Warlock: Master of the Arcane Previews

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Written by BuckGB on February 12th, 2012

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Warlock features three races, each with its own very distinct set of units. You pick a race and a leader, each of whom has his own set of bonuses, and then you're let off to conquer a randomly generated world, one turn at a time. Warlock feels very influenced by Civilization V. Before anyone panics, please note that it borrows the good parts: the hex-based combat, lack of unit stacks and actual ranged units. Being a master of arcana, you have access to a large grimoire of spells to cast, which adds whole new tactical spice. Once this plane of existence has sworn its allegiance to you, there are others to find and invade. It's like a layered taco-dip of turn-based strategy, only instead of heartburn keeping you up at night, its (just one more turn.)

The overall thrust of the game is to take your initial settlement from meager village to an opulent arcane palace. Organizing your civilization differs from other likewise experiences in that micromanagement has been tossed by the wayside. You don't have to worry about the happiness of your population, and neither be forced to play the Sheriff of Nottingham as you fiddle with taxation. You will however have to busy yourself in the construction of improvements. Each building will consume a tile, and rather than the self-contained, tile-based cities of other games, Warlock run settlements will bulge out of borders, blighting or improving the scenery as your faction sees fit.

Quests also pop up from time to time, asking you to build a certain structure or kill a particular enemy unit on the map. When you wander into enemy territory you are greeted with a pop up message from the leader of the faction basically saying, (Hey I see you guys!) Diplomacy looks a little light as Warlock comes off as more (wargame) than a game where one can win via diplomacy. The options when talking to a rival consist of a non-aggression pact or a declaration of war, and that's about it.

Combat is a simple point and click system. It weighs the defensive advantages or disadvantages of the defender against the attacking advantages or disadvantages of the attacker and gives you a before combat likely outcome. The advantages you can gain come in the form of buffs, building bonuses, terrain and opponent vulnerabilities.

Because resource management is a fairly high level game, it's crucial to control as many cities as possible. There's no social or political reason not to aggressively build cities, so those used to turtling their way to victory are going to find things rather difficult in this world of spellslingers.

The game has a definite Wizards of the Coast-type of aesthetic to it. The art, music, and even the descriptive flavor text on your army remind you of a modern Dungeons & Dragons or Magic: the Gathering. The game doesn't take itself too seriously though, as character descriptions are definitely written with a sense of humor in mind.

Neutral enemies aren't too difficult to fend off but the wild monsters can be more than a little overbearing on anyone that's just started a fresh game. Due to the random nature of everything you can end up golems next to your only settlement and due to its incredible damage and vast health pool it will decimate you. Spiders are the most common tough monster that I have found so far and they tends to pick clean an entire unit of swordsmen in a little over two turns.

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