Warlock: Master of the Arcane Previews

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Written by BuckGB on January 16th, 2012

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The setting itself is familiar (although who nowadays hasn't played a fantasy game or watched Lord of the Rings) and you already know how to play, due to the elements gleaned from Civilization. Hexagonal movement, city founding, science/research trees it's all here. It's worth reiterating the point that comparing it to Firaxis' series isn't intent of offense. Furthermore, even if the inspiration was intentional that doesn't suggest the game's lacking in creativity.

After all, Warlock isn't a simplistic fantasy reskin the developers have created an entirely new game from a tried and tested strategy staple. Every unit's been measured in relation to others and while some balancing is still necessary, the rock-paper-scissors approach so common with TBS titles is proving to be as competent as any of Warlock's competition.

With a choice of three races; humans, undead or monsters, each one has their own unique units and building types, of course there is a collection of typical infantry types to recruit such as spearmen, archers, and foot soldiers to magical entities such as Ent's and ghosts.

This isn't stronghold though, Warlock is about conflict and war, and so on your randomly generated map you'll have many enemies, and one main rival, you'll also find fledgling towns and cities built up around the world from various races. You can '˜liberate' these cities allowing you access to all of their constructed buildings as well as the chance to gain access to new infantry types that you would not have been able to recruit as your particular race.

Mana powers spells, and the more cities you control, the more mana you can generate. There are also various structures you can build in each city, such as the Mana Trap, Magical Tower, and Alchemy Lab, that can either enhance mana generation, or aid magical research efforts. In short, as your cities and empire grows, so grows your magical arsenal. (Bust out the '˜Muahahahaha'.)

Spells include everything from the old school, ever classic fireball to various buffs (such as healing your units) debuffs for weakening enemies, and other utility spells such as giving units the ability to fly and easily move through difficult terrain. You can cast spells against virtually any enemy you can see on the screen from the safety of your wizard tower. (You've come a long ways since the days of hiding behind brick-headed adventurers while casting '˜magic missile'.)

Fantasy races also mean fantasy monsters and a lot of them. Unlike Civilisation and its ilk, the major threat in Warlock does not appear to be other civilisations so much as it is the assorted horrors roaming the land. Giant elemental beings, vampires, flying rats all pack a devastating punch, making any encounters with them extremely dangerous. Fortunate then, that you are able to directly influence events on the ground through the casting of spells: you are, after all, a Warlock!

This is where the research in the game is directed: all buildings are available from the off (assuming prerequisite buildings have been built, and suitable terrain is under the influence of your cities to build them on), but your spell book starts out bare and must be filled over the course of the game. Unfortunately, while developing a new spell can be useful, progressing through your list of spells feels somewhat less exciting than the research games like Civilisation offer it has the feeling of adding another weapon to your arsenal, not drastically changing your civilisation or the opportunities available to it.

he closest comparison that could be offered to Warlock: Master of the Arcane in its present state is that of one of the most regularly talked about cult favourites from the current generation of consoles, Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. As stated above, Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a turn based affair. Set in the land of Ardania (though any connection to the Defenders of Ardania - if any is yet to be explained) and laid out on a grid, players command their troops in accordance with their available action points, moving, defending and attacking with the strength and aggression dictated by their information panel. New building can be erected, widening the range of your influence, and subsequently allowing for new units, research properties and further buildings to be developed. If this all sounds familiar, that's because it is.

Where Warlock: Master of the Arcane hopes to differentiate itself form that which has gone before is in it's spell casting system. Everything from simply buffs and debuffs to more complex sorcery is available, and Paradox Electronic Theatre ImageInteractive has also promised that players will be able to combine spells for different effects. Sadly however, Electronic Theatre was not able to experiment with this activity, as while we have been informed that the system will be reworked prior to launch, without a tutorial present in the preview build we were unable to find the required resources to engage with the more complicated aspects of the spell casting system.

The maps are very different from what most players will be used to. Instead of a single two-dimensional field, maps consist of numerous planes linked by extra-dimensional portals. Each plane contains different elemental effects and favours different units, meaning that you'll have to vary your tactics and troops as you explore unknown realms. We're a little worried that some players will be able to turtle themselves within less accessible worlds... but the bonuses gained from capturing rival castles will probably lure all but the most cold-blooded of wizards out of their dark demesnes.

Victory conditions provide a lot of choice, as well as scope to focus on different strategies rather than just killing everyone. Technically speaking, you could just kill everyone and defeat all the great mages for the win, but you could also cunningly hunt down scattered Holy Grounds and fortify them; winning the game if you occupy them all simultaneously. Conversely, a divine avatar stalks the lands. It's outrageously tough and nigh-on invulnerable to all but the most determined attacks... but killing it will make you God. More tactical players will be pleased to learn that gathering enough painstaking research and resources grant access to the Unity spell, which wins you the match as well as granting you every single spell in the game. There's plenty of room for pitched battles, short-lived alliances and introverted turtling, and potential for some incredibly long matches.

Something I found confusing early on was the frequency at which you can build add-ons for your cities. When I finished building one, I was not immediately prompted to pick something new, but I often was alerted several turns later. The buildings themselves were all simple and had direct purposes, very rarely were there any implications beyond the basic explanations. When you do build add-ons, you get to choose a hex around your city and that is all the space will be occupied by. The resources and diplomacy seem nearly identical to Civilization, except where the developers made some simplifications and a couple fantasy related additions. The main addition is mana, which is used to cast spells and train units. The spells seem like a neat way to allow the player to directly interact with the action, but it is a bit tedious in execution. Spells require a couple turns of charging to use, so if you aren't expecting a fight, you have no defense aside from the units being attacked themselves. Unit training and construction can both be done simultaneously which saves you the trouble of losing progress on a building because you need to start churning out troops during war.

The opposing factions were few and far between as I learned early on, most of the cities I found were controlled by permanently hostile NPCs. When I did find an opposing faction, there did not seem to be many peaceful options. I could trade with others, but as far as I could tell there was no way of victory through peace. In every game I played, I found a portal to some sort of hell world which was usually protected by some otherworldly giant creature. When I stepped inside, I found myself immediately surrounded by monsters which all looked a lot tougher than me, and when I tried to fight, surprise, they were all a lot tougher than me. I started a game on the easiest difficulty and fought my way to one of these portals just to see what was inside besides copious amounts of hostile creatures, but I was still no match for them unfortunately.

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