Gods, Kings, Shiny Things: A Preview of Warlock: Master of the Arcane

Published by Paradox Interactive and developed by Ino-Co, Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a fresh take on the hexagonal turn-based strategy that looks and plays like it came straight from Sid Meier’s desk. Civilization with dragons, wizards and goblins! What’s not to like?

Pixels or Death has been graced with an early copy of Warlock, and as such we want to stress that this is a gameplay preview and nothing else. Much of the text and even more of the UI graphics have been completely left out. I like to think that this has all been orchestrated to keep me from getting distracted by too many shiny things.

*Boots up game*

The Paradox and Ino-Co logos make their way across the screen as a filler subtitle (“text”) reminds me that, like Charlie Sheen, this Warlock is only half-baked. Okay, that’s to be expected. Even before diving into my first game, I’m already digging the art style and soundtrack. The menu screen features a rather gritty bearded wizard, poised to strike in all his “robe & staff” goodness. The first option, clearly for my convenience, is labeled “Load Test Level”. It crashes the game. That’s …okay?

The second option, your basic “Start Game”, brings me to the campaign setup. After choosing a difficulty and a world size, I move on to the hero selector. The first character I’m presented with is Miralbus the Hat. He is an Archmage (not a Hat), which awards him a bonus 10% to mana per turn. His other attributes include 100 starting mana and the active skill “Lesser Fireball”. At this point, there are human, monster and undead heroes, with Miralbus in the first group.

Scrolling through the other options has me realizing that these characters aren’t all combat-related; Anna the Benign is a Farmer (+2 food per turn) with an active “Lesser Heal” skill. Rjakh is an undead Instructor, which means +10% Science per turn. Some heroes are clearly more awesome than others. Tendral, son of Vendra (a two-headed Dragon) starts with four active skills: Fireball, Shadow Bolt, Weakness and Heal. No need to go any further; I’ve made my choice.

The loading screen actually reads: “Rule No 4: Wear Seat Belts.” What? As it turns out, this was good advice, because the ensuing crash to desktop was rather jarring indeed. “Error: Cannot generate terrain.”

The second time around goes more smoothly, and I’m looking down on my fledgling capital, Pestyhall, in no time. As someone who’s spent their fair share of time with the last two Civilization titles, I’m right at home in mere seconds. My city starts out on the coast, and I can see a shipwreck just offshore, ripe for plundering. The hexagonal tile layout allows for a more dynamic placement of enemy holdings, bandit camps, resources, etc. while also giving me more ways to strategize my units’ movement à la Civilization.

The first orders of business are to choose a building to erect and research to conduct. In Warlock: Master of the Arcane, “technology” means Fire! Wind! Ice! rather than the worldly pursuits of mathematics, irrigation, animal husbandry etc. In my research I am able to learn active skills such as Lightning Bolt, Weapon Enchants and Teleportation (which range from 1-2 turns in casting time).

I’ve been provided with two squads: Goblin Archers and Ratman Robbers; rather than settling and scouting, it seems I’m destined for some bloody combat with the Monster-Eating Spiders to the east. In my experience with Warlock’s turn-based battling, I’ve found a striking balance between action and tactics. With a quick mouse-over of the enemy, I can view the odds of my success and even the estimated damage each party will take. At my command, each squad takes their turn entering the other’s tile and wrecking bloody havoc in a lively animation.

Dealing with the spiders takes a heavy toll on my Robbers, but they are able to escape while my Archers finish the job. Behind my back, a pack of Goblin Spearmen approach my settlement, prompting an alert: “Enemy at the gates!”

The trading and political lobbying of Civilization is just that: civilized.  These are lawless lands, as I’ve become painfully aware, and even though the Spearmen are aligned with a faction, they remain tight-lipped and steadfast. With that said, there is evidence that diplomatic relations will make an appearance in the final build of the game; placeholder windows that usually read something like “Player 3 => Player 2” often fill my screen when I encounter new nations, and many forces are inexplicably un-attackable.

The long and short of it is that if you enjoy turn-based strategy games, you will undoubtedly find hours of enjoyment in Warlock: Master of the Arcane. The formula is tried and true, and as obvious students of Sid Meier and Firaxis, Ino-Co has put together a fantastically adventurous iteration that admittedly focuses more on exploration and combat than city-building and research trees. But hey, Warlock knows wanderlust; with a heavy splattering of treasures and resources rendered in bright, shining pastels, the game constantly teases me to uncover more pesky fog o’ war.

Despite the fact that this is an alpha build, there are a scary amount of bugs present in the game. We were about four months from release when I got my hands on Paradox’s new strategy title, so I hope Ino-Co is staying locked in the office until all the kinks are ironed out. I run a 64-bit Windows 7 machine, which is becoming more and more common these days, but nonetheless I had way too many game-crashes. So many, in fact, that I’ve been unable to play a full campaign and experience the “end game” material.

We’ll keep our eye on this one as it develops; it’s a real diamond in the rough, and although its core elements are more or less unoriginal, the Tolkien-esque bells and whistles are honestly great fun to play around with.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane releases on May 8^th, 2012.

About the Author

Nathan Heller Nate loves isometric RPGs like Diablo 2, Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate 2. Maybe he just likes the number 2. Between reading copious amount of science fiction and geeking out over anything Japanese, Nate writes here and tweets @naysaynate.