The second campaign sees you play as the Rana, an anthropomorphic race of amphibian and reptile creatures rising up against their oppressive slavers. It's also an introduction to the lore of the world and those that inhabit it. This is the first campaign and plays as a bit of a tutorial. The first campaign sees you play as the Arelon, a human faction with a heavy focus on medieval-type units like knights and swordsmen. With each faction having its own diverse roster of troops, you can expect to come up against different tactics and magics throughout.Īt the time of writing, Songs of Conquest is in Early Access with two narrative-driven campaigns available for two of the four factions. There are additional means of essence production, such as through equipable artifacts, but the main income lies in the composition of your army. There are many different spells available to you as a Wielder from several different “schools”' of essence, but that essence is tied to the troops in your command. The last and biggest thing that Songs of Conquest really hits out of the park for is the magic system. While some might find this tedious, I personally don’t mind.
That's after a few early skirmishes where I took heavy losses and then virtually none having redone it manually. I personally don’t use the auto-resolve button on the combat screen and instead choose to manually handle every encounter. It is quick, bloody, and brutal, especially when you clash with another Wielder. For more than show, these give troops high-ground advantages and even allow ranged units to fire further with more devastating ability.Ĭombat is also high stakes.
The battle map makes use of a hex-based system with the addition of elevated portions on the battle grid. This, coupled with the limited building tiles per settlement makes choices matter and scratches that economy/empire management itch at the same time.Ĭombat in Songs of Conquest is another area that has obviously had a lot of thought and intention placed in it. Looking to build a castle (a medium-sized structure)? You'll need a peasants' hut (a small structure) as a requirement. You’ll find yourself picking and choosing from several buildings, all with their own importance and some with synergies. Each settlement has a size ranging from small to medium to large, which factors into how many buildable tiles you’ll have to work with. The settlement and construction system is where the tactics of Songs of Conquest start that’s what determines a lot about your troop composition. Settlement building is one of the first things I found myself chomping at the bit for. Songs of Conquest has a blended mechanics system but let you dig a bit deeper into what I think sets it apart from other games in the genre and really makes it shine.
Layered on top of that is an equally enjoyable soundtrack that really helps round out the feel of things. The character design is also a thing of beauty for the four distinct playable factions, as well as the scores of other enemies and creatures that inhabit this universe. The world map feels alive with various buildings, ancient sites of power, resource points, and gorgeous terrain features. Speaking on design, developers Lavapotion have nailed it with their striking and gorgeous pixel style merged with a 2.5D approach. Songs of Conquest captures these things perfectly with lore uncovered during play, dialog between characters, and a world that is beautiful to take in. One of the alluring things about games like Songs of Conquest is the setting the world itself, the lore, and the distinct factions vying for control. Songs of Conquest Early Access Review: A Breath of Fresh Air for Strategy Games It does all of this in a manner that has fluidity and doesn't feel cumbersome or cobbled together. While the main loop falls within turn-based play, Songs of Conquest also provides a blend of exploration, settlement building, RPG-like character progression, tactics-based combat, and much more.
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