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Classic fantasy fare in an innovative design

This is the game review. Here you can find the music review of
SpellForce: The Order of Dawn.

Disclaimer: This is the text I wrote for the article about Spellforce in the video game format “WohnGameinschaft”. I have rewritten it slightly, which is why the wording is not identical to the video. You can find a link below the post. I hope you enjoy it!

It's been 15 years since Spellforce: The Order of Dawn was released. The game from German developer Phenomic Game Development was a real role-playing gem. It featured relatively good graphics and a fantastic fantasy world combined with an innovative mix of real-time strategy and role-playing. All this made Spellforce stand out from the sea of videogames. The game itself, however, starts in a fairly classic way: first, we create a character and can choose our gender, appearance and name. Finally, we pick a class and specialization - but more on that later. After quickly watching the intro and understanding nothing, we are in the world of Eo.

But you can't start straight away. After all, the game is a bit older and comes from a time when you still had to read 40-page manuals to get the hang of things. Spellforce takes you by the hand and sends you through an almost half-hour tutorial. Of course, it also explains things like left and right mouse clicks - exciting! So, I know how to turn the camera ... can we move on now? A few things are actually quite important. For example, that the glowing boulders act as fast travel points, saving you a lot of walking. Or that you have to record spells manually in your spellbook. In general, there are many little things that make Spellforce special - and sometimes especially complicated.

While we're on the subject of complexity, let's move on to the story. It's expansive and confusing like is befitting a role-playing game. I'll try a quick run-through: Gods rule the world of Eo, evil mages want to seize power. There is a war, the world is torn apart - the individual areas are only connected by portals. Because the mages are evil meanies, they have created runes. The souls of warriors were imprisoned in them and forced to obey their master without will. And as long as the rune exists, the rune warrior can be resurrected at the altar after his death. Why is this important? Because you are one yourself! What sounds like an exciting plot device is defused in the first second. Right at the start of the game, a stranger hands you your rune and you are now your own master - congratulations! “Great, now I can do whatever I want!” Fiddlesticks friend! The maps are super linear, with the exception of the occasional backtracking. Basically, you are pushed from island to island because there is person X or people Y are doing evil. 

However, this is not really a problem, as the individual maps are quite large and varied. Many side quests invite you to explore, even if the rewards are rarely really useful. Experience gained is invested in various skills. And this is where freedom really comes into play. Because the class you choose at the beginning can be expanded at any time. For example, an archer can become a summoner with a crossbow. Or you can build yourself a healing berserker with a two-handed axe. Or would you prefer a rogue with ice magic? Theoretically, you can even put a point into each specialization - and anyone who knows role-playing games knows that would be a rarely stupid idea. *The author of this article may have had to abandon Neverwinter Nights 2 after 140 hours for similar reasons - but that's just as an aside.* In this way, the skill system is motivating and invites you to experiment.

Unfortunately, the classes are not really balanced among themselves. While a fully buffed warrior can beat up several enemies at the same time, a ranged fighter turns into shish kebab as soon as an enemy gets close to him. Another example with a little more explanation: White mages can dismember the undead with their holy auras almost in passing. Black mages have life drain for this - but unfortunately it doesn't work on the bony guys. Yes, but the holy damage only works on undead and demons! That's true, but the white mage can still use healing spells. This makes some maps difficult and even unfair for certain classes, while others have no problems at all.

Fortunately, you are rarely alone in a role-playing game - even if you would like to be (looking at you Fallout). In addition to weapons and armor, you will also find runes again and again. Remember them? The things that enslave people's souls? Exactly those. You can use them to command your own group of rune warriors. It should be obvious that this is morally questionable. Unfortunately, Spellforce never addresses this interesting theorem. And a bond with your companions never arises. If you find a rune, you can add it to your party. Once the party is full, you have to replace a member. Only the rune's levels count here. Because the only one who gains experience is you. The companions remain at their level. And at some point, the measly level 6 mage has to make way for the level 10 warrior.

The consequence: as free as you are when creating your character, you are limited when it comes to the group. If you want to have a priest at your own level, you have to look for the right rune or buy it from a merchant for a lot of money. Four levels later, the process repeats. This means, however, that you're all the more happy when you find a particularly powerful rune.

Let's move on to the base building mechanics. Spellforce Spellforce is not a classic role-playing game, but also a genuine strategy game. In the course of the story, you control each of the six races, all of which come from the fantasy-ABC: Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls and dark elves. They all have different tactics and require different resources. The nature-loving elves prefer to build with wood, while the dark elves prefer stone. And while the humans collect aria water for magical units, the dwarves mine for moon silver for their warriors. As is usual in the fantasy cosmos, the factions do not always see eye to eye. The game is consistent in this respect: if you are not careful, you will witness how your own troll army crushes the human troops. Overall, the strategy part remains relatively shallow. If you have a good mix of units on the field, you will rarely be in trouble.

What is annoying, however, is the AI - both for the opponent and for your own troops. It often seems almost non-existent. While your own troops like to run into the enemy camp without being told, this is the only tactic your opponent uses when attacking your base too. If you build a wall of towers, you're set for the time being - excitement isn't quite the same. Especially because your opponent doesn't need any resources, but spawns units at regular intervals. But because your own resources are finite, you can't afford to make many mistakes. The result is base building, which is often frustrating and which at times we wished was missing. Or at least be a little more exciting.

But those who criticize a lot must also praise a lot. And despite all these points of criticism, Spellforce is still fun. This is due to the side quests and small stories that the game cleverly integrates into its gameplay. The collecting craze that makes you want to find all the chests and interaction points on the maps. It is the complete package that characterizes Spellforce : The good German voiceover, the fantastic soundtrack and the “just-one-more-map” feeling make the game an insider tip that really shouldn't be one.