Elemental: Fallen Enchantress

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 173 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 113 out of 173
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 173
  3. Negative: 30 out of 173

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  1. Bobchillingwort
    Oct 28, 2012
    5
    I really want to like this game. Fall From Heaven II, the Civilization IV game mod where FE developer Kael first made a name for himself, remains one of my favorite video games. Everything which should make this a great game is present- an epic story, customizeable units, diverse fantasy words, dozens of enemy types, lairs, exploration, quests- and all in a 4X game. Unfortunately, FEI really want to like this game. Fall From Heaven II, the Civilization IV game mod where FE developer Kael first made a name for himself, remains one of my favorite video games. Everything which should make this a great game is present- an epic story, customizeable units, diverse fantasy words, dozens of enemy types, lairs, exploration, quests- and all in a 4X game. Unfortunately, FE manages to be less than the sum of its parts; * Although every hero, enemy creature, unit and civilization has paragraphs of background, the writing is often simply execrable. It's almost impossible to parse any meaning from under the piles of randomly-generated fantasy names and poorly-constructed sentences. Immersion is important for fantasy games, even when the "plot" is developed through the player's own actions, but in FE it quickly becomes impossible to dodge the reality that you're just grinding down some AI, and the game becomes much less interesting for it. * Game balance is badly off. You can easily munchkin yourself into an impossible lead using the character creation system (combining the "recruit any hero" civ ability with the "recruit heroes for free" leader trait makes the game a farce). Even if you just stick with one of the paltry eight default leaders, it quickly becomes apparent that it makes much more sense to spend 40 gold shaving several turns off a unit's completion via cash-rushing than using the same sum to purchase a +1 defense helmet for a single unit. Missile units have unlimited range in tactical combat mode, where AI armies are principally composed of slow-moving melee grunts. * The AI itself seems barely capable of playing the game, even on the higher difficulty levels. The AI is extremely passive and rarely ever attacks in force. Curiously the AI is also laughably overconfident, and will often refuse to make peace even when relieved of all but one of their cities. * The 4X side of the game is extremely limited. There are very few tiles where you can settle new cities, with little rhyme or reason for why one location is suitable for colonization while the verdant green field nearby is not. Settling a city will remove all other potential city sites within a wide radius for reasons which are never made clear. Cities themselves are essentially identical, with the main difference being how many enchantments each can support. * While the cities themselves are dramatically oversimplified, with no tile management and little impetus to specialize, cities are also unnecessarily complex and difficult to manage. City growth is predicated on two separate food mechanics, and there are multiple, differently-named types of production, which are then combined into a generic "production" total. Cities have far too many buildings they can add, many of which are necessary if you want to complete mid and late-game units within reasonable timeframes without having to purchase. * FE's functions are poorly-documented and its menus are often confusing. How many units does "40 Metal" get me? I have no idea. It's probably mentioned, but I couldn't tell you where. When I'm trading " 5 Magic tech" for "4 Warrior tech" in diplomacy, what does that really represent? Can I lose technological progress that way? Does the number refer to research points, and if so are they only for techs the other person lacks which you have? It isn't immediately apparent what the repercussions are for trading away most of the items available in diplomacy. * FE is years behind other titles in the 4X genre in some very basic areas. Cities with nothing in their build queues promptly go idle, with only a small icon in the corner of the screen to alert you that nothing is happening. Roads are produced automatically without player input; if you want to build your own to speed units to the front lines, you're out of luck. Even loading saves necessitates first exiting to the main menu. It should also be noted that the unit and leader graphics are almost shockingly dated, even by 4X standards. I personally didn't mind much, but it is disappointing for a 40 dollar game. * There are a few technical issues and other bugs which I had hoped would have been resolved during this title's very long development cycle. CTD occur every few hours. Certain quest rewards fail to appear. Memory leak occurs steadily while playing for extended periods, even on a powerful computer. On occasion the save loading screen disappears. Despite the far too many words I have devoted above to attacking the game, FE isn't *bad* by any means. It's fun to play for a while, and the opening 60 turns or so are fantastic, when the game world is full of places to explore, loot to grab & things to fight. Play much longer however and the game becomes a slog of traveling through open wastelands to gradually pummel unthinking AI to death with a few superhuman armies.… Expand
  2. guinevere2
    Oct 24, 2012
    6
    Unfortunately FE is a medicore game for me. Much better than War of Magic, the GUI is far more intuitive and game feels a lot more polished overall than its predecessor, but still it does not trigger the just-one-more-turn effect that makes some of the games out there to be the titles to remember. This game proves like no others that a great game is more than just a sum of it parts -Unfortunately FE is a medicore game for me. Much better than War of Magic, the GUI is far more intuitive and game feels a lot more polished overall than its predecessor, but still it does not trigger the just-one-more-turn effect that makes some of the games out there to be the titles to remember. This game proves like no others that a great game is more than just a sum of it parts - because FE has all parts necessary to be great, but it is not. The gameplay is simply kind of bland, generic, and the balancing were too often done in the worst way possible - simply by cutting corners. For instance - city spam that was a problem in War of Magic was dealt with by allowing to settle only on few titles on the map, race balance was achieved simply by making all races almost the same - they are just retextured humans that feel almost the same while played etc. The biggest flaw in my opinion is just that - the lack of diversity between playable races that takes the fantasy gaming charm away. Diversity of creatures and fantastic races has always been the core of fantasy TBS-games and creates the feeling of uniqueness, which is simply missing in FE. I guess the development had focused on technical issues and has missed the more elusive and subtle aspects of a game designing. Some other issues I got with the game: the city development part is poor - at the beginning there is just too much to build, after a while the cities stay idle, unless they train troops. Too much things depends on sheer luck - in many cases a starting location or a quest reward decides about being or not to being of your or AI's kingdom/empire. Itemization is poorly implemented - I kept finding items with level requirement of 7 or 10 with lvl 1-3 champions. There suppose to be an abundance of spells but it is hard to get a feeling of that, because separate Spell books have like 20 spell in it or less. And again - it is not up to you what kind of magic you specialize, but up to the map generator, that decides what shards will be in your kingdom/empire. On top of that the game has some technical difficulties - the fps drops significantly while the game progresses. I suspect it is because every unit can use it's own equipment so the game has to render them all separately, but still it will be an unpleasant surprise for a powerhouse-PC owners.… Expand
  3. quekwoambojish
    Oct 25, 2012
    8
    If you wish to play a game that is similair to Civ 5, but has more of a old world fantasy feelm I would recommend this game to you. I figure people generally like data organized, so here is some goods and bads for you to consider before buying...Goods: Customization extroardinaire regarding unit equipment and abilities, the game can be very difficult giving veteran strategy players aIf you wish to play a game that is similair to Civ 5, but has more of a old world fantasy feelm I would recommend this game to you. I figure people generally like data organized, so here is some goods and bads for you to consider before buying...Goods: Customization extroardinaire regarding unit equipment and abilities, the game can be very difficult giving veteran strategy players a competetive experience, a large variety of just about everything including wierd enemies, many options for the expansion of your territory and cities. Bads: The graphics are ok but not great, the AI is sometimes unfair and is able to complete things that are for lategame during early game phase, managing cities can sometimes be irritable depending on random occurences, the combat system is nothing astounding, customization of your new faction is not unique as it takes traits from already existing factions. What Price? Worth getting? I like the game, I knew what I was buying so I bought it. If I were to put an appropriate price tag on this game, it would be 25$ (it just released for 40$). What can make this better in the future? If the devs change this, I would bring my rating from an 8 to an 8.5...Add multiplayer, even if it is LAN, and take away the AI quest advantages.… Expand
  4. Argoss
    Oct 26, 2012
    6
    Something went wrong with development of the game - it feels like it was made by people that normally program databases and utility software and not games. Everything is vapid in this game - spells, units, magic items, city development. All is simply boring, but then I think it is a matter of personal taste - my roommate can't stop playing this and it looks that the game offers more later on.
  5. Zanadar
    Oct 24, 2012
    8
    Think of this game as one part HoMM, one part Civ 5 and one part Warlock: Master of the Arcane. It takes most of the good (though not all) of the elements from all those games and puts them together quite competently.
    From HoMM we have the hero system and the tactical grid-based combat, which Civ 5 and Warlock sorely missed, making combat much more interesting and dynamic. We also have    Think of this game as one part HoMM, one part Civ 5 and one part Warlock: Master of the Arcane. It takes most of the good (though not all) of the elements from all those games and puts them together quite competently.
    From HoMM we have the hero system and the tactical grid-based combat, which Civ 5 and Warlock sorely missed, making combat much more interesting and dynamic. We also have the tactical spell system with plenty of schools and variety.
    From Civ 5 we have the city founding system with it's plethora of upgrades, the research system with even more research options than Civ had and the diplomacy system.
    From Warlock we have the dynamic city building and resource nodes which built upon the Civ system so successfully and much of the monster and unit variety that gave that gave some decent replay value. Also here are the tactical spells that game had so many of.
    On the whole this game has combined these disparate elements quite successfully, addressing many of the individual problems the other games had like the city spamming of Civ 5 and Warlock, the boring combat of those same, or the set piece feel of HoMM. On the whole, I'd say this: The game is probably the best entry in the genre for the past few years, and manages to be superior to each of the games it draws inspiration from, even though it doesn't manage to surpass them all on every individual point (HoMM had a story, Civ 5 had more diverse gameplay, Warlock had more unit types).    … Expand
  6. Dariune
    Oct 25, 2012
    9
    Before I give you my review of the game, can I advise you to forget Elemental: War on magic and judge this game on its own merits. It's very different from the original. So ... to the game. Fallen Enchantress is heralded as a modern 4x game and for the most part, it does it's job really well. You control your leader, your soverign through a dangerous world, founding a settlement and thenBefore I give you my review of the game, can I advise you to forget Elemental: War on magic and judge this game on its own merits. It's very different from the original. So ... to the game. Fallen Enchantress is heralded as a modern 4x game and for the most part, it does it's job really well. You control your leader, your soverign through a dangerous world, founding a settlement and then doing your best against a harsh environment and other factions. There are 8 factions for you to play against, all with different stats and special abilities. SOme of which offer better equipment and some which improve aspects of your diplomacy or building abilities. All are different enough but aethetically and statistically they could be better varied still. A minor quibble though. You can also create your own faction choosing colors, and talets. Once that's done you can create your soverign. There are lots of options in terms of talents, magic, weapons, clothes, aethetics and more but, like with the factions, I would still like to see more choice here. Though it's far more than you would get in most games of this type. Once your in the game it is familiar grounds for those used to the genre. The difference being the stunning atmosphere and myriad of personalisations the game puts before you. There are creatures to slay (And slay them you must should you wish to get pioneers through the lands to settle more cities), there are quests to complete, loot to get your champions, buildings to build, resources to discover and claim and battles to be fought. The battles are played out in a Heroes of Might and Magic style. They start out being hit for hit skirmishes but soon escalate into army battles. My largest complaint here is that the troops are generally no match for the champions but its not a terrible problem. Talking of troops, you can customize your troops almost as much as you can your champions and with real battle advantages rewarding you for your efforts. This game is much much improved on War on Magic and it genuinly my game of the year. XCOM was ok, but this game is fun and LONG after I am done with XCOM, I will still be playing this game. Should the vanilla game ever become repetative there are already mods being made for the game. My advice, if you like the genre, buy this game. Its fun, atmospheric and ticks the majority of the boxes.… Expand
  7. Admiral_Brad
    Oct 28, 2012
    4
    Everything in Fallen Enchantress is still bland and uninteresting. AI opponents seem to be able to prosper where the player cannot, even on Easy and it doesn't help that you cannot build anywhere except a few random locations.

    ...and it still fails to balance Offence and Defense. Is it really so hard to understand that it should be: (Attack-Defense) times # of Units not (Attack    Everything in Fallen Enchantress is still bland and uninteresting. AI opponents seem to be able to prosper where the player cannot, even on Easy and it doesn't help that you cannot build anywhere except a few random locations.

    ...and it still fails to balance Offence and Defense. Is it really so hard to understand that it should be: (Attack-Defense) times # of Units
    not
    (Attack times # of Units) - Defense
    The defense of units is virtually pointless in the face of the offense available. Not that you can afford to outfit your Heroes. I can build entire cities for the cost of single suit of plate armor. It basically means that Hero units become useless as they cannot survive a single blow in the later part of the game.

    Heroes are the only interesting part of the game, but they too are seriously flawed. In addition to the armor/attack system flaw and the cost of armor flaw the new leveling system, which could be great is flawed. The abilities that appear are completely random, meaning that whether or not my mage can actually cast better spells is entirely random. Instead the best option might be to make your mage swing a better sword. This is completely annoying. On more than one occasion I just selected a random trait because nothing was appropriate. The quests are okay but few and far between.

    Honestly on a whole you are better off grabbing a copy of the 20 year old Master of Magic. It is in everyway more advanced with better gameplay and, despite being 2D sprites, better looking.    … Expand
  8. kantfoo
    Oct 24, 2012
    4
    Extremely bland game. Graphics is absolutely awful. I don't need fancy graphics for my 4x games, but the hero portraits drawn in this one look like they were done by my 5 year old. Gameplay is mildly better but is BOOORING. The only saving grace is that it doesn't crash as much their last game, War of Magic, but that's hardly saying much. If you bought War of Magic like me, and this isExtremely bland game. Graphics is absolutely awful. I don't need fancy graphics for my 4x games, but the hero portraits drawn in this one look like they were done by my 5 year old. Gameplay is mildly better but is BOOORING. The only saving grace is that it doesn't crash as much their last game, War of Magic, but that's hardly saying much. If you bought War of Magic like me, and this is your free 'consolation' game, yea I guess you're stuck with it, but if you're looking for a new game to buy, go pickup XCOM or HoMM VI.… Expand
  9. moondoggie
    Oct 24, 2012
    2
    I love 4X games. In fact, MoM is probably my favorite game ever. Fallen Enchantress is not in the same league as MoM or other great 4X games.

    This game is buggy and crashes alot. The AI sometimes just stops working and you have to restart the entire campaign. The loot and items are boring and repetitive. The story is worse then a B movie skin flick. It's also the ugliest game I can    I love 4X games. In fact, MoM is probably my favorite game ever. Fallen Enchantress is not in the same league as MoM or other great 4X games.

    This game is buggy and crashes alot. The AI sometimes just stops working and you have to restart the entire campaign. The loot and items are boring and repetitive. The story is worse then a B movie skin flick. It's also the ugliest game I can recall in recently memory.

    If I had my dollars to spend again, I'm buy XCOM or another decent 4X game.    … Expand
  10. kozzy420
    Oct 24, 2012
    10
    Fantastic strategy game from Stardock!

    This is the best game from them since Galactic Civilization2. The game has great gameplay, good performance and optimization and it has great replay value. Any PC gamer who likes Civilization, Galactic Civilization or MOM will love this one! Do yourself a favor and go pick this wonderful game up ASAP! The last game had alot of issues (Bugs,    Fantastic strategy game from Stardock!

    This is the best game from them since Galactic Civilization2.

    The game has great gameplay, good performance and optimization and it has great replay value. Any PC gamer who likes Civilization, Galactic Civilization or MOM will love this one! Do yourself a favor and go pick this wonderful game up ASAP!

    The last game had alot of issues (Bugs, gameplay issues, crashes,etc..) but this one improves in every single way possible. The UI is also nicely improved and a good tutorial has been added. Stardock adding all these new people to help out on the game really helped in the long run.

    Up there with Borderlands2 as my favorite game so far of 2012!    … Expand
  11. Andrew_Paterson
    Aug 31, 2013
    6
    Just for once I'd like it if a developer would play test their game before releasing it. And whilst this might not be an entirely fair comment it certainly applies to Fallen Enchantress.

    Not counting game breaking bugs; the UI is clunky and obtuse; it also doesn't take your screen resolution into account so you'll be scrolling tiny text windows with 90% of the screen unused. You're    Just for once I'd like it if a developer would play test their game before releasing it. And whilst this might not be an entirely fair comment it certainly applies to Fallen Enchantress.

    Not counting game breaking bugs; the UI is clunky and obtuse; it also doesn't take your screen resolution into account so you'll be scrolling tiny text windows with 90% of the screen unused. You're either over-powered or under-powered there is no tension in the battles or even the maps really. You'll win or lose and know the outcome long before it happens. And the generic pipe music becomes really, really grating.

    I've had quest objects disappear, endless units swarm the map and been unable to see the main quest because it's hidden under some optional quest. It's all quite frustrating. Fallen Enchantress may actually be more broken than the venerable Master of Magic and it lacks any of the original's charm.

    It's not all negative but the problem is there are not outstanding positives. Certainly if you enjoy turn based fantasy games then give this a whirl but keep your expectations low.    … Expand
  12. Migz
    Dec 7, 2012
    7
    If you like turn-based/4X games, you should give Fallen Enchantress a try, because it has a lot of promising pieces to it, but don't expect a great game, or you'll be disappointed. And, I recommend waiting till you can get it on sale. If you really like it after you buy it, you can give Stardock more money by buying the map packs. That said, great 4X games come along once in a long whileIf you like turn-based/4X games, you should give Fallen Enchantress a try, because it has a lot of promising pieces to it, but don't expect a great game, or you'll be disappointed. And, I recommend waiting till you can get it on sale. If you really like it after you buy it, you can give Stardock more money by buying the map packs. That said, great 4X games come along once in a long while (Total War: Shogun 2 is an excellent example, while in my opinion, Civilization V is not). Unfortunately, Fallen Enchantress is not one of them. Stardock does some fun things with this recent addition to the 4X/turn-based strategy/RPG genre (such as being set in a fantasy world with armies of wandering monsters and challenging quest areas), but it lacks in enough fundamental areas that I just wasn't excited while playing it. **COMPOSITE SCORE: 6.875/10**

    **ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 7/10**

    Fallen Enchantress has enough good pieces to interest a player in spending a couple hundred hours if you give it a chance. It has the standard explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate aspects of games like the Total War series and the Civilization series, but it actually allows you to join in combat between armies which Civ does not (Total War does). Being challenged by behemoth monsters early in the game if you expand too much is a fun twist as well. However, there are a number of weak aspects to the game too. Winning diplomatically seems far too easy to me. Unit movement is very short: two spaces without roads until you get horses... and that will take a long time for a full army. Army sizes feel miniscule at the beginning, and champions always feel underpowered.

    **GRAPHICS: 6/10**

    I will admit that I am probably spoiled by Shogun 2's setup, attention to detail, variety in armies, and graphics, so when I loaded up my first game in Fallen Enchantress, I was immediately disappointed by what I considered to be PS2-era character models and textures. The reason for this is that Stardock used the very same model for both the campaign map as well as close-up shots of characters and army units. Many other games will use models with varying numbers of polygons depending on how far out the "camera" is from the model, but they don't here, so we're stuck with the low resolution models and textures. Bleh. The strategic map was similar in detail to Civ V's, and the combat maps were about the same as well. Compared to Shogun 2's combat maps, Fallen Enchantress's lacked a lot of detail and options. I do like the dragon models though.

    **SOUND: 9/10**

    I had no problems with Fallen Enchantress's sound. What voice acting there was was quite reasonable, and the music was very good.

    **DESIGN AND GAMEPLAY: 6/10**

    I've already mentioned the standard 4X-setup. That works pretty well as long as you disable some options (such as allowing the game to go to the next turn without you telling it too... lost a lot of building/research turns till I found that option). And again, the wandering monsters and quest areas added a level of challenge I hadn't seen in other 4X/Turn-based strategy games (especially if you turn up the monster frequency... whew). I noticed an AI scripting problem though: if you change the number of opponents you have to below the recommended number for that map size, the AIs will often do nothing until you encounter them. That could be 30 turns... or 200 turns. Encountering an opponent when they have 1 city and you have 9 makes it kind of boring. Also, I feel like there's a huge flaw in the army creation system: when you start out, you can make army units with three men in them. By the end game, you can create army units with seven men in them. But, you can't convert a unit you made at the beginning, leveled up, and outfitted with new gear into a a 7-man unit. They're always stuck at the size you created them at. It makes no sense to me and is frustrating to deal with while playing. (Reason being, your early armies max out at 27 men. Late game armies max out at 63 men. So, why can't I just pay more resources to upgrade to 7 men????) Lastly, although there are a lot of combat spells available, I never used any, because frankly, an army with one champion buffing eight units of top-tier archers destroys anything, so why bother with wimpy spells?

    **GAME LENGTH: 8/10**

    Much to my surprise, Fallen Enchantress did have an actual campaign (they call it a scenario). I had originally thought it was just a Civ V style of game with only the conquest maps. The scenario's story is pretty good. Loss, tragedy, redemption, more tragedy... all good stuff. Unfortunately, it's only about six hours long. But, the regular maps can take a very, very, very long time. So, plenty of game length all around.    … Expand
  13. Orctownorc
    May 23, 2013
    6
    This game sadly fails in the simplest but most important way. IT ISN"T FUN. Fallen Enchantress looks like a good try at doing a Civilization game better than CIV. There are characters and wargear and levelling and spells, that all promise to make a game with the best aspects of Civ and HOMM. Sadly Stardock don't quite pull it off. The gameplay finally is over-determined by luck and aThis game sadly fails in the simplest but most important way. IT ISN"T FUN. Fallen Enchantress looks like a good try at doing a Civilization game better than CIV. There are characters and wargear and levelling and spells, that all promise to make a game with the best aspects of Civ and HOMM. Sadly Stardock don't quite pull it off. The gameplay finally is over-determined by luck and a successful and very aggressive opening. Unless you get a really optimum start and a fortuitous map you will always lose later in the game. The races are bland. The challenge of nuetral enemies excessive. The engine is poorly optimised and degenerates into lag and over-use of the CPU pretty soon. Tactical battles suffer from bad graphics and poor balancing (Rend is way Over-powered). If you play on easy it's too easy and boring, but if you play on hard it's too hard and joyless. Before you lose in 'the end' you will waste many turns restarting after a single random encounter wipes out your best army or city and makes the game unviable. This could be the basis of a great game. All the ideas are there. However more work is needed in optimiziation of the engine, and fine-tuning the details.… Expand
  14. Awesome_Owl
    Apr 24, 2013
    10
    after i played this game for +150 hours i can safely say that it's worth my money.it's a very addicting game and deep too.it's hard to please the 4x crowd but for me this game is a 10.customizable factions+customizable units+customizable leaders+deep strategy=9000+ Awesomeness
  15. Sharpe
    Nov 10, 2012
    9
    Fallen Enchantress has the potential to be one of the best games not only of the year, but of its kind. Unfortunately, that potential has not yet been met. Players who are familiar with the Civilization IV mods Fall From Heaven and Fall From Heaven II will recognize the influence of Kael / Derek Paxton, the lead designer on this project. It is obvious to any fan that he was trying toFallen Enchantress has the potential to be one of the best games not only of the year, but of its kind. Unfortunately, that potential has not yet been met. Players who are familiar with the Civilization IV mods Fall From Heaven and Fall From Heaven II will recognize the influence of Kael / Derek Paxton, the lead designer on this project. It is obvious to any fan that he was trying to realize his creative vision in terms of a standalone game -- an idea that should excite anyone, but that isn't "there" yet.

    Fallen Enchantress is also a great heir to the classic Master of Magic formula: It plays like a highly intuitive version of Civilization with magic and fantastic units included. When you first begin the game, you can easily find yourself pulled into the atmosphere and excited to see what your heroes, monsters, and beasts can do. For a while, it feels like you are playing both a great RPG and a great strategy game, as you build up cities from tons of building and strategy choices -- all while your customized sovereign explores the landscape, collects treasure, vanquishes monsters, and completes quests.

    However, there are a number of problems keeping Fallen Enchantress from becoming truly great:

    1) The graphics, although passable, are flat and do not create either compelling characters or landscapes.

    2) The RPG and strategy elements do not always work together effectively, leaving you quickly feeling that you have exhausted your options on the RPG side. To be fair, this is often very true with other, more highly regarded games, such as Age of Wonders.

    3) The mythology is usually very flat. While there are some fantastic late-level quests (the one related to the darklings and the Pit of Lost Voices stands out) most of the writing and flavor text is so-so. This is a result of Kael having to work with the frankly boring Elemental mythos. As we know from seeing his mods, he is great at creating an environment on his own -- but it doesn't translate well here.

    If you can look beyond these issues, you'll find that there is a great, engaging game that's already very playable and enjoyable. It looks some of its impact in comparison to what it could have been, but I for one intend to stick with the community through all the amazing modding (which has already started) and expansions that are sure to become available.

    Fallen Enchantress is a very ambitious project and a worthy successor to the games it's inspired by. When a few minor issues are worked out, it's sure to be a ten. If you're a big fan of 4X, buy it now -- otherwise, give it a few months to cook with the wider gamer feedback it's sure to get.    … Expand
  16. Mochnant
    Nov 14, 2012
    7
    I'll start by saying I like Fallen Enchantress. There is a lot of good in this game for the fantasy 4x crowd. What it lacks is focus, polish, and a compelling setting. It does try to do a lot of things. Is it a hero based RPG with city building attached? Is it a fantasy Civ game? Something else? There is a lot of seasoning in the pot. Some aspects are well fleshed out, and some areI'll start by saying I like Fallen Enchantress. There is a lot of good in this game for the fantasy 4x crowd. What it lacks is focus, polish, and a compelling setting. It does try to do a lot of things. Is it a hero based RPG with city building attached? Is it a fantasy Civ game? Something else? There is a lot of seasoning in the pot. Some aspects are well fleshed out, and some are not. I expect Stardock will work on the polish, but the bland races are likely to endure. I would have preferred stereotypical races. What we have are blue people fighting gray people in a brown world.

    That said, if you can get past some of the design decisions and you're a fan of the genre, there is no better game to play and no better company to support.    … Expand
  17. giskard
    Nov 14, 2012
    8
    Since Fraxis dumped down Civilization 5 for the kiddies, us long term civ fans have not had a lot to get excited about and I really was not expecting much from Fallen Enchantress either. But it turned out to be an excellent game. This game mixes a full blown RPG (I am not kidding) with Civilization style gaming in a fantasy world. Not only do you create your own leader character like youSince Fraxis dumped down Civilization 5 for the kiddies, us long term civ fans have not had a lot to get excited about and I really was not expecting much from Fallen Enchantress either. But it turned out to be an excellent game. This game mixes a full blown RPG (I am not kidding) with Civilization style gaming in a fantasy world. Not only do you create your own leader character like you would in any serious RPG, but he levels up as you progress. You can hire heros too which also level up. Build cities which level up as they grow and gain extra features. And do all the building that you expect inside a city in a civ style game.

    For an RPG Fan + Strategy fan, it does not get any better than this. Its a mix that works really well and drews you in pretty quickly. The only real tactic you need to know early on is to build lots of cities. Not only is it rock solid stable game with out a single crash in 15 hours of playing. But the world is just so rich and deep it has lore running like rivers across the landscape. AI players all have their own background story and special abilities and if you choose to play one your self if you want. But I like to create me own character.

    As with all good RPGs, weapon types, units, spells are all different, so are the enchantments. You get a lot of strategic options from mixing units you can build with your leader and heroes. Sometimes you can get your butt kicked simply because you had no ranged units in your army, other times you will win because you have something the enemy has no defence against. The battles you will see in the videos look crap, it nearly put me off buying the game but to be honest, its a lot more fun and lot more tactical that the videos make it appear. So before puking at the sight of the battles understand, the game is a lot better than that and you can auto fight the battles and skip that if you like too. The part I like is exploring the map, seeing a village or a temple or a ruin or something else and sending a unit to that square and either getting a quest or a bad guy to fight or both. You just do not get that in Civilization games. The games background story goes something like this.

    The old world is invaded by titans and the battle to destroy them lays waste the world. When the Titans are finally destroyed most of the life on the planet is wiped out and for the next hundred years, ancient beings called Elementals start appearing and taking over the world.

    Mean while several kingdoms and empires start to emerge, kingdoms being life loving types and empires being merchants of death. Empires follow the old titan teachings, where as kingdoms fight against it. Several premade AIs exist for both Empire and Kingdoms and to win you can either beat them to pulp, allie with them or our research them I believe. The usual stuff. Each element (pardon the pun) adds a layer or lore to the game, once that lore gets about 12 layers thick, as happens in this game, you could almost drowned in the game lore if not for the fact the campaign walks you through it in a nice fun way. Though I should add, the campaign is NOT a sandbox game and plays differently from sandbox since most of the options are disabled in the campaign which focuses more on the story than the world conquering strategies.

    Everybody I know who brought this game, loves it so far. Its turned out to be a hidden gem of a game.    … Expand
  18. Sfaxon
    Nov 2, 2012
    8
    I have mixed feelings about this game, but its the only game out right now that adequatly fills the niche left vacent by Age of Wonders. I really like the fact that Stardock is giving this game for free after its previous Elemental game failed. That to me adds A LOT of credibility to Stardock.

    The game itself has a little bit of a learning curve. At first its very hard to tell whats    I have mixed feelings about this game, but its the only game out right now that adequatly fills the niche left vacent by Age of Wonders. I really like the fact that Stardock is giving this game for free after its previous Elemental game failed. That to me adds A LOT of credibility to Stardock.

    The game itself has a little bit of a learning curve. At first its very hard to tell whats going on. The normal map graphics are just mediocre and difficult to tell whats going on. The cloth map (zoom out) is gorgeous though, and makes it easy to see whats going on. The gameplay is a mixture of Civilization + Fantasy RPG. Your cities and champions level up, and you research a tech tree. I don't really like the tech tree... too much stuff going on and it doesn't really branch off enough. The tactical battle is really fun... until you release that there is no real cover or walls or anything. They plan on adding them latter on, but thats a step backwards from Age of Wonders and really inexcusable. The wild (non civilized) NPS are really awesome looking, but the civilizations themselves are just humans with different colors. I really wish they put some more diversity in the models and skins for the civilizations. While the art in the opening scene is AWESOME, the rest of the game is lackluster. I agree that it just seems to lack a 'soul' as others have said.

    So why do I think this is an 8? Customization. Customization in this game is leaps and bounds above Age of Wonders. You can design your own units from the ground up. Its really rewarding to develop your own unit and put it to battle. What gives this game a soul for me is the custom civilizations you can build and the awesome support for mods. I wish there was more vareity in the aesthetics (what if I want to make wolfmen, or demons ect ect ?) on release.

    Overall, if you ache for a Age of Wonders in 3d and LOVE customization you will find something for you in this game.    … Expand
  19. mbchudno
    Oct 29, 2012
    7
    i really wanted to love this game. I deeply appreciate gesture from Stardock for giving this game for free to people who bought original Elemental: War of Magic. Yet no amount of good will will make it better. I put countless hours in Master of Magic back in the day replaying with different magic combinations and this game could not hold my attention for more then 6 hours. Mostly samei really wanted to love this game. I deeply appreciate gesture from Stardock for giving this game for free to people who bought original Elemental: War of Magic. Yet no amount of good will will make it better. I put countless hours in Master of Magic back in the day replaying with different magic combinations and this game could not hold my attention for more then 6 hours. Mostly same complaints that others have in their reviews. All races are the same, magics are primitive, something just does not click. I am giving it 7 ant being very generous just because i like Stardock in general. I really hope they will bring better stuff to the table next time.… Expand
  20. mess888
    Oct 27, 2012
    7
    There is a lot of potential in this game but also a lot of flaws.The game could offer so much depth in both strategy and RPG elements but most of the times this is limited by some other problem arising. The AI seems too messy even at high level of difficulty, making some weird choice in war that penalize it too much making sometimes the game trivial for the player, also it cant use veryThere is a lot of potential in this game but also a lot of flaws.The game could offer so much depth in both strategy and RPG elements but most of the times this is limited by some other problem arising. The AI seems too messy even at high level of difficulty, making some weird choice in war that penalize it too much making sometimes the game trivial for the player, also it cant use very well the champions and the magic making it too weak as opponent in a fair situation (but this is balanced by often having more resources etc).Anyway building your empire and growing your sovereign is a very fun aspect of the game, finding items, doing quests, this aspect is quite enjoyable but proceeding in the game often you find weird settings like monsters completely weak giving over the top weapons as reward and viceversa.Even city building is quite innovative, city leveling up and specializing is a great idea but even here there are sometimes options just to good or too bad to offer a real choice.Basically the game really needs a lot of more polish to be a great game, its nearly there but there is work to do in the AI and balance of the game.… Expand
  21. GFireflyE
    Nov 13, 2012
    8
    Overall a great game and has ALOT of potential that SD appears to be following through on. Ver 1.01 is basically the 1.0 of the game, though it has some UI problems with 32-bit machines. Am really looking forward to future updates, as this game definately has the potentialt to become MoM 2.0 and receive a score of 10!
  22. Czar
    Nov 13, 2012
    8
    Overall this is an entertaining game. I have played this game for many many hours. Could it be better - yes it could. Given the amount of time the team worked on this title should it have been better - once again yes it should - and probably will be. At this time I would say it is an 8 - it could have been a 9 if a few aspects were more polished. My biggest gripe is that each game feelsOverall this is an entertaining game. I have played this game for many many hours. Could it be better - yes it could. Given the amount of time the team worked on this title should it have been better - once again yes it should - and probably will be. At this time I would say it is an 8 - it could have been a 9 if a few aspects were more polished. My biggest gripe is that each game feels too samey - i.e., you tend to play same game and strategy every time.… Expand
  23. Avloren
    Oct 25, 2012
    8
    Solid Fantasy TBS, a completely different game from War of Magic. It definitely has that one-more-turn addictiveness, although a few frustrations hold it back from being a true classic.
    Positives:
    >Good economy, research, general empire-building - nothing revolutionary here, but it has everything you'd expect and it's well done. >The RPG aspects, i.e. questing and leveling with    Solid Fantasy TBS, a completely different game from War of Magic. It definitely has that one-more-turn addictiveness, although a few frustrations hold it back from being a true classic.
    Positives:
    >Good economy, research, general empire-building - nothing revolutionary here, but it has everything you'd expect and it's well done.
    >The RPG aspects, i.e. questing and leveling with champions, are really where the game shines: they're fun and smoothly integrated into the 4X parts of the game. Champions and trained units are finally well balanced (it was out of whack throughout most of the beta), but now you need to rely on both, it leads to good strategic combined-arms play.
    >Great customization: from the very beginning, the different factions and sovereigns (not to mention custom factions and sovereigns) open up a wide variety of playstyles. Factions do play quite differently even if they look superficially similar. As the game progresses, the variety of traits for champions (particularly the path specializations), plus the great unit design, means that both your champions and trained units will be unique.
    >Pretty good AI, enough to provide a credible threat without cheating, and the higher difficulty levels (with cheating) will challenge any player.
    >Well polished GUI, empire and unit management is easy.
    >The campaign scenario is a fun addition with pretty good writing, but really, the heart of this game is the sandbox mode.

    Mixed/Negatives:
    >Tactical battles are fairly shallow, they get repetitive - feels like chance has far more influence than any actual tactics. Still a far better combat system than, say, Civilization 4 (i.e. roll the dice and that's it), but doesn't match up to the likes of Age of Wonders.
    >Balance has some weak spots; for example, certain champion paths (specializations) are markedly better than others. Certain races/factions are also simply better than others - it's not an insurmountable difference, I actually enjoy trying to win with weaker factions, and you always have the option of making a custom faction. Not game-breaking, but the balance could use some tweaking.
    >Magic is a little underwhelming. It's there, and it's useful, but it's not the focus of the game. On the plus side, unit buffs are varied and useful, and city buffs are a stroke of genius that really helps tie the RPG/magic aspects into the 4X side of the game. On the negative side, summons are weak, debuffs and direct damage are useful in some circumstances but too mana-intensive to rely on every battle. This makes it very difficult to play a casting-focused sovereign, magic is better in a supportive role, used to back up the melees that will do the bulk of your damage dealing/absorbing.
    >Diplomacy is all-or-nothing: if you're leading the scoreboard all the AIs will trip over each other to offer you tribute and stay on your good side, if you're falling behind they'll race each other to dogpile you in one declaration of war after another. It makes the highest difficulty settings particularly frustrating, the AI bonuses give it an inherent head start over you, and it's hard to catch up when all the AIs decide they can push you around because you're weak. Diplomacy does work decently when you're evenly matched with the AIs, so it's not game-breaking, really a matter of finding the right difficulty setting.    … Expand
  24. jackswift
    Oct 26, 2012
    9
    One thing to get right out of the gate: this game is not Master of Magic 2 (there might eventually be a mod that makes it pretty darn close, though). That being said, there are a lot of satisfying gameplay hours to be had here. FE's foundation is your typical 4X Turn Based Strategy, with cities to build, units to customize and train, spells and technology to research, monsters and empiresOne thing to get right out of the gate: this game is not Master of Magic 2 (there might eventually be a mod that makes it pretty darn close, though). That being said, there are a lot of satisfying gameplay hours to be had here. FE's foundation is your typical 4X Turn Based Strategy, with cities to build, units to customize and train, spells and technology to research, monsters and empires to subjugate (or make peace with, nobody ever said you can't have dragons and trolls on your side). There is a campaign that I have not completed yet. It is fun and gets you into the lore of the Elemental Universe, however the true gameplay is in the sandbox mode. There are many factions to pick when you create a game (or you can customize your own - this game is big on customization). I've heard some people criticize FE because "all the races are the same". That couldn't be further from the truth. Each faction has a unique abilities and traits that change how the game is played depending on which faction you pick. From slave lords to golem crafters, the factions are unique. If you really have to have elves, undead, angels, etc. there's already a mod, Stormworld, that contains 13 new unique races that are typical 'high fantasy'. The art direction is also something that has received a fair amount of criticism but I find it has its own charm. Just like Torchlight 2, people who who found the game enjoyable because the "graphics are terrible" really aren't focusing on what matters. The painted/rendered vignettes are breathtakingly beautiful. The rest of the gameplay plays out like Civ on a square grid map where you found cities, research technology and build armies. The difference here is that there's much more emphasis on developing your leader or sovereign. Standard RPG elements come in here, where you level your hero (and any other champions you recruit) based on random traits that you choose from, like choosing between magic schools, melee abilities, unit stats, etc. There are quests you can undertake and areas of the world (randomly generated, but you can pick static maps if you so choose) called 'Wildlands that feature really tough monsters and a boss fight with loads of treasure if you succeed in clearing them. All these battles happen in turn based tactical maps like HoMM 5 and 6. This is arguably the weakest part of the game, but is still satisfying. Spell animations are cool, units have a wide variety of abilities, strengths and weaknesses. You can win the game by conquest, diplomacy, the master quest and spell of making (economic/research). The AI is actually pretty robust right now, and will offer a fair challenge to TBS veterans. Currently there is no Multi-Player right now, however the developer has stated they will add it during post-release support. The other faults of FE include some minor bugs, the balance isn't quite finished and the endgame drags on considerably (surrender options and the spell of making helps).

    What it comes down to is that if you like turn-based strategy games and have the patience to learn the ins and outs of Fallen Enchantress' gameplay, a deep and rewarding gaming experience awaits. I'd give it an 8.5/10, so I rounded up to a 9.    … Expand
  25. moloh
    Oct 25, 2012
    9
    Played through beta and must say it is very nice game, regardless if you like to create mighty magic empire or powerful warrior kingdom you will find something for yourself. Character advancement, quests and RPG elements are really refined and fantastic. While game is really good, it still lacks some masterpiece quality and does not captivate player into 'one more turn' mode, maybe it isPlayed through beta and must say it is very nice game, regardless if you like to create mighty magic empire or powerful warrior kingdom you will find something for yourself. Character advancement, quests and RPG elements are really refined and fantastic. While game is really good, it still lacks some masterpiece quality and does not captivate player into 'one more turn' mode, maybe it is because the game is bland and while it has everything you can wish for it lacks overall coherency.… Expand
  26. joasoze
    Oct 26, 2012
    9
    The problem with this game is its depth. You have to play a lot to understand the inner workings of the game. I love this myself, but I can see many people that doesnt like it on first try and gives up. I have played the beta since is first version, and I have seen all the small details that are in the game for you to explore. There are still many strategies I havent tried, and I will playThe problem with this game is its depth. You have to play a lot to understand the inner workings of the game. I love this myself, but I can see many people that doesnt like it on first try and gives up. I have played the beta since is first version, and I have seen all the small details that are in the game for you to explore. There are still many strategies I havent tried, and I will play this game on and off for years. Its also very moddable. A great example of the fun in this game, is that by doing a quest you can get a shadow rift spell, which gives you the ability to place a rift on the map that will generate tough monster armies. This is a spell you might find after playing for months. The game keep on giving.… Expand
  27. gllq
    Oct 26, 2012
    9
    It still needed a huge polishing and few new concepts, but...
    This is first game ever who can pretend to be master of magic 2. I have hope :)
    With powerfull modding tools (very unusual this times, when corporations tends to cut off modders for small, stupid and costly DLC instead) game will grow.
  28. Relian
    Mar 5, 2013
    6
    Didn't really get into this game, and kind of regret buying it now. It has potential, but it really fails in graphics and the combat system feels too much like a mediocre indie game. I'll give it another shot next week but so far I'm a bit disappointed.
  29. Beanbag
    Mar 6, 2013
    8
    While Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is certainly not an easy game, even on "easy", it is entertaining and provides hours of distraction. This installment is a great improvement over the original Elemental: War of Magic, and if Stardock proves true to reputation, Fallen enchantress will only improve even more over time through many patches and terrific post-release support. There are someWhile Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is certainly not an easy game, even on "easy", it is entertaining and provides hours of distraction. This installment is a great improvement over the original Elemental: War of Magic, and if Stardock proves true to reputation, Fallen enchantress will only improve even more over time through many patches and terrific post-release support. There are some flaws, of course, with the game feeling very unbalanced at times. Sometimes, you might be struggling to scrape by when you encounter another kingdom or empire that is several orders of magnitude your superior. Other times, you have built a tremendous empire only to discover that your opponents are still banging rocks together for laughs in their first village. While there is a certain aspect of "reality" in these possibilities, there is little fun in steamrolling, no matter which side of it you are on. If you have multiple opponents, diplomacy can be used to even the footing if used carefully, and provides a somewhat useful tool. Overall, I would rate Elemental: Fallen Enchantress as a solid 8. While it does combine many elements together in a unique fashion, none of those elements are truly novel. The game itself conjures memories of Age of Wonders with it's base game, and borrows from Master of Orion for some of the underlying 4x and customization. Still, it is well implemented and with Stardocks usual excellent post-release support, will only get better.… Expand
  30. giskarduk
    Sep 13, 2013
    8
    A really enjoyable X4 strategy game, a little rough around the edges in places but they fixed those things in Legendary heroes, also owners of this game got Legendary Heroes at half price and owners of the game before this got Fallen Enchantress for free because the old game was a bit crap. Stardock may may mistakes, but they seem to always do right by their customers in the end. So like IA really enjoyable X4 strategy game, a little rough around the edges in places but they fixed those things in Legendary heroes, also owners of this game got Legendary Heroes at half price and owners of the game before this got Fallen Enchantress for free because the old game was a bit crap. Stardock may may mistakes, but they seem to always do right by their customers in the end. So like I said, great game but buy Fallen Enchantress Legendary Heroes instead if you see it.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

68
#68 Best PC Game of 2012
63
#63 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. PC Gamer
    Feb 4, 2013
    85
    Fixes most of Elemental’s technical and design problems, making it an addictively complex and rewarding strategy game.
    Read full review
  2. Gaming Nexus
    Dec 17, 2012
    89
    A collection of average mechanics combine to make a big, complicated, pretty good game. It's no "Master of Magic", but there is real potential here.
    Read full review
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Dec 12, 2012
    78
    Fallen Enchantress improves on the first Elemental game by leaps and bounds, but still fails to enchant. Heroes and armies are fun to play with, but the mediocre empire building lacks that something which really would hook you in. [Dec 2012]
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