Fantasy Wars Demo

The turn-based strategy genre is represented by some pretty legendary games released throughout the years, including classics like King’s Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic. However, there is always room for improvement and many have tried to change the formula here and there, whether by adding certain mechanics, or by simply eliminating some of them in order to make the gameplay cleaner and less demanding on the players.

Fantasy Wars may not try very hard to be original when it comes to the name and the universe it creates for itself, but it does hold a lot of potential in regards to the TBS genre. In essence, the game attempts to introduce a few interesting notions into the mix, such as turn limits and the element of surprise out on the world map, thanks to the nicely implemented fog of war.

Story-wise, everything can probably be extrapolated from the name of the game, since it all revolves around the ceaseless war between four races: humans, orcs, dwarves and elves. Obviously, you get to choose one of these races and make use of their unique units and abilities in order to defeat the other three and crown yourself as the ruler of the realm, at least until you take it from the top with a different race.

As previously mentioned, the game incorporates a slightly weird little mechanic, which practically sets a number of turns for you to accomplish certain objectives. Thus, you are forced to take action and expose yourself to risks in order to win, although this might also cause a few unhappy customers out there, given the fact that the TBS genre is not usually known for having to move quickly and respect deadlines.

On the other hand, the rest of the mechanics are largely the same as in any other classic game of this type, with heroes, artifacts and pretty powerful units that can also gain experience and grow stronger over the missions. The environments are fully three-dimensional and a lot of work went into modeling the landscapes and the units themselves, not to mention the colorful special effects that result from certain spells.

All things considered, Fantasy Wars can be enjoyed for a long time, as long as you do not mind its flaws and you can overlook the mistakes it makes from time to time. Moreover, the strategic aspect is strong and you can certainly improvise in battle in a variety of ways, thanks to the large variety of units and spells available.