Spellforce 3
A genre-blending hybrid that puts the RTS in RPG
SPELLFORCE’S CLASH of initialisms flings RTS together with RPG, and contains the resulting fusion in a series of narrative arcs within a generic fantasy world. As a result, what looks like a standard isometric RPG in the Baldur’sGate mold sees you building bases, raising an army, and taking the fight to the bad guys as a mass of troops, rather than a small party of heroes. Although there is a small party of heroes, too, who have all the special powers and upgradable skill trees you could want.
The RTS interludes help avoid the RPG sections feeling hackneyed. There are dwarfs, orcs, and elves, magic users both good and bad, a religion that persecutes those magic users, a dungeon escape, whirling rumors of a chosen one, a longdead civilization you can raid for awesome loot.... If you’ve played TidesofNumenera or Divinity:OriginalSin, you might wonder how far back in time you’ve traveled.
Spellforce gets away with it, though. Your companions are amiable enough, even if the dwarf is Scottish, and change at swift enough intervals to not get boring. They’ve always got something to say, and there’s a rich vein of sarcasm to be mined in your responses, such as suggesting to one character he might like to pop out of the dungeon for art supplies when he mentions sketching the ancient ruins you found. It can raise a smile, even as you raise your sword to beat down more goblins.
There are issues. The text contains a great many typos, which is just about bearable, as every line is voiced, and probably irks us as magazine journalists more than others. Another issue is that areas highlighted as being of interest repeatedly fail to be interesting—your character walks up to them, says something like, “What do we have here?” then does nothing. At one point, some helpful text advised us to use an item we hadn’t obtained yet. We even had a loot drop that was impossible to pick up, and a cutscene that didn’t want to end, leaving us waiting without control until, as if from nowhere, normality re-established itself.
This kind of thing is rare nowadays, and the developers continue to patch and improve the game post-release. We didn’t encounter anything game-breaking, even if we did miss out on some loot—but there’s plenty of that. Our characters were weighed down with weapons and armor they couldn’t use, with books and scrolls, meat from slaughtered enemies and animals, potions to restore us and protect us from magic. Their backpacks must be enormous, but this constant turnover of weapons and the huge number of “uncommon” healing potions are another step toward accessibility and the game’s continued holding of your attention.
In the tussle at the heart of Spellforce3, the forces of RPG have the upper hand over scrappy RTS soldiers. But the RTS sections make the game feel fresh, adding interest to a world that might otherwise be dismissed as just more elves. It’s a balance that’s been struck deliberately, and the mix works well. There’s hours of play, and the fast pace means it’s unlikely to get boring soon. If this is how genres can be hybridized, we say, “More crossbreeding!” –
Spellforce 3
SPELLS Hybrid structure holds interest; good script; epic story.
SMELLS Buggy and typo-ridden; can feel like every other RPG you’ve played.
RECOMMENDED SPECS Intel Core i7-4790/ AMD FX-8350; 8GB RAM; Nvidia GTX 970 4GB/AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB.
$50, http://spellforce.com, ESRB: M