fire up the game. I know in the long run I would prefer GOG’s no DRM but if there is one thing that annoys me is the fact that I have to manually update stuff and it would not update while lets say I would open my PC for a quick browse and there is a mini patch that needs to be done.
yay!
No hassle attachment to my steam account.
I never cared for E:WOM or fallen enchantress (which I received for free by being the early adopter of EWOM). My main problem was that I wanted to adventure around, not research techology like a typical 4x, and as such I always was missing something when it came to competing with the other players.
We’ll see how this update, which I also got for free, goes. I’ve gone through the tutorial, and some things seem better and the game feels more intuitive. We’ll see how a real game goes tonight…
i am wondering where all the good reviews are coming from? people working for the compamy, employees are being forced to post, maybe
dont buy fallen enchantress its bad very bad there is little different in any of the factions research takes way too long your hero is weak and of little use on his own
i bought fallen enchantress 66% off on steam and it was still a bad deal i could have saved 100% by not buying it get endless space and sid miller’s civilization V those are great 4X games
as for fallen enchantress its so bad that warlock is still better
Well, Warlock is bloody good, so that isn’t saying much.
Admittedly, I didn’t really like Fallen Enchantress. It sounds like you’re a little confused, though, because this is about its standalone expansion, Legendary Heroes, which is easily a 90+ game.
Try it before you knock it. It’s WAY better than Warlock.
Warlock is okay, but it’s a small game with little ambition. FE was a big ambitious mess of sorts, but LH is starting to get at that inner potential. Overall, I think the final iteration of FE will be a big game in the genre, while Warlock will waste away as this forgotten little lightweight gem.
definitely looking forward to the review of this one!
I am looking for the review also and only for the review. As long as a singleplayer game requires from me to connect to the Internet to be able to play I am not buying it.
You do realize that Steam has an Offline Mode, right? You only need to be connected to the internet to download and install the game.
@jackswift: “You do realize that Steam has an Offline Mode, right?…”
– which has to be enabled, in advance, for each game you own, according to Valve’s own FAQ at https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555 (so no use if you have an unexpected Internet outage or your Steam account gets vaped).
– which only lasts for a short time (as little as 3 days by some reports) before reconnection is required (so no use if you’re traveling somewhere with limited or no Internet access). Again, detailed in Valve’s FAQ: “Offline Mode allows you to play games through Steam without reconnecting to the Steam Network every time you wish to play”.
– even without the super-restrictive time-limit, it would be no better than SecuROM Online or other online activation systems because the activation key is tied to your hardware. This is a critical part of the DRM (since without it you could just copy activated games to any other PC you wanted) and means that hardware changes (new disk, more RAM, different CPU) require re-activation. Which becomes a problem if your account has been closed or the vendor has shut down (plenty of examples of that with DRMed music/video services).
@jackswift – Thanks I actually did not know that.
@AstralWanderer – Thanks for clarification. If you like strategy card games check out game called Astral Masters ;)
why would i want to buy a expansion to a game i feel was a waste of cash at a discount price ? as for warlock its ok, not so bad i just dont get how any one could think fallen enchantress was even good did you read the review at paper rock shotgun ?
Bought the Fallen Enchantress on Steam special but just couldn’t get into it – love the unit customization (although the upgrading system is too clunky) but the whole world is so static and AI incompetent it feels like I’m just in the world by myself.
Oh, who on the design team thought zero-consequence city spamming is a good game mechanic?!
Good points. Legendary Heroes has fixed some of your issues.
The unit upgrade process is much better now and very easy to do.
Legendary Heroes has introduced an unrest mechanic that gets progressively larger as you expand your empire with more cities. This spreads to all of your cities, so growing too quickly is not recommended unless you can offset this with spells and/or quickly build unrest reducing buildings in these cities.
Unrest impacts the research and production output of your cities.
I am still in the process of reviewing the AI and feel of the world compared to Fallen Enchantress, so no comment on that yet.