TLDR Rating: 92 / 100
This is one of the best 4X games on the market. It's not perfect but I can't think of any game that remotely offers a similar experience / complexity / content ..etc. I would say this is a modern successor of "Heroes 3 Might and Magic" - which is one of the best games of all time. For those who prefer a breakdown:
Positives:
- The game offers an abundant amount of starting options. You choose your map with up to 20 modifiers. Modyfiers being related to terrain, enemies, structures, special effects,bonuses to city states, bonuses to units...etc. Your choose your race, ruler class type, ruler hero type, culture traits, culture bonuses, starting atributes, starting spell book, equipment and hero customisation. It's safe to say you have a plethora of starting options that will give you a lot of replyability.
- The game has 2 major components. One would be the city management - which is very similar with a Civilisation game. You have food, production, gold, science (which is represented by culture), mana and you have to decide what to priorize. The second component is combat - which is a hex-grid turn based combat. I never had to look for any guide so I would say the game is quite intuitive. I have a lot of hours in similar games (e.g. CIV) so probably that helps. Combat is easy to understand and get started but it has a high skill ceiling. Which is the best case scenario as far as I am concerned. You don't want to spend hours in figuring out how to fight but you want something where you can improve over time.
- I like the combat system. When you mix up all the heroes, special abilities, spells you get a lot of diversity on how you approach the battlefield. You can decide to go for a swarm strategy and for every troop that you lose, your raise 2 others. Or go for a strong battle formation with a spartan wall and cascading bonuses. Or have half your army as support for 1 "God of War" that obliterates a flank with a swing of an axe.
- I think the AI is pretty decent. After you are experienced you will outmanuver the AI in pretty much all tactical scenarios but I haven't found a single "cheese" strategy in 400+ hours. And I did my fair share of testing. So you will get a reasonable tactical challenge - especially on high difficulty.
- The game is reasonably balanced considering the complexity. Some options are better than others but - for example - I lean into physical/materium core builds. I found battlemages viable but a bit weaker and archers very weak. But I see a lot of experienced people swear that battlemages are top tier and some being end-game archer fans. So it means the game offers a pretty good diversity if there are open disagreements even on end-game setups.
- Aesthetics don't make a 4x game but it would be unfair not to mention them. The overall visuals are top tier and some of the effects - espcially from of the mythic units : yes, I am looking at you Astra - are just a joy to watch.
Neutral:
- This is an expensive game. If this is your type of game, then it's probably a good deal regardless. But it's possible that after a few restarts you realize this is not up your alley and you end up with an expensive game with 20h played. The game has a bit of a "slow build-up" I would say. Late game fights are honestly very rewarding but it can be a bit of a slog to get there. If you go for the game, I would skip all DLCs for the first 2-3 playthroughs. This will give you enough insight whether it's something you want to stick to.
- The highest difficulty (Brutal) is very restrictive in terms of starting opening / options. I would prefer the early game difficulty to be handled differently so that more options would be viable.
Negative:
- I would say the biggest downside is the DLC strategy. They cost quite a bit and some of them are not really worth it. But it's difficult to decide between the 15 DLCs and opinions on the internet are quite spread. So it's likely going to be an expensive trial-and-error if you want to dive deeper into this game. I bought 10 DLCs and I can say half are good and half are a bit meh.
- I dislike a bit the strategic limitations / mechanics of enganging big battles. Every "stack' can have 6 units - which is typically a hero and 5 units. Up to 3 stacks (18 units) can engage in one battle. The problem with this is that you can cheese the AI with impunity. AI tends to move units for reinforcement/heaing purposes and instead of fighting stack 1,2,3 of top tier units, you fight 1 rogue unit + stack 1 + stack 2. Stack 3 doesn'f fit anymore. You effectively remove almost 1/3 of the strenght of AI. It also works in reverse. If one of the stack is 1 tile to far, you can get attacked and one of your stack doesn't engage the battle. For both QOL and balance reasons, they should just let you make a 18 unit stack. This would remove all this nonsense.
- The late game is quite slow. The big fights are very enjoyable but it takes a while to cross the map to deal with each enemy and also make a solid defense. AI needs a lot of time to move all heroes so it doesn't become a bit of a slog in late late game.
Final note: If you a generic fan of 4x games / turn-based combat and you are not to concerned about the potential steep price of the game with all the add-ons, this will be your game.
