Songs of Conquest Available in Early Access, Previews
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Songs of Conquest is described by its developers over at Lavapotion as a turn-based strategy adventure game that fuses RPG, tactical combat and kingdom management. And while that may sound as just a list of video game genres, Songs of Conquest is essentially a spiritual successor to the Heroes of Might and Magic series.
So, if you wouldn't mind playing a new HoMM-style game, you can now purchase an early access build of Songs of Conquest on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, priced at $29.99 or your regional equivalent. Here's the official launch trailer:
And the game's description:
Songs of Conquest is a turn-based strategy game inspired by 90s classics. Lead powerful magicians called Wielders and venture to lands unknown. Wage battle against armies that dare oppose you and hunt for powerful artifacts. The world is ripe for the taking - seize it!
Adventure Awaits
Explore a wide variety of maps with diverse enemies and valuable loot. Venture into contrasting biomes with unique enemy factions, environments and battlefields.
Build an Empire
Manage resources, research new advancements and expand your kingdom. Plan your towns to match your playstyle - will you utilise brute force, magic or a mix of both? There are many paths to world domination.
Wage War
Dive into a deep combat system utilizing troop abilities and powerful magic. Combine troops to maximize available spells and damage potential. Use the battlefield to your advantage by claiming high ground and protecting bottlenecks.
Alone or Together
Immerse yourself in epic single player adventure or challenge your friends to an honourable duel, online or local!
In-game Level Editor
The in-game level editor allows you to create your own adventures using the same tools the developers use to create campaign and skirmish maps. Script in-game events, control the soundtrack, write dialogue and share your creations with others!
Four Factions
Four factions are locked in an epic conflict. Arleon, knights of old battling each other for dominance. Rana, ancient tribes fighting for survival in the swamp. Loth, necromancers raising the dead to create a glorious future. Barya, bold mercenaries and inventors dedicated to coin, gunpowder and independence.
A Choral Campaign
Listen to the bards as they celebrate your path to victory. Each of the two campaigns comes with a unique song that tells the tale of your rise and ruin. Unlock new verses as you complete missions, enjoying the full track at the end of the journey.
And in case you'd like to read some early access impressions and learn more about this game, you can find some below:
This is particularly true for the magic system, which takes a little explaining. It's by far the most esoteric part of the game, and while I can see devoted players becoming terrifying at in multiplayer, it's also the exception I mentioned earlier as it absolutely overwhelmed me at one point. Each unit in a fight generates magic points each turn. Frogmen hunters produce Creation and Destruction points, knights produce Order points, faey lords produce Chaos points, and so on. You can cast as many spells as your wielder knows and has the points for. Several spells need points of multiple types, and wielders can learn more powerful forms of the same spell when the level or find certain artifacts.
All in all, Lavapotion (and publisher Coffee Stain) seem to have a real winner on their hands here with Songs of Conquest, and my time spent with this Early Access version of the game was certainly well spent. The world is beautiful, the factions have diverse and thought-provoking personalities, and both the battles and exploration are briskly paced, fun, and absorbing. It’s the best kind of spiritual successor as it is not attempting to be excessively elaborate nor does it try to jam in overly complex systems, but it has put enough of a clever spin on the formula that inspired it to make me wonder if I should re-install Heroes of Might and Magic 3… just for old-times’ sake?
If you are a fan of HoMM (Heroes of Might and Magic) style, then Songs of Conquest is an excellent choice. It maintains those games’ spirit while refining, simplifying, and elevating the experience. It currently features four factions, two campaigns, maps and multiplayer. There’s plenty of content, and if you are hungry for a successor to HoMM, then it’ll definitely scratch that itch!
At the time of writing, Songs of Conquest is in Early Access with two narrative-driven campaigns available for two of the four factions. The first campaign sees you play as the Arelon, a human faction with a heavy focus on medieval-type units like knights and swordsmen. This is the first campaign and plays as a bit of a tutorial. It's also an introduction to the lore of the world and those that inhabit it.
The second campaign sees you play as the Rana, an anthropomorphic race of amphibian and reptile creatures rising up against their oppressive slavers. The storytelling is reminiscent of the 90s style that it lovingly imitates but has depth and a sense of satisfaction as you move through the mission maps.
The developers also took the time to enrich the combat system by making it hex-based, adding elevation levels, and including various destructible and indestructible terrain features. Tactical combat is also high stakes due to its quick pace and volatility, so climactic battles when two characters meet are especially bloody and brutal affairs, particularly if they’re relatively equal in strength. The quick battle auto-resolve system is a bit too harsh, though, and can lead to a number of repetitive and grindy manual battles.
