GB Feature: Legends of Eisenwald Review

Aterdux Entertainment’s Legends of Eisenwald is the subject of today’s two-page review, in which Steven gives his take on the recently released title and where its strengths and weaknesses lie as a turn-based strategy/RPG hybrid. A snippet to start you off:

At the end of a battle, you usually earn some xp and find some loot. All characters can use equipment, including weapons, armor, and jewelry. Nicely, characters start out with some basic equipment, which automatically improves as they gain levels. You can’t remove this equipment from the character, but if you find something better, then you can have the character wear the improvement instead. Like a lot of RPGs, the equipment is rated from white (normal) to green (magical) to blue (more magical) to purple (uber magical). There isn’t any set equipment.

Castle sieges are a special form of combat. Instead of having some sort of castle map for them, the game makes some simple “breach” calculations. The melee power of the attacking army determines how long the breach takes, and then during this time the ranged fighters from each side have at each other. Then when the breach is made, the calculated damage is deducted from each side, and the fighting proceeds normally from there. Wimpy armies get thrashed by castles, but powerful armies barely take any damage at all, so castles can be tough to defend. “Luckily,” enemies rarely try to take them, even when they’re left undefended.