Sorcerer King

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 51 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 51
  3. Negative: 18 out of 51

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  1. Sjalka
    Jul 29, 2015
    7
    A fantasy based 4x by the guys that made Sins of a Solar Empire? (or at least so i think they are those guys) - that got me interested.... .

    The first thought of course is ... how can it compere with such heavy weights like civilization? ... The answer is... it can't - at least form my pov. But to be fair ... maybe it does not need to. It is small(er) scale - and does not feel like it    A fantasy based 4x by the guys that made Sins of a Solar Empire? (or at least so i think they are those guys) - that got me interested.... .

    The first thought of course is ... how can it compere with such heavy weights like civilization? ... The answer is... it can't - at least form my pov. But to be fair ... maybe it does not need to. It is small(er) scale - and does not feel like it requires 10+ hours to complete ( fyi, i never ever managed to actually FINISH a marathon setting on civilization 5 on a large map ).

    This game has hero customization and leveling, it has crafting, it has tactical combat, special abilities, strategic spells, tactical spells, world terra-forming and so much. - Not all those features are fully fleshed out though - so it sometimes feels like they took the best of other classic strategical games and smashed it into one. The result is well done ... but not perfect.

    All in all - the game feels a bit like a mixture between Disciples 2 and HoMM. Good tactical AI - but only adequate/average strategical AI. OKish diplomatic AI ... but i have yet to find any 4x that offers good diplomacy anyway. The AI uses special abilities mercilessly - and .. in most cases pretty well. The game is more for the micro army manager - than a grand scale strategist; with supply points encouraging small and few roaming parties rather than vast armies.

    While on the strategical map - the AI behaves a little to tame instead of exploiting obvious weaknesses in the players design ( like hardly - if at all defended cities ), it does a ( mostly ) good job in combat - targetting high DPS but low HP second line casters etc. - it also does not cheat - as in .. ignoring a unit that was cast invulnerability on even if its priority is still highest ( meaning - it keeps attacking it as if the spell had been unknown or invisible .. not so sure if that is the case if playing vs. another human ... if the opponent can actually see the spells casted by the other side - then the AI might just be dumb ... but it does feel "human like" in a so called "double-blind" setup )

    Now - there are some weaknesses about the game that come with the load of features offered.

    While city-building feels well done, the options are few - and there is no pathing ( like disciples 2 ) where you have to make a choice of units or rewards - excluding the other path options. So my cities turned out to be clones - which made building the city a rather dull affair.

    One of my main concerns is the lack of unit variety. There is but the utmost standard units available ... and that is it. Some of them come in unique dresses ( like named ) but all in all - the units variety is lacking hugely. - And with it the tactical variety.

    There is a lack of ranged fighters - which makes melee combat king ( at least for me it did ) - with tactical grids usually being fairly small compared to the movement speed of units. ( compared to HoMM or even Armored Princess or similar games )
    There is also a lack of terrain effects. It seems to matter little if anything if i am fighting on mountainous terrain, a beach, forest or grassland. It may have been nice to see certain units doing better on one or another terrain ( like raiders doing better on flat terrain, while beast doing better in mountainous or so... )

    It is likely that units may be delivered via DLC though - or modding.

    Then there is the visual presentation. Now i will compare it to Sins of a Solar Empire - sort of. The style is different of course - being much more cartoonish than the semi-realistic look of Sins. However - model quality as well as world design is not a strong point of Sorcerer King. On the other hand - animation quality is sufficient.

    The whole doomsday counter is nice, too ... but it may be a little repetative ( much like Beyond Earth ) as it does not quite allow the same freedom as Civilization. ( Also - there are not enough maps included as of now ... especially not enough larger ones )

    So - right now - i would give the game a 7/10 - placing it above average - but not close to 4x giants like Civilization. Replayability and design currently keeps it back. Modding and expanding on the formula may catapult it to a much higher rating though.

    It is a game for a 4x player that likes the tactical management more than the epic grand scale of hundreds of cities and thousands of troops.    … Expand
  2. mweagle
    Jul 25, 2015
    6
    Not bad, not bad at all.

    The game is nice and robust, things work as they are suppose to work and it's fun to level up your heroes. In the beginning the game is kinda challenging, but later on, once you get a proper army, you quickly dispose of every enemy, of which some can still be quite hard. Combat is nice and fluent. But, the game has a load of flaws. A couple thing: Combat    Not bad, not bad at all.

    The game is nice and robust, things work as they are suppose to work and it's fun to level up your heroes. In the beginning the game is kinda challenging, but later on, once you get a proper army, you quickly dispose of every enemy, of which some can still be quite hard. Combat is nice and fluent.

    But, the game has a load of flaws. A couple thing:
    Combat units are unbalanced. For example, archers. They are the base of every game with medievalish combat, yet here they are utterly useless. Not because they die fast or are weak, they are quite decent early game... if they finally get to shoot their freaking bows! The order of conbat is done via initiative, but I actually managed to get my hero do 3 attacks before it was my archer's turn. The unbalance in these things is ridiculous. Same with some equipement. Some are nice, but once you get in mid/late game, most items add little to the unit to the point where it's not really worth investing in: just build more units.

    But the worst thing about this game is the lack or replayability. All factions are basically the same, apart from some units and abilites, but they play exactly the same. And the goals in the game is exactly the same, always: collect shards, build army, defeat SK. That's it. A couple side-missions that involve alliying with the AI. Which basically does nothing apart from just sitting there occupying space you can have. AI factions are either turned off, or someone really messed up.

    Despite there, kinda big, disappointments, the game is quite enjoyable for one or maybe even 2 playthroughs, but not for a pricetags above €30.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 17, 2015
    40
    I honestly don’t know who was the intended target group for Sorcerer King. There’s almost nothing fresh in this game to attract those who avoided 4X strategies and the genre’s veterans will snarl with disgust and return to much more complex Age of Wonders III. [10/2015, p.66]
  2. GameOver.gr
    Oct 14, 2015
    70
    A fine example of 4X strategy, Sorcerer King may not have what it takes to compare with the best of its genre; nonetheless, it’s a great and uncomplicated first step for newcomers, offering at the same time a substitute for veterans.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Sep 25, 2015
    66
    To increase gameplay speed, Stardock had to sacrifice a lot; perhaps, too much. Building variety went down the drain, you don’t have to balance the budget because concept of money is gone, and tech trees regressed back to Master of Magic-style magic books. [Issue#201, p.66]
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