Legends of Eisenwald Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Legends of Eisenwald
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Legends of Eisenwald combat

Legends of Eisenwald is a videogame that seeks to capture the attention of fantasy fans and strategy lovers, the kinds of gamers who enjoyed KIing's Bounty or Heroes of Might & Magic, offering them a chance to explore a low fantasy setting and to engage in interestingly designed turn-based combat.

The development team at Aterdux Entertainment has been working on the experience for more than five years, in part with money obtained via crowd-funding, and the title does offer some innovative ideas and a focus on player choice.

Enjoyment of Legends of Eisenwald will depend on whether a gamer quickly gets accustomed and appreciates the way the combat has been tweaked, with units only able to move as long as they commit to an attack during the same turn.

Story

Legends of Eisenwald is a game that takes place in an area that's currently part of Germany in a version of the Middle Ages where most superstitious beliefs turn out to be true and the world of men sometimes involved supernatural creatures and events.

This means that alchemy is real and limited magic is also available but the gamer does not actually include dragons or angels or devils.

Despite the supernatural elements, this is the European Middle Ages at their best, or rather their worst, with most people driven not by a desire to be on the side of good and justice but by their base instincts, mostly the need to secure power and to dominate those around them.

Legends of Eisenwald siege action
Legends of Eisenwald siege action

The player can choose to be a classic Knight, a Mystic or a Baroness and each of the characters slightly changes the elements of the narrative and the way other characters interact with the player.

The story starts with a young heir who needs to deal with the disappearance of his family and the chaos that descends upon the land and quest system is designed around the idea of recruiting allies in order to restore order.

Legends of Eisenwald shows some pretty negative elements of human nature but some of the gravity of the setting is lost because the writing is sometimes unclear and fails to clearly convey the best way for the player to approach each simulation.

Gameplay

Legends of Eisenwald is a combination between role-playing game, adventure and turn-based tactical combat, designed to put the player in charge of an army and some castles as he seeks to defeat his enemies and reach his goals.

The strategic map allows gamers to move among a variety of locations, ranging from castles to villages, churches and marketplaces, which offer units to hire, services like healing and the ability to get more information and more quests to explore.

Wandering armies, some of them friendly and some hostile, are also present and when the player-controlled army meets an opponent, the perspective shifts to a small tactical layer.

Units are arranged in three rows, with melee in front, archers in the second one, and healers and support at the back, and gamers will have to take out most of the enemies in order to force a surrender (rarely do they fight to the end).

In Legends of Eisenwald each unit can take one action during its turn, which means using an ability or a spell or delivering an attack.

Movement is combat in the game, which means that a front line fighter will move to the nearest enemy and try to strike him.

There's no option to just move and wait out a turn and the AI controlled units will use the same system, which, coupled with the high damage of most weapons, results in relatively bloody and fast battles.

Placement is very important in the Legends of Eisenwald combat system, especially for the front line, with highly armored units required in the center and damage dealers on the flanks, but games will not always have the money or the recruiting options to create the perfect armies.

The game also dispenses with siege battles and simply gives the defender of a castle or location a slight advantage by damaging the forces of the attacker before the turn-based mayhem begins.

In role-playing fashion, the player is free to decide the equipment that each of his units carries into battle and he is also able to upgrade them when they gain experience, with the final aim being to put together an efficient fighting force where each unit boost or complements the capabilities of another.

The combat in Legends of Eisenwald might feel a little weird at first, but I have grown to like it, although it has a tendency to be very punishing when the gamer makes a mistake in his positioning, especially against enemies that have well armored and archer heavy forces.

The role-playing elements of the title are not as strong as the battles and there's a feeling that the player is involved mostly in busywork rather than in truly heroics feels, which can be a little disappointing, even if it fits the low-fantasy setting.

Graphics and audio

Legends of Eisenwald is a solid-looking game, similar in many way to King's Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic when it comes to perspective and to style.

On the strategic map, gamers always see the world from an isometric perspective, although they can zoom in close to their characters, and panels open up when they interact with the world buildings while dialog boxes allow them to interact with the characters.

During tactical combat the details for the various units, abilities and powers are somewhat limited but the development team makes it clear that gamers always have the info they need to make an informed decision about the way to deal with the next move.

Legends of Eisenwald manages to evoke a more fantastical take on the Middle Ages, but I wish that the game would support a higher level of zoom, because the included map can be a little confusing, especially when searching for a specific enemy army to take out.

The music of the game is a nice surprise, light yet evocative, a solid for the world that the development team has created for the player to explore.


The Good

  • Low-fantasy world
  • Combat system

The Bad

  • Repetitive battles
  • Core story has limited appeal

Conclusion

Legends of Eisenwald is an engaging and complex video game that might never find the large audience that it deserves, mainly because its themes are a little too remote for most gamers and because it takes time to get used to the combat system on offer.

The world created by Aterdux Entertainment fails to offer a unique hook and to capture the attention of players with the included narratives, although some of the quests are engaging on their own.

The combat system of the game is very different from what the genre normally offers, and there are moments when its bloody results and focus on placement and movement makes it feel revolutionary.

But, even if the title offers extensive customization for units and heroes, it can also quickly become repetitive and there are difficulty spikes that feel unfair.

Legends of Eisenwald will certainly offer tens if not hundreds of hours of fun for those who are willing to understand its world and mechanics, and it will be interesting to see how the team at Aterdux expands the formula of the game in the future.

story 7
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 
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