Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 162 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 119 out of 162
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 162
  3. Negative: 19 out of 162

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  1. Martok
    Jun 30, 2023
    9
    Ten years after its release, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes remains my favorite fantasy 4x by far.

    Yes, the game does have its flaws, including several bugs (due partially to its increasing age), not to mention a too-passive AI at times. However, no other game I've played has quite the same blend of civilization-(re)building, RPG elements, fun combat (without being overly    Ten years after its release, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes remains my favorite fantasy 4x by far.

    Yes, the game does have its flaws, including several bugs (due partially to its increasing age), not to mention a too-passive AI at times. However, no other game I've played has quite the same blend of civilization-(re)building, RPG elements, fun combat (without being overly complex), lore, and atmosphere/immersion as this one. Oh, and you can also create your own rulers and factions, by the way -- a feature that was ahead of its time when the game first came out.

    Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes is an underrated gem -- one in need of a sequel/remake. (Hint hint, Stardock!)    … Expand
  2. marc5477
    Sep 20, 2016
    8
    Very good turn based strategy RPG. Lots of stuff to customize from creating your own race of people to customizing individual units. Heroes are powerful and make a big impact but standard units can be strong as well and level through combat like Heroes thought they cannot equip items after they are created (they can equip items if you design them with items initially). You expand like mostVery good turn based strategy RPG. Lots of stuff to customize from creating your own race of people to customizing individual units. Heroes are powerful and make a big impact but standard units can be strong as well and level through combat like Heroes thought they cannot equip items after they are created (they can equip items if you design them with items initially). You expand like most TBS games by creating pioneers who go out and build on new plots of land. Cities are then leveled by increasing population. You can specialize cities for wealth, research or military purposes and each branch has sub-branch specializations. Items are scattered throughout the map for you to find and you can also shop for items in your own territory or in a competitors territory (allowing you to buy items that their merchant offers) as long as you are not at war with them. There are different types of heroes including mages, commanders, warriors, defenders, and some thief type class. Each is fairly strong if you level them right and each can do multiple things though I found that it is best to focus on one type of ability such as damage vs defense.

    The only reason I do not rate this game higher is because the strategy aspects are not exactly great. Its not bad mind you but there is nothing new in this game and combat becomes monotonous toward mid game. In fact if you have played any TBS RPG game in the past (Disgaea, FFT, HM&M, etc) then you have seen everything this game offers in terms of combat. Mages in this game are insanely powerful and can 1 shot entire armies in the initial move of an encounter making battle pointless even before reaching end game. Mid and end game suffer from very slow pacing on large maps. Diplomacy is boring and just straight trade based. Story? There really isnt one; just a bunch of lore that is not interesting.

    Still this is possibly the best TBS RPG around and far surpasses old console competitors like those mentioned above and stands tall against PC competitors as well. If you have not given this game a shot, I definitely recommend it.    … Expand
  3. Klewer
    Aug 20, 2016
    6
    I just couldn't seem to get in to this game, it does seem to have quite a depth of mechanics but you really need to flush them out and you'll need a few games to get the hang out of it. Those with more patience might find this appealing but I grew tired of it. Still fans of these types of games like others have mentioned might find this worth a look.
  4. SoulBrother
    Apr 9, 2015
    3
    Poor performance , ugly graphics , uninteresting plot , below average game play ,,,, it have potential if they kept developing it more ,,, very poor overall game
  5. CivforBrains
    Oct 26, 2014
    9
    Elemental has come a long way, indeed. Stardock has learned from its mistakes and Legendary Heroes is now a very good game. I appreciate receiving the game for free since I bought the original Elemental shortly after release. It's fun and challenging with a good amount of variety and replayability.
    There are still areas that could be improved such as animation bugs and combat glitches and    Elemental has come a long way, indeed. Stardock has learned from its mistakes and Legendary Heroes is now a very good game. I appreciate receiving the game for free since I bought the original Elemental shortly after release. It's fun and challenging with a good amount of variety and replayability.
    There are still areas that could be improved such as animation bugs and combat glitches and I would have given this an 8.5 but the system on metacritic doesn't allow it. It's definitely better than an 8 so 9 it is.    … Expand
  6. louisdeer
    Sep 21, 2014
    6
    I see a lot of efforts. However, it wasn't as enjoyable as expected. The worst is the tactic game play. The combat maps is so simple that it yield little fun in tactic choice - either your army suit the ground or suffer huge losses, for example, your ranged units can easily dominant a fight in a mini map with sufficient obstacles to prevent enemy units from reach you or just get mauled byI see a lot of efforts. However, it wasn't as enjoyable as expected. The worst is the tactic game play. The combat maps is so simple that it yield little fun in tactic choice - either your army suit the ground or suffer huge losses, for example, your ranged units can easily dominant a fight in a mini map with sufficient obstacles to prevent enemy units from reach you or just get mauled by some bears on a flat map. The game does have potential, but it really needs to explain itself better. The RPG part is good.… Expand
  7. Greywolf2001ca
    Aug 28, 2014
    10
    Great game!
    Basically what Heroes of Might and Magic 4, 5 and 6 should have been.
    Everything is good about this game.
    It is a fusion of Masters of Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic. A great idea, and successfully produced! Too many have great ideas and come out with a crappy game, but not these guys! :)
    Thumbs up!
  8. Ixoziel
    Apr 5, 2014
    9
    It has the empire building of Civilization, the unit building of an RPG, and combat like final fantasy tactics. It's an extraordinary game that is definitely worth a buy if you're a fan of the above genres, and I've spent hundreds of hours on it. You can create your own faction (think a faction in an RTS game) and create your own leader. You can play random maps or pre-made ones. There isIt has the empire building of Civilization, the unit building of an RPG, and combat like final fantasy tactics. It's an extraordinary game that is definitely worth a buy if you're a fan of the above genres, and I've spent hundreds of hours on it. You can create your own faction (think a faction in an RTS game) and create your own leader. You can play random maps or pre-made ones. There is a multitude of quests and random events. Once in game, you can customize each military unit, from their traits to the armor and weapons they are wearing. There are literally hundreds of possible unit configurations.

    Sounds overwhelming, right? Well, it is. There's a price to pay when you're attempting to make a game that combines the best aspects of Civ, FF Tactics, and Baldur's gate. The game is quite difficult to understand, and there's no real tutorial, or even a campaign for that matter. if you're not one to learn as you go, this game is going to be difficult for you to get into.

    There are also serious balance problems when it comes to the tougher difficulties. Monsters might ignore the enemy AI units, while they focus yours, so they end up expanding to 5-6 cities while you're trying to build up an army to expand. Some leader/hero classes are weak, while others are incredibly strong (mages).

    If you love the genre, you will absolutely adore this game. it has its faults, but it's so incredibly complex and fun (if you like the genre) that it's easy to overlook them and spend hundreds of hours. You can easily put 50-60 hours alone into designing armies and units. If i was rating this game on how much fun i've had, I would definitely give it a 10/10. However, if I"m being as unbiased as possible, I would give it an 8/10.    … Expand
  9. Tessara_Vejgan
    Mar 16, 2014
    8
    Great game with very addicting gameplay. I put some 30hr in it and had only some minor bugs here and there (ver 1.5). After you get familiar with the game I suggest you grab some mods from the nexus that make it even better. My only complain are the maps options, they are to small and lack in variety.
  10. Raybit
    Feb 20, 2014
    6
    This is an acceptable TBS game, with a few innovations like allowing u to customize the unit and even your faction and your first hero.

    From the view of RPG part, it is fairly good - plenty of chests, quests and some interesting monsters. And it has pretty good tech tree to unlock and further develop your city,army. The hero enchantment system is similar to Warlock-Master of the    This is an acceptable TBS game, with a few innovations like allowing u to customize the unit and even your faction and your first hero.

    From the view of RPG part, it is fairly good - plenty of chests, quests and some interesting monsters. And it has pretty good tech tree to unlock and further develop your city,army. The hero enchantment system is similar to Warlock-Master of the Arcane, but city enchantment make the resource of essence become overpower.

    The true problem this game failed to solve is undeveloped battle system.
    1 ATB: it is quite simple and traditional ATB, no action delay or attack delay and only a few powerful magics need casting time. One ting make quite uncomfortable is that it didn't highlight the current action unit and sometimes its hard to distinguish which one in on move when you get a big army. And the other thing is that there are only a few skill/magic that could affect/delay your foes action or your own, which make the whole ATB not that valuable since most of time you don't need to care it.

    2 Range Unit: Unlike most of other game, range atk unit(archer and mage) is naturally weak due to the initiative punishment and low damage from their weapon. Although all range units can attack any enemy in the battle map regardless of the distance, they still won't become your main DPS since higher initiative unit have the more chance to attack and do damage. Btw, mage unit cant cast any kind of magic but just do magic type damage.

    3 Magic: I don‘t really enjoy current design of magic trait tree, which split summon from elements. And if we accept that, then what's the point of designing those spells that have casting range of ONE- wanna let our hero cast and die? And one more pain issue is that most earlier tactical spells are useless, I mean it won't really affect your battle(one exception is heal spell), especially when you haven't get a coupe of same kind of shard. And thus most useful spell need a damn cast time.

    Therefore, you almost cant win fight with weak army in the earlier or even mid game, whatever the battle tactic you can apply. While in the late game, maybe only the overpowered AOE spell can shine not your tactic.

    This is what I feel after about 50h play. It didn't challenge me a lot in the battle field.    … Expand
  11. Docsis
    Feb 1, 2014
    9
    This is a very good game. Lots of replay ability. It is a mixture of several types of game.... Civilization (not nearly as good as Civ5 since that game is as good as it gets!), Might and Magic turn based style battles, with some quests thrown in. Definitely worth the purchase.
  12. Kuszh
    Dec 29, 2013
    6
    The dynamics of gameplay are excellent and become quite addictive- hours can be lost playing this game. This may just be a personal thing, but the graphics (character models in particular) could use some improvement. I think I'm just tired of cell-shaded games (League of Legends comes to mind, but again just a personal thing).

    The game really fails when it comes to writing. Do they just    The dynamics of gameplay are excellent and become quite addictive- hours can be lost playing this game. This may just be a personal thing, but the graphics (character models in particular) could use some improvement. I think I'm just tired of cell-shaded games (League of Legends comes to mind, but again just a personal thing).

    The game really fails when it comes to writing. Do they just assume that people who play will completely ignore this aspect of the game? It's dismal at best. It's as if they took every cliche about the fantasy genre and presented them through the prism of the corniest dialogue and story I've ever run across.    … Expand
  13. Sghignifiss
    Dec 16, 2013
    8
    In my opinion this game is a step forward from GalCiv in some aspects but a step backward in others.
    I really love the quest system and the wildlands addition, it gives to the game a lot more depth. All the editors, the customization tools and the uniqueness of every play are simply exciting and definitely worth all the time spent playing.
    What I didn't like though is the fixed tech    In my opinion this game is a step forward from GalCiv in some aspects but a step backward in others.
    I really love the quest system and the wildlands addition, it gives to the game a lot more depth. All the editors, the customization tools and the uniqueness of every play are simply exciting and definitely worth all the time spent playing.
    What I didn't like though is the fixed tech tree, which is the same for every faction (a dynamic, galciv-style would be preferred), the diplomatic interface (too basic according to me), the custom content management system (almost non existent) and the inability to create custom scenarios. I found most strange the lack of any scenario editor. I mean, they gave everything to players, even a special effects editor, but not a simple scenario editor to make some player-made gdr-style campaign. Why?

    Anyway the game itself is really good and deserves a long try: so rich of depth, good graphics, good music and sound. Playing this game is relaxing but still engaging, and the customization possibilities are so huge that the game itself could be virtually rebuilt by players!    … Expand
  14. suneater
    Nov 30, 2013
    4
    A clunky, ugly, Civilization-style 4X strategy game that is overly complicated and makes little effort to explain itself. Fallen Enchantress makes a big deal about its RPG elements, even including a win condition where you can practically play it as a single player RPG to defeat the ancient evil while virtually ignoring your in-game neighbors. You can also equip your (legendary) heroesA clunky, ugly, Civilization-style 4X strategy game that is overly complicated and makes little effort to explain itself. Fallen Enchantress makes a big deal about its RPG elements, even including a win condition where you can practically play it as a single player RPG to defeat the ancient evil while virtually ignoring your in-game neighbors. You can also equip your (legendary) heroes with armor, weapons, and trinkets, put points into large active & passive skill trees, and use them to enhance your cities, increase your resources, or just go out and kill big monsters. However I feel all this added complexity takes away from the strategy elements of the game and are poorly explained; there is only ONE 10 minute tutorial for the whole game, with everything else explained through tooltips, brief popups and an in-game encyclopedia. In fact, many of the new game "tutorial" popups just link to the in-game manual's page on that topic.

    If you can look past the low quality, repetitive music, terrible graphics with flat, undetailed textures and poor character models (why is everything so ugly when there are so many close-ups of your heroes?), clunky UI, and tinny SFX, you might have fun with this game. Fallen Enchantress is a very mundane 4X Civilization style strategy game that tries to be something bigger but is too underdeveloped to be worth playing.    … Expand
  15. keefbaker
    Nov 13, 2013
    10
    This might have one of the worst names in gaming history but don't let that put you off. Instead imagine how awesome a cross between Civ and an old school top down RPG would be. Then realize that it exists and is in fact this game. Superb. Prepare to lose hours and hours of your life.
  16. blade3655
    Oct 28, 2013
    3
    A lot of crash during game and when loading saved files (with 5 different hardware configs). Because of bugs, the price is really expensive. Prefer to buy a Civ5 and/or might and magic for the same price.
  17. goblinguide
    Oct 21, 2013
    9
    One of the most addicting games of it's kind that I have ever played. It has one of the "one more turn then i'll go to sleep" factor of Civilization. The fusion of city building, role-playing and turn-based strategy is done brilliantly and adds a lot of depth and replay value. It's quite easy to get into especially if you have played this type of game before, but some of the deeper gameOne of the most addicting games of it's kind that I have ever played. It has one of the "one more turn then i'll go to sleep" factor of Civilization. The fusion of city building, role-playing and turn-based strategy is done brilliantly and adds a lot of depth and replay value. It's quite easy to get into especially if you have played this type of game before, but some of the deeper game mechanics like the ability to design units are not made so obvious. Overall probably one of best i've played outside of the classic HoMM games.

    Minor problems are the inconsistent ai behavior; pop-up notifications can get annoying.    … Expand
  18. cccfoo
    Oct 19, 2013
    9
    I feel that this is a rare gem hidden among the many genre of games nowadays. I used to be an avid fan of heroes of might and magic 3 and a little into Civ. This is a combination of both genre, with civ style building pattern n HOMM style of combat. The heroes are interesting and varies in play styles, with 5 possible routes to develop them. The rpg side is interesting and fighting theI feel that this is a rare gem hidden among the many genre of games nowadays. I used to be an avid fan of heroes of might and magic 3 and a little into Civ. This is a combination of both genre, with civ style building pattern n HOMM style of combat. The heroes are interesting and varies in play styles, with 5 possible routes to develop them. The rpg side is interesting and fighting the world bosses is fun too. You are also able to design your own units which is a major plus side for a strategy game. However, I feel that the building style becomes more of a number game of addition which becomes dry after awhile. There should also be more variety in the units recruited by each race and make them more useful (other than juggernauts). I think there is potential in developing it into a strong position of rpg/strategy games with more monsters, loots etc After being disappointed with big budget games with poor content and over hyped release (Diablo 3, Rome 2 etc), it is comforting to know that there are a few companies that do listen and work on their games to make them better and better. Get it on steam sale if you can and you will find yourself trapped with the "one more turn"!… Expand
  19. rsenna
    Oct 14, 2013
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great game with many aspects and lots to do. Combat is tactical with many skills to utilize. Love that there is more than one way to win the game other than eliminating all other factions, such as completing a quest or casting a special spell. Only complaint is the the user interface could use some improvement.… Expand
  20. sonofdiablo48
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    Legendary heroes is a step backwards to me. I liked recruiting things on the map not handed to me or the ai on a silver platter. Fallen Entrantress was progressing along quite fine until they jumped backwards two steps. Also my pride and joy the beastmaster is worthless not in favor of some summoning snobs...pfft.
  21. Type4101
    Sep 24, 2013
    7
    A solid turn-based strategy game that could use a little more content. The mechanics are good, and the game is balanced. However, there is only one "scenario" (ie. campaign) that is only a single map, even though there is a menu to select from "scenarios" (plural). But there is only one. This is a waste of what is clearly a detailed backstory, and squanders an opportunity to tell anA solid turn-based strategy game that could use a little more content. The mechanics are good, and the game is balanced. However, there is only one "scenario" (ie. campaign) that is only a single map, even though there is a menu to select from "scenarios" (plural). But there is only one. This is a waste of what is clearly a detailed backstory, and squanders an opportunity to tell an immersive story in this potentially rich world. Instead, we get a random map generator, which should be an "extra" to extend gameplay, but becomes instead the whole game.… Expand
  22. giskarduk
    Sep 13, 2013
    9
    One of the best games of 2013. Worked right out of the box, no serious bugs, was sold at a reasonable £25 full price. £12.50 if you owned the previous game Fallen Enchantress. Game play is epic in scale and very very addictive and it is moddable. I have recommended this game to many players this year and every one of them like it.... So I am giving it 9. If you like X4 strategy games, thisOne of the best games of 2013. Worked right out of the box, no serious bugs, was sold at a reasonable £25 full price. £12.50 if you owned the previous game Fallen Enchantress. Game play is epic in scale and very very addictive and it is moddable. I have recommended this game to many players this year and every one of them like it.... So I am giving it 9. If you like X4 strategy games, this is a safe bet for your money. A nice upgrade on the original too. Stardock are a company that have treated their customers well for decades, so always keep an eye out for their games. PS I have nothing what so ever to do with stardock.... I am just an impressed customer. Plus the owner talks a lot about supporting new PC hardware in the future and that always gets my vote.… Expand
  23. KongMinZi
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    UI is trash and graphic of this game is really horrible. Especially grid and range of move are sometimes very hard to see, so I always do mistakes in a whole game. Bad optimization and Many bugs are also problems. Sometimes my troops and some monsters are invisble, building icons and characters' picture are invisible, and suddenly the game is terminated. The funnest thing is updates thatUI is trash and graphic of this game is really horrible. Especially grid and range of move are sometimes very hard to see, so I always do mistakes in a whole game. Bad optimization and Many bugs are also problems. Sometimes my troops and some monsters are invisble, building icons and characters' picture are invisible, and suddenly the game is terminated. The funnest thing is updates that resolve bugs but make new bugs!!!!!… Expand
  24. Athelas
    Aug 8, 2013
    10
    Best game ever in 4x fantasy strategy world. I had so many hours spent utterly enjoying myself. It started as a hate-love thing because I couldnt get over several things: strange, rounded corners graphics (but later, when played on best settings and seeing the details this game excells with I started to love the strange graphics!), then the hate for not having elves which love playing, noBest game ever in 4x fantasy strategy world. I had so many hours spent utterly enjoying myself. It started as a hate-love thing because I couldnt get over several things: strange, rounded corners graphics (but later, when played on best settings and seeing the details this game excells with I started to love the strange graphics!), then the hate for not having elves which love playing, no underground terrain, no dimensional doors like in masters of arcane, getting stomped all the time by strange and hard monsters (until I got the way of evading doom...), no multiplayer, and no ships/naval units....All of that and it really rocks my mind. and ween you add stormmod or other mods this game goes to fantasy dream come true.... Pure 10. I feel pity for the guy having problems in installing it, but he should try getting support@stardock.com to help out, guys there are great for help>… Expand
  25. BalicanBreeze
    Aug 6, 2013
    4
    I decided to try it out despite of the more favorable reviews lately.. Sadly, the new dlc hasn't improved the issues with the game. Bad UI, lacking graphics and game play. I really wanted to like this game, but it left me just wishing for a better alternative.
  26. Kimril
    Jul 19, 2013
    9
    A fantastic turn-based fantasy 4X game! Great combat, awesome city management and loads and loads of customisation of pretty much everything! This is a must have for everyone who loves strategy games!
  27. Thordane
    Jul 18, 2013
    9
    Great game similar to Civ and HoMM. Previous titles in the series were plagued with bugs and poor mechanics but it looks like Legendary Heroes finally pulled off what the series was trying to be the entire time. My only complaint is that the AI does dwindle in the late game which means that if you make it that far without getting taken out then you're probably going to win regardless. ThatGreat game similar to Civ and HoMM. Previous titles in the series were plagued with bugs and poor mechanics but it looks like Legendary Heroes finally pulled off what the series was trying to be the entire time. My only complaint is that the AI does dwindle in the late game which means that if you make it that far without getting taken out then you're probably going to win regardless. That said, you have to make it to that point first, and the AI is quite good during the early to mid game.… Expand
  28. halldors78
    Jun 15, 2013
    7
    good game, not great. but its always funny reading reviews from gamers that can't make the game work because of their crap computer and then slam some realy bad reviews on the games.
  29. Fireball22
    Jun 14, 2013
    6
    There seem to be 2 positives to this game:

    1.) It is civilization, but with only one era. So it's smaller, and more manageable from a technology, military units, city building perspective. 2.) The mana system allows you to do a few things that you can't do in games like Civilization. The negatives: It's not Civilzation. The game is basically identical to the Civilization    There seem to be 2 positives to this game:

    1.) It is civilization, but with only one era. So it's smaller, and more manageable from a technology, military units, city building perspective.
    2.) The mana system allows you to do a few things that you can't do in games like Civilization.

    The negatives:

    It's not Civilzation.

    The game is basically identical to the Civilization series... but doesn't come with any of the benefits. There are new units to learn and understand their combat abilities.

    I would say if you are NOT familiar with Civilization or just want a more manageable game, then this one is a great place to go. If you ARE familiar with Civilization, keep playing that as you won't have to learn a bunch of new material to basically play the same game.    … Expand
  30. Malorey
    Jun 9, 2013
    9
    The version I'm playing is currently 1.1 and it is such an awesome game already! I can only imagine that it will continue to get better and better. A terrific 4x TB strategy game. Great job Stardock!!
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Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Best PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 10, 2014
    80
    One of those games that you sit down to play for half an hour and end up spending whole night with. It’s not flawless (e.g. it lacks a multiplayer mode) but you will not regret investing time in it. [01/2014, p.50]
  2. DarkStation
    Oct 15, 2013
    90
    Competition in the 4X space might seem quaint to some, but Stardock easily proves that there’s more than one great ruler who deserves fealty.
    Read full review
  3. Riot Pixels
    Oct 7, 2013
    73
    Legendary Heroes is yet another step forward for Stardock, If you are not familiar at all with Elemental, the studio’s previous effort, or other 4X fantasy strategy games, it may even surprise you. It’s just not a stand-out game.
    Read full review
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