14 DAY TRIAL // Divinity: Dragon Commander is a mix between strategy and role playing from Larian Studios, the same company that is working on Original Sin at the moment, a game focused on a global conflict that involves magic, some steampunk hardware and dragons that feature jetpacks.
At first, players will be able to explore the Raven, a huge airship, and its inhabitants, talking to them about the current events, the magic abilities that they can research and the upgrades that they can add for the mighty dragon.
The acting, even in the preview version, was pretty solid and the mix of races and attitudes is interesting even if their uses are unclear to some extent.
Once upgrades are selected, players can take a look at a strategic map representing the game world of Dragon Commander, divided into regions that have armies, buildings and a defensive rating.
From here, a gamer can direct the armies of his own faction in order to counter enemy moves and capture new territory.
Once the moves are plotted, tactical battles take place, only one of which the player can choose to lead using his dragon, with the rest delegated to his subordinates.
The actual real-time strategy engagements in Dragon Commander are fast and fluid, with constantly shifting frontlines and a need to divide one’s attention between leading units around the battlefield and using the power of the dragon to push ahead or enforce the line.
Riding the dragon into battle is pretty awesome at first, but players soon learn that his power is limited and that anti-air guns, which the computer knows to build when needed, can quickly take him out of the fight.
Looking at the potential abilities for the dragon, I suspect that in the long term, the creature will end up more in a support role, helping nearby allied troops.
The preview offers a limited look at Dragon Commander, but the game has a lot of potential for strategy lovers who also like some character development and a lot of options linked to their armies and progress.
Worth a full Softpedia review? Yes.
