Tag Archives: Master of Magic

Endless Legend 2 & the Tidefall mechanic, 9/24/26

Posted on by Henry

Endless Legend 2 is out.

I’m shocked to realize that I haven’t written anything about the Endless games here. I planned to connect my thoughts today to what I’d previously written about Amplitude’s games, only to discover that there was nothing to connect to. I haven’t ever mentioned Amplitude Studios, let alone their interconnected series of Endless games.

It’s time to rectify that. I’m a huge fan of Amplitude’s work.

I freely admit that Amplitude doesn’t always hit home runs. I admire, however, that they consistently take big swings. They also (to my eyes) create some of the prettiest games, offer incredibly informative and accessible and layered UI, and with their Endless games weave all that into a single sci-fantasy setting that neatly legitimizes many of a 4X game’s mechanical abstractions.

Dust is narratively superior to a classic 4X’s generic abstracted “gold.” I will fight you over this.

I haven’t yet played enough of Endless Legend 2 to give you a thorough review. I’ve struggled to find time for a new 4X while juggling childcare. That’s especially true when my laptop can’t run the game and my desktop is in the baby’s bedroom. I played some of the early access versions, but only in bits and pieces. My knowledge is thus both partial and out of date. 

I have however played enough of EL2 and other turn-based 4X games to understand the promise EL2 offers. Amplitude Studios is trying another big experiment. Regardless of how it turns out, I think they’ve once again already improved the genre.

It all comes down to Tidefall.

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Dominions 6: Same Great Taste, More Accessible

Posted on by Henry
Don’t play it for the graphics

I love fantasy strategy games. I’ve played piles of them. That includes most of the Age of Wonders series, Master of Magic (the original and the new version), Warlock, Fallen Enchantress, Heroes of Might and Magic 1 through 5, and more. But Dominions outshines those games in multiple ways.

If you’re already someone who plays the Dominions games, you’ll have heard about Dominions 6 and you’ll (probably) already have it—or you’re waiting for the right moment to buy it. I’m more interested in those of you who haven’t played Dominions.

The last time I wrote at length about a Dominions game was a decade ago (damn), for Dominions 3. I said around then that I feared falling into the game, feared losing myself in its intricacies. That fear was appropriate. But I also wrote about the lure of a game that offered such stories—can my demon monkey kingdom raise enough hordes of undead and bleed the land dry fast enough to destroy the other would-be godly tyrants?—and I was right about that too. Dominions 6 isn’t accessible in the same way that I’d want if I were introducing novices to strategy games, but if you’re willing to dig into this game it will scratch itches that other games could never satisfy.

Check out a game that will let you turn your warriors’ skin to tree bark, throw fireballs, hunt the minds of enemy mages, accelerate time so that the whole world withers and dies, and steal the sun.

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Dominions 3’s Manual Seduces, Conquers All

Posted on by Henry

I sure did say a lot of mean things about Dominions 3 when I wrote about it last time.  I finished on a positive note, to be sure, but if you didn’t read that last bit it might have looked like very mild hate mail rather than an admission of my affections.  I won’t take those comments back (I still think they’re true, confirmed through further play), but I do have a few other thoughts to add.  First of all, giving me a copy of this game for Christmas is both wonderful and somewhat mean.  Secondly, I’m (not so) secretly in love with the game’s manual.  Third… well, my third thought is that the game is far more captivating than I had realized that it would be from my time as a spectator.

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Dominions 3, God of Time-Consumption, Awaits You

Posted on by Henry

Remember how I mentioned that I would tell you about Dominions 3?  Today is your lucky day.  First off, here is what I said last time:

Dominions 3 looks like someone fell in love with Master of Magic and then decided that it wasn’t nearly complex enough.  And that it needed more gods, wars, and magic.  At a glance, it looks like something that will most appeal to a certain core of strategy lovers, but the concept is absolutely wonderful regardless of your interest in the genre.  You play a god rushing to fill the gap left by the disappearance / death of The Old God, and you must expand to outdo all the other pretenders and secure your own position.  It has territory based command and control, resource management, spell research, a military focus, and more numbers than you can shake a stick at.  Several of my friends are very excited about it, and I’ll let you know more when I’ve played it for a bit.  If it is more accessible than I anticipate, I will do my best to proselytize and spread the good word of the new god, Dominions 3.

That sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it.

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A Brief Digest

Posted on by Henry

Did you notice how I mentioned that I was reading Hide Me Among The Graves several weeks past, but haven’t yet posted any review of it?  Well, I can explain.  And I have a few other points of interest for you today, with tidbits on Agents of Shield and Dominions 3.

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