Warlock – Master of the Arcane (New Fantasy 4X Game in World of Majesty)

By Goontrooper on August 30, 2011 4:42:26 AM from

Some new information is coming out on a future Fantasy TBS 4X game called Warlock – Master of the Arcane. The game is set in the same world as the Majesty series. There isn't lots of information out, but we do have some WIP screens and concept art. The weird thing to me is that they are saying Q2 2012, but there doesn't even seem to be a site for the game yet, just a tiny forum at Paradox.

Anyways, I really like the Majesty games, although they have never lived up to their billing of 'Fantasy Kingdom Simulator' and are really more 'Hero Influencing Simulators.' I really wish that those games would expand the 'Kingdom Simulator' bit to provide a wider range and depth of gameplay. The idea of a 'Fantasy Kingdom Simulator' has always been one of the things I have wanted Elemental to be.

1C has a strong list of games including Majesty, King's Bounty, Men of War, and others. Not sure about the exact studio doing this game.

I'll be interested to see how this develops. The more the merrier, I say!

The below link is for one of several small articles out there, and includes a gallery of screen shots.

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/new-turn-based-strategy-game-announced-warlock-master-of-the-arcane.htm

+5 Karma | 94 Replies

I'm guessing this probably shares art assets with the tower defense game they have going on. I don't think it's likely that two games would be coming out from the same devs, in the same world, at nearly the same time.

I thoroughly enjoyed Majesty 2 despite its disappointing lack of "sim" aspects compared to the original - Ardania surely has charm, so I welcome more games set in this universe, especially a MoM inspired one Warlock is shaping up to be. I honestly hope it lives up to the expectations (and so does Fallen Enchantress, by the way).

Good news. There can never be enough good TBS 4X games...

This seems positive. But when we say "the Majesty universe", do we mean the bland little pile of stock fantasy that the second was, or the rather more interesting bit of stock fantasy that was the first?

I want my blue roof districts back.

The screenshots look a lot like Civ 5. I wonder if they're building on the same engine.

Quoting Vallu751,

reply 5

The screenshots look a lot like Civ 5. I wonder if they're building on the same engine.

Nah, don't think so.

It has hexes and a graphic style trying to be semi-realistic with strong colours. Same graphic style Civ V uses so it looks very similar.

As for the developers: They're Russians, the publisher is Paradox, so I've got high hopes for some wacky and good game. They did Fantasy Wars, Elven Legacy and the so-so Majesty 2, so they should know something about fantasy stuff.

Although I'm terribly confused why Paradox is the publisher, considering that the developer Ino-Co Plus belongs to 1C, which is quite a big software company in Russia and they usually release their stuff themselves.

Paradox published GalCiv II in Europe, it may be a similar type deal.

Interesting. A few days ago there was only Fallen Enchantress to look forward to and now there's Warlock as well as Sword of The Stars II. Things are looking good. Seems 4x TBS aren't dead yet

However, I got this nagging feeling that it is a mediumbudget title and thus will not be as good as it COULD be....hope I'm wrong....

I'm a bit scared that the UI will be from 1995 and graphics & sound will be mediocre as Paradox aren't exactly known to give games high productionvalues and are not aiming for AAA+ quality.

It better have a real good tactical combat though!

And still we have this X-Com guy saying that "Turnbased strategygames aren't contemporary"....what a bunch of bull!!

"Turnbased Strategygames doesn't make millons of $$$" is what he MEANT to say!

Quoting Campaigner,

reply 8

Interesting. A few days ago there was only Fallen Enchantress to look forward to and now there's Warlock as well as Sword of The Stars II. Things are looking good. Seems 4x TBS aren't dead yet !

That is hardly listing all the upcoming turn based games.

Quoting Gwenio1,

reply 9

That is hardly listing all the upcoming turn based games.

You got a list? I sure as hell don't. And I'm not gonna run around the internet to look for'em either. If they can't market themselves better then too bad for'em.

I love X-Com, and I just got my hands on a copy of Jagged Alliance 2 gold. I love the mix of tactical and turn based, those games are amazing examples of how a good turn-based strategy game should be.

Quoting Campaigner,

reply 10

You got a list? I sure as hell don't. And I'm not gonna run around the internet to look for'em either. If they can't market themselves better then too bad for'em.

Dragon Commander and Masters of a Broken World to name two those I currently care about that you did not list. Also there is Heroes of Might and Magic VI, for those still interested in the series.

Quoting Vandenburg,

reply 6

Quoting Vallu751, reply 5The screenshots look a lot like Civ 5. I wonder if they're building on the same engine.

Nah, don't think so.

It has hexes and a graphic style trying to be semi-realistic with strong colours. Same graphic style Civ V uses so it looks very similar.

As for the developers: They're Russians, the publisher is Paradox, so I've got high hopes for some wacky and good game. They did Fantasy Wars, Elven Legacy and the so-so Majesty 2, so they should know something about fantasy stuff.

Although I'm terribly confused why Paradox is the publisher, considering that the developer Ino-Co Plus belongs to 1C, which is quite a big software company in Russia and they usually release their stuff themselves.

1C published the first game for them, Fantasy Wars. The expansions for FW were only available in Russia at first, one of them being Elven legacy. EL was released as a standalone game in the rest of the world, published by Paradox. The other expansions weren't supposed to be released outside Russia but then they changed their minds. I'm guessing they sold more copies than expected of EL, but that's just speculation... Paradox is a very well known company within the strategy gaming community, which means more potential customers.

My guess is that the game is built with the same engine as Fantasy wars / Elven legacy, it looks very similar. I think this game has potential, FW/EL were good games but they had so small maps that they turned into puzzle games instead of strategy. Hopefully this will be more epic in size.

I wonder if they will have some sort of tactical combat, or still use the panzer general / Civ 5 style.

I observed a cloth map in the trailer. Might be trying to capitalize on the E:WOM idea and refine it to grab the unhappy customers base. I think most of us liked the kings-bounty series they did. Though I think its kinda a cheap shot when I saw the cloth map in the trailer. Again I could be wrong and it could just be in the trailer.

Quoting Gwenio1,

reply 12

Dragon Commander and Masters of a Broken World to name two those I currently care about that you did not list. Also there is Heroes of Might and Magic VI, for those still interested in the series.

Never heard of Dragon Commander.

Masters of a Broken World I got to know from this forum. Missed that one.

Others on this forum would not call Heroes VI a 4x. Myself I associate 4x with being able to found cities and not using Stacks of Doom. Games that come to mind are Age of Wonders and Fallen Enchantress.

Myself I associate 4x with being able to found cities and not using Stacks of Doom.

Then Master of Orion 2 isn't a 4x?

Quoting zigzag,

reply 16

Then Master of Orion 2 isn't a 4x?

Never played but have seen a little of it 13 years ago. have no idea how the MoO series works.

Quoting AM_Shark,

reply 14

That looked very similar to the campaign map for Majesty 2. Try considering that it looked like a cloth map because that is how the world view of Ardania has always been displayed.

Quoting Campaigner,

reply 15

Never heard of Dragon Commander.

http://forums.stardock.com/411194

Never played but have seen a little of it 13 years ago. have no idea how the MoO series works.

You should put your work/family/etc. on hold and find out. Definitely worth it.

I wouldn't really put that Dragon Commander game anywhere near this category. Looks like more like an action game / RTS.

Quoting Goontrooper,

reply 21

I wouldn't really put that Dragon Commander game anywhere near this category. Looks like more like an action game / RTS.

It is turn based at the strategic level.

HoMMVI: The combat system was fossilized when IV came out. I have no intention of playing a game where blobbing is the only viable strategy on both a strategic and tactical level. This is a series that needs a serious injection of innovation, not just another graphic update or pack of cheap gimmicks.

DragonCommander: Only very marginally a TBS game and definitely not 4X. On the the strategic level several Command and Conquer campaigns were TBS if you interpret it loosely.

MoaBW: Looks weird. I like the theme but the dependance on single monsters, and how every screenshot so far has towns on 50% of the strategic hexes is weird.

Warlock: To early to really tell but it while the graphics and the world look good the game-play seems a little simple. Of course the entire game concept could change and basically anything could be revealed at this point so who knows.

Master of Orion 2. For those who have never seen it, GetDaved is putting up his third play through, knows what he is doing and is good commentator. Playing as Silicoids on Huge Galaxy Map without Creativity points. Something different! I usually leave the Silicoids to be wiped out by someone else by mid game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfWeI8XaOm8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Spurious Note. WoW, these forums are not working well in the latest Firefox. Not surprising. Works fine in Chrome.

I'm in the closed beta for Warlock:MotA. Starts tomorrow.

This will be interesting.

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Warlock – Master of the Arcane (New Fantasy 4X Game in World of Majesty)