Disciples III: Renaissance

This new installment adds a few new and fresh ideas as well as some annoyances, but for all of it little quirks, Disciples 3 is still a great game for fans of turn-based fantasy strategy games.

Disciples 3: Renaissance delivers three big campaigns that entertain for a long time. It looks remarkably good and the gameplay mechanics are adequately implemented. However, the game lacks the depth of titles like Heroes of Might and Magic 5. The armies are too small, the castle building system is rather rudimentary and the mission design is mostly straight-lined. Additionally, the music and the German dub will unnerve you after seconds. A nice try at turn base strategy, but not a big leap in the genre.

Purists might find the changes too extreme, and might be put off by new-found similarities to the Heroes series, or rather, outright copying. If nothing else, at least Disciples III: Renaissance puts a visual twist on a classic formula.

Quotation forthcoming.

There's a lot to see in Disciples 3, but the gameplay cannot keep up.

Of course Disciples III has its shortcomings, but still it gets close to the Heroes of Might and Magic-Series.

Essentially, things fail to get moving in Disciples III. [Sept 2010, p.91]

This is a game incredibly pleasing to play, although it becomes less and less interesting as we advance through it.

Recommending a game as satisfying and substantial as Disciples III is easy. Recommending it over other satisfying and substantial titles encamped in the same neck-of-the-genre-woods is a little trickier, especially when those titles are now as cheap as, say, Heroes of Might and Magic V.

Although it can't be defined as one of the best strategy games on the market, Disciples III proves to be a very decent game that will surely deliver a compelling and long lasting experience to both fans and newcomers to the franchise.

In the end, Disciples III it worth a try, but I can't just say "go and play". It's full of technical flaws, some of them affecting the gameplay quite a lot.

For now this add-on can be recommended only to die hard fans of turn based games and people, who are naturally equipped with a high resistance to technical issues. Other players should put their purchase decision on hold until some patches arrive. And despite all this complaining, waiting would be a good decision because underneath these deficiencies lies quite a good game.

Disciples III has a strong heritage, but wears out its welcome with too much repetition, stunted difficulty and weird pacing. [Oct 2010, p.78]

Although this game reminded me of plastic people fighting to the death in stiff, catatonic glory, the nostalgia didn't make up for the game's oversimplification of the strategy RPG genre. When compared to games made as far back as 1998, Disciples III simply falls flat on its face.

I liked Disciples 2 and I will miss it. Unless Akella does something amazing with this franchise, there's nothing else left to do but bury it and just move on.

The idea is not bad, but it lacks all those little details that define an excellent game.

For all its faults though, Disciples is certainly something unique, and the quality of the overworld sections and general strategising may well be enough for a crowd that will inevitably seek it out anyway.

A pretty, but relatively shallow experience. Exploring the world is fine, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.

While the character advancement scheme and tactical battle maps are improvements worth keeping, they feel almost wasted on unworthy antagonists in the service of a wretched storyline.

Decent and long-lasting fantasy turn-based strategy has a great RPG system but cannot compete with King's Bounty – in terms of fun and playability. [Aug 2010]

The stellar artistic design shines, but the disappointing lack of strategic depth casts a long shadow over this lengthy adventure.

Disciples III: Renaissance does not have a lot going for it. Well, strike that, it does have a fantastic art style that will draw you in very quickly if you allow it. But the lack of tactical depth, the repetition of battle, upgrades, and heroes levelling, a campaign that's long but not terribly interesting, even the poor audio all work together to make playing this game a chore.

It's far from the worst HoMM-alike out there, but Disciples III has far too many flaws to recommend, and considering the excellent alternatives, there is little reason to pick it up.

Graphic elements and the general atmosphere are good, but the lack of online multiplayer combined with an incredible slowness and a lean strategic front make the global experience unsatisfactory.

Disciples III is pretty enough, but it doesn't take long to figure out that there's no soul behind the enticing facade. [Sept 2010, p.95]

Predictable and repetitive, the A.I. is too easy to beat.

Disciples 3 is a strategy game that is neither appealing nor intelligent. It lacks the kingdom-building aspect so much that it feels like a faux Japanese RPG.

Quotation forthcoming.

While this could have been an awesome game to geek out on, its numerous technical problems kill the mood pretty quickly.

Disciples 3 is an artistically impressive title that completely disappoints the players since boredom and silliness of the AI overcome anything good that anyone could master during the game.

Truth is, everything that is novel about Disciples III was already in Disciples II, and the new stuff is basically a retread of features from other games.

A disappointing addition to one of my favorite fantasy series. Poor AI, questionable design decisions, and a surprising lack of challenge mar the venerable Disciples pedigree.

And the state of the A.I. is deplorable.

Maybe Russian games are meant as punishment not entertainment. This limp strategy RPG is surely the former.