Wizard Warfare 2: Cephalopod Wars

very good

[h1]A brilliant indie gem with masterful tactical mechanics[/h1] A very well-thought-out 4X game with a surprising level of polish for an indie, single-developer title. After completing a full 325-turn playthrough as a Holy mage on Normal, the game felt a bit too abstract for my personal liking. However, I know this is more a result of the limited resources available to a single, highly dedicated developer—who reads every single post on the Steam forums and actively improves the game based on feedback—rather than a conscious design choice. While this game does many things well, one mechanic is handled exceptionally well and deserves the spotlight: tactical battles, which are usually a trap for most 4X developers. When developing a classic 4X title (which I essentially consider to be a Civ clone), you are faced with a few choices on how to approach combat: [list] [*] [b]A.[/b] Abstract tactics away completely, like the original [i]Civilization[/i]. [*] [b]B.[/b] Use the main map as a strategic-tactical hybrid layer by introducing a one-unit-per-tile rule, like [i]Civ 5[/i] (or approach it differently, like [i]Endless Legend[/i]). [*] [b]C.[/b] Have full-fledged tactical battles on a separate map. [/list] If you choose [b]C[/b], you then have to decide whether these battles are: [list] [*] [b]C1.[/b] Manual. [*] [b]C2.[/b] Automatic. [/list] Choosing manual tactical battles is highly problematic in 4X games. It exacerbates the genre's biggest issue—the late-game slog—and shifts the player's focus from grand strategy to micro-tactics. Because of this, developers usually end up giving players a "C2" auto-resolve option anyway. (You can read more about why I think this is a design trap in my review of [i]SpellForce: Conquest of Eo[/i]). [i]Wizard Warfare 2[/i] steers clear of this tempting trap by employing a "C2" system heavily inspired by the [i]Conquest of Elysium[/i] series. Honestly, I’d call [i]Wizard Warfare’s[/i] tactical battles even better because it gives you much more fine-grained control. In [i]CoE[/i], you can only influence battles in a limited way through army composition and casters' active spells. Here, you can also decide on the positioning of the squads that constitute an army (left flank, center, right flank), their behavior templates (caster, ranged, healer, melee), delays (incredibly useful to stop your light cavalry from rushing to an early demise), and the types of spells casters should prioritize (offensive, defensive, summoning, or healing). As a side note, the unit composition system is incredibly simple and logical, and it might be the best I've seen in a 4X game yet ([b]Army -> Company-> Squad -> Figure[/b]). All in all, this game is highly recommended to any 4X buff. It deserves way more praise and recognition than it has received so far.

A fun 4x indie strategy game made by a great team. I have played the first one at EGX and WASD. I bought this one when I saw it released. I really enjoy watching the auto battle feature it reminds me of old White Dwarf Warhammer fantasy battle reports. There are also a great deal of unit and building options along with random lair's to conquer on the world map. The naval fleets add a great new dynamic to the game. I would highly recommend this and look forward to playing it further.

Dominions and Civilization, together at last! I've played a fair number of 4x games like this, but I much prefer the ones like this that don't copy the Might & Magic heroes paradigm. Instead, you have mages that are of great importance, but you can build them like "regular" units. Armies can also get very large. You pick a path of magic at the beginning. This path will be the "primary" path for all your mages, but you can roll possible side paths just like Dominions mages. These will get you a little bit of non-primary magic, but you probably won't get more than a point or two. There are 3 main school of magic to research and 5 levels total in each. I found this to be a little shallow, and did eventually run out of research to complete in the end game. I could probably have gotten away with using a few of my mages in combat a bit more often instead of sitting at home researching. Each path of magic feels fairly unique. You'll get lots of upkeep-free skeletons from Death, or Fire elementals from Chaos, etc. There are some worldwide spells as well, which are very powerful. For example, Death gets a zombie outbreak spell, which causes all combat deaths anywhere to rise as zombies under you control. After a few turns defending from enemies, you'll get your own dead militia as zombie units to control, while the militia at home regenerates. Many battle spells also have ritual variants, which let you pre-buff squads before battle. It also has a lesser version of Dominions positioning mechanic: you set the location and general behaviour on a per-squadron basis. Overall, very fun. I'll probably play though a few more times with other paths.

Slow, boring, bland. At least it's cheap.

No tutorial, it's 2025 ffs.

Pretty good so far, minor UI issues that I'm sure will be fixed as the game progresses. The battle system is a bit like Dominions, but even lass graphical if that's possible. Adequate but won't win any awards. The battles themselves are interesting. One big mistake I made with WW1 was not realizing unit enchantments are mostly free upkeep and very important. You won't win any city battles early in the game without knowing this. For the price this is a surprisingly fun game. It's completely playable, missing a few text descriptions etc.

THis is better than the First Wizard Warfare! (ALSO A GOOD GAME THAT'S A MUST HAVE) Its like Age of wonders 3, Master of Magic and other 4x games. While it is true that the in both UI and the graphics aren't as good as most games are, its still a fun fun game. AT Least get it on sale! The game is still being improved on and there are new things added. The game is going to get better. Even if its not on sale at least get it anyway. Telling ya its a good game! Rating 8/10

Good for what it is, but the dev seems a bit inactive.