Heroes of Might and Magic, King’s Bounty, Disciples – many in the post-Soviet space, hearing these words, fall into a sacred trance. Developers from Belarusian Aterdux Entertainment fell under this magic back in 2004, when they made a strategy similar in genre "Times of Strife". 11 years later they released an ideological sequel – Legends of Eisenwald. True, there are no gnomes, elves or demons here – the main demons are human passions and vices..

In addition to ordinary “units” and mercenaries, so-called followers can also travel with you – they join even if you have reached the limit in the squad.

Mystical realism

Yes, "Legends of Eisenwald" – this is the so-called low fantasy, a fairly plausible medieval world, reminiscent of a mixture of the tales of King Arthur and “A Song of Ice and Fire”. There are glorious (and not so nice) knights on horses in golden armor, there are some damned mills, witches, sorcerers and treacherous dead maidens dragging knights-errant to the bottom of the lake, but the main driving forces in this world are political intrigue, war, struggle for power, lust (sometimes incestuous) and personal gain.

The main character or heroine (at the start you choose between, conditionally, a warrior, an archer and a mystic magician) spends the entire story campaign trying to avenge his murdered family and return the taken lands and at the same time constantly gets involved in internecine conflicts, territorial wars and dirty political games.

Who to support – a knightly order mired in debauchery, or clergymen ready to commit murder and forgery in order to get their favorite lands? Or maybe the newly minted bourgeois and moneylenders, calmly getting rid of those they no longer need? It’s not possible to stand on the sidelines. All the way we do unpleasant things: we kill debtors, send the girl’s entire family to the next world so that she can live with her beloved, we make a deal with a man who is ready to kill his mother, we collaborate with scoundrels in order not to lose a knighthood, and so on.

Choice in "Legends of Eisenwald" there is almost always – the plot here is non-linear, our decisions affect the available quests, the ending, and even what they will talk about in taverns over a glass of beer. There is also the opportunity to play a noble person, ready, for example, to pay a ransom for someone, and not just spit on him. And yet, most often it is a choice between big and small evils.

Old cocktail

In such a non-standard setting, https://casinobetmgm.co.uk/withdrawal/ a standard one unfolds King’s Bounty with elements Disciples 2 – although not without some individual characteristics. We explore the map in a step-by-step mode, complete quests, hire available troops in various buildings (for example, in villages and monasteries), fight and capture castles to receive income from the adjacent settlements, mines and mines.

We fight again in a step-by-step mode, which is a combination of ideas King’s Bounty And Disciples 2. The fighters are clearly placed in positions (“tanks” in front, arrows behind them, then magicians and sorceresses) practically opposite each other, so there is no long movement to take a more advantageous position. If we go, it’s definitely to hit. Or retreat. “Tanks” are engaged in close combat with each other, and, as a rule, they do not allow you to approach an archer or magician, even if the path to him is open.

Not everyone thinks this combat system is logical – some players at the beta test stage asked the authors to fix it. But they did not agree – they say, otherwise the development, which already lasted five years, would have been delayed even longer. One way or another, there are tactics in such battles, albeit quite specific ones. What also gives it a special flavor is the ability to knock an enemy knight off his horse, authentic medieval weapons with various bonuses and penalties, as well as a small number of attack spells from magicians – they mainly provide friendly and moral support.

For victories we receive experience points and transform them into new levels. Moreover, for all “units” – and here again we need to remember about Disciples 2 — there are alternative branches of development, or even three or four. Who will the shy herbalist eventually become – a dark witch or a light sorceress?? Who will the young nobleman turn into – a knight, a paladin or a blade master?? The choice is yours.

The authors are now working on fixing the bug with experience, so after some time and at a normal difficulty level, life will not seem like paradise.

Variable difficulty

You need to capture castles, but you don’t need to develop them: this is an adventure game, not a strategy with a lot of resources. There is only one resource here: gold and silver. And even if you don’t have any income from the lands (enemies have captured your buildings), nothing bad will happen: just mercenaries demanding a regular salary will refuse to fight until the debt is paid off – and, as a rule, there are enough ordinary, disinterested “units”.

In principle, it is not even necessary to defend castles personally and leave guards there. After capturing a fortress, outpost or watchtower, the garrison appears automatically after some time (or even immediately) and fights itself and gradually “pumps up”.

However, this does not mean that you are at a resort. Resort in "Legends of Eisenwald" only on easy and normal difficulty levels (which, by the way, is not good). Because of a bug with experience gain, your troops very quickly “pump up” and with one left hand, in auto-battle, defeat the most powerful enemies, even those whom, according to the author’s idea, you could not kill for the time being.

But on difficult and very difficult the real game begins, which constantly keeps you on your toes. Opponents attack your possessions much more actively, fight better, develop faster, and after some time, if you play incorrectly, you yourself may encounter some invincible flying squad led by the knight Ivanhoe Godlaikov.

The game has a lot of text, and in every tavern you can hear some interesting legend or story.

Mission Impossible?

Numerous quests also make you sweat. Come at a certain time, leave your people in a nearby tower, hide near such and such a castle at night with a maximum of three soldiers, walk through the forest in a certain order, listen to conversations in the tavern and draw the right conclusions – almost all tasks are complex, multi-step.

True, this also has a downside. Such complex quests also have complex scripts: if you do something wrong or at the wrong time (for example, if you kill Ursula, the head of one of the factions, ahead of time) – that’s all. Sometimes logic suffers too. According to one of the tasks, you must look for clues in three stages on how to get to the Star Well in order to collect special water there. But if you find it yourself, just wandering around the map, nothing will happen. Or with the same Ursula: you have already sent her on a date with her forefathers, and then they give you a quest to kill her, but say: “Guys, I’ve already done this!"for some reason it’s impossible.

However, everyone can see how difficult it is to build truly complex, non-linear quests – the game comes with an editor with a full set of developer tools.

Yes, even after five years of creation "Legends of Eisenwald" require some modification. And these works are carried out day and night. And yet it’s already clear that the game was a success. We got a beautiful, big and complex adventure, which also makes us think about serious questions.

Pros: fascinating mechanics at the intersection King’s Bounty And Disciples 2; large detailed world; interesting non-linear plot; a lot of moral dilemmas; multi-stage quests.
Cons: there are problems with balance and optimization; sometimes quests freeze; The combat system doesn’t look logical at all.