Review: Warlock: Master of the Arcane (PC)

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A fantasy-themed 4X game from Paradox Interactive? Sounds like exactly the sort of life-draining experience that only Bane Williams could enjoy. Read on for all the details.

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[Ashigaru]

Definitely intrigued by this. Although with gods and kings around the corner, my interest in Civ V is coming back in a big way...

[Marius]

Yeah I don't know. 4x games always seem to play the same to me. What does this do to differentiate it from civ, apart from spells instead of guns or whatever?

[Markavian]

Playing this reminds me of MoM, in fact I think I'll go play that instead. Cheers

[Ytnim]

It's much faster paced, especially from Civ 5.

Example, you get a few starting units and you're pretty much fighting something in turn 2 or 3 maybe, as opposed to Civ where you spend 10 turns making a warrior and then another 4 to find something to attack. Build times for things are on average much quicker, at least in the early game where often not much happens.

That's the biggest change in regard to opening the gap to people who perhaps traditionally don't like the types of games, almost always something is happening, at least to me. There are other changes as well, like buildings actually going on hexes around your city, which makes your cities seem much more sprawling across the map than just a pinpoint on a single hex.

[Bane Williams]

Yeah I don't know. 4x games always seem to play the same to me. What does this do to differentiate it from civ, apart from spells instead of guns or whatever?

I know you said 'apart from spells' but spells are actually one of the more interesting features. I didn't go into it too indepth, but there is a lot of strategy based around them. Can't capture that city this turn, but have dropped it to the point you just need a unit? summon some imps to take it over. Having difficulty meleeing that pesky dragon, give your unit the power of flight and watch that dragon **** his pants and flee. etc etc

Like has been said, the game is face paced, yet I still managed to make my larger games go for over 200 turns with no real drama. I think the good thing about this game is that there is a lot of strategy, but unlike civ, that strategy almost entirely revolves around decimating your opponents, which I'm quite the fan of.

[Cyrinno]

Yeah I don't know. 4x games always seem to play the same to me. What does this do to differentiate it from civ, apart from spells instead of guns or whatever?

This seems to happen to every genre though.

I will admit there hasn't been a 4x game I've considered great for a long time. They are good and or passable at best. Probably because the budget just isn't there for alot of them.

[nit3hunt3r]

How does this compare with Moo1/2? I've always been on the lookout for something along those lines, but haven't spied any...

[Cyrinno]

http://endless-space.amplitude-studios.com/

I saw this on steam the other day suppose to be a 4x space game.

The Warlock one looks more like a Age of Wonders/Warlords type game.

[Wokeye27]

Looks good - I'll be having a look at this to compare to the current fantasy TBS crop - particularly Dominions 3 (Illwinter games, awesome multiplayer) and the Beta Elemental: Fallen Enchantress (Stardock, single player).

[Spectral]

Fun game, huge shame its not multiplayer.