Publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer Amplitude Studios are set to enter the 4X realm once again, only this time, they plan to enter the realm of fantasy. Having evidently been in the works behind the scenes for some time now, Endless Legend, a newly announced upcoming fantasy 4X game, is said to be Amplitude’s “largest scale project to date”, according to Iceberg.
Amplitude Studios, developers of the space 4X strategy game Endless Space and its expansion, Endless Space Disharmony, are clearly excited about this project based on CEO Mathieu Girard’s comment that “With respect towards great games released before us, we intend to set a new benchmark in creating a rich, immersive, thrilling, and accessible 4X strategy game in a new fantasy setting”. Endless Legend is currently planned as a Spring 2014 release for both PC and Mac.
Key features include:
- Explore legendary lands with one of the eight civilizations available both in single and multiplayer, as you adventure through seasons, striving to discover the secrets of Auriga.
- Expand beyond the unknown and send your heroes in every corner of the world to find mysterious artifacts to equip your troops, and assimilate powerful minor factions which will help you overwhelm your opponents.
- Exploit every opportunity by researching new technologies and magical powers while collecting Dust, luxuries and strategic resources tradable on the marketplace.
- Exterminate fools who defy you with a genuine combat system where terrain and your unit abilities are key to take the advantage over the enemy armies.
Little more is known right now about this upcoming title, but I’m sure we will be hearing more about it as we get closer to release. We know it is going to be set in the ‘Endless’ Universe, but what we don’t know yet is exactly what that means. Dust is mentioned as a collectible resource, and it is probably safe to say some of the other resources seen in Endless Space will be making an appearance here as well. I also see a governor slot, which could indicate we will see a return of heroes as governors. I’d personally love to see some build queue automation similar to what they had in Endless Space as well.
Curiously, on the battle screen I noticed the button says “Launch” and that the description reads “Battle Setup”. Given what we’ve seen in Endless Space, one could speculate on whether or not we will see a more hands off approach to combat here as well. Hmm, hopefully we will know more specifics soon.
The realm of fantasy 4X strategy games had suffered a period of relative quiet, but recently has undergone a clear revival. If you’re a fan of the genre like I am, it is looking more and more like 2014 is going to be a very interesting and exciting year.
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first impression is a re-skin not good
I like the art design.Not the usual generic crap.
I like this. I might buy it. I need proof that the diplomacy is better than Endless Space, though. I can’t stand how sterile it feels in ES.
I hope the combat is not the same from Endless Space, it was bad enough to copy+paste into another game :/
I can’t foresee them possibly trying to use the same system in their fantasy title as a space one. The differences are pretty vast between the types of combat. In Endless Space, we essentially see battleships in space firing broadsides at one another. Here we have a tactical map where positioning and terrain and abilities are going to be a factor, based on the features they provided, anyway.
Also important to note that I’m only taking an educated guess in regards to the combat system. My guess is that it could use a relatively hands off combat approach, and that is based purely on the screenshots and prior history.
With all the other competition in this genre, I can see them considering taking some risks and mixing things up a bit. Whether it will pay off or not is hard to say yet. I’m certainly interested to find out more about the game at this point.
the art style looks good, let’s see
btw
AOW2 looks and plays fantastic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgke9Bcy_vU
and Worlds of Magic Alpha trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=magRrO535gY
looks good, fantasy 4 x game I’ve pledged for on kickstarter by the Polish developers Wastelands
I saw those videos over the past couple of days. AoW3 is looking really good so far. The Worlds of Magic trailer was a bit short, but it looked like they were making good progress.
I’m excited about the fantasy 4x games currently in the works.
yep, in the short time, the kickstarter ended in February, if I remember correctly, they have made great progress. I’m pretty optimistic about those guys.
I wonder how far the other kickstarter project, MORE, by a Polish team too, may have gone. I haven’t heard anything from them for a long time.
Vast majority of praise for Amplitude’s game can be summed up as “It looks good” while critiques range from shallow gameplay, dumb AI to boringly generic.
So, if you like shiny things, go ahead and try it out. After getting burnt from Endless Space I am staying waaaaay clear of anything from that studio until the reviews.
That’s a safe bet. I certainly have issues with Endless Space as well. Especially with Disharmony, which is the latest example of their work.
With Endless Legend, I feel like they have a chance to correct some of those mistakes while still maintaining the parts of their prior games that really shined. I want to believe in them, but time will tell. If you didn’t like Endless Space, taking a wait and see attitude with Endless Legend is a wise decision
I personally loved Endless Space, but Disharmony was such a huge mis-step, and the devs keeps punishing the players with stuff in patches to prevent “exploits” (like originally forcing players to only use the latest ship components to prevent what it saw as bad behavior, or limiting custom factions to the point where you basically couldn’t use them anymore) that they have lost all goodwill they formerly had from me. Before Disharmony, I would have bought anything they made without hesitation. Now I want nothing further to do with them. Even if the game turns out good, this whole fix problems by removing player options attitude prevents me from giving them any more of my money.
“…a new benchmark…”
Just do a game with a coherent AI that will suffice.
I wonder what benchmark that will be:
“how many failing competitors does it take to be cheered on as the saviors of a genre despite your product being mediocre at best”?
Because let’s be honest here.. would it not be for the failures of sots2 and the likes, Endless space would have just gone down in history as another generic attempt at making a 4X space strategy game that had limited success.
Who knows.. if the new age of wonders game fails like SOTS did, endless legend might actually be in a similarly good position as endless space was, to win the “best game of the genre in XXXX” race by default.
Haha, you completely nailed it. I also see it as a race to the bottom, where pretty pictures and interface take over the game system(s). That would be complementary to a game system…
One other problem w/ 4X is the lack of long haul support, and I don’t talk about adding some DLC but fix, update and expand the game system as a whole. Maybe the dev-release-‘nflush way is OK for other genres but 4X and any other strategy games need a continuous development over many years after their release.
But that logic isn’t compatible with the mainstream and indie industries and it’s apparently better to try to create the “next revolution in gaming” or a pedantic benchmark that will win, as you said, by a sort of Pyrrhic victory.
Marketing…marketing…
Is this a real story?..the Endless space devs havnt mentioned this on that site at all.. but they have talked about a roguelike.
I don’t feel that this game is likely to be able to compete with other 4X games set in the fantasy universe like Warlock or Legendery Heroes. Perhaps they are biting a bigger bite then they can chew.
Age of Wonders 3 or Endless-what? I think the answer is obvious.
Yep. Both! *grin*
*laugh*
Was just released as Early Access on Steam! Definitely going to get this.