GB Feature: Songs of Conquest Preview

New World Computing’s Heroes of Might and Magic series – and King’s Bounty before it – has consumed a staggering amount of our time over the past three decades, and there have only been a handful of competitors for the turn-based strategy/RPG hybrid crown since the original title debuted. But a new contender has emerged with the availability of Lavapotion’s Songs of Conquest in Early Access, and we’ve offered up a four-page preview to give you an idea of what to expect:

When talking about a HoMM-style game, we should of course mention its heroes. Or Wielders, as they’re called here. Songs of Conquest’s Wielders have four basic attributes – offense, defense, movement, and view radius. Having movement as a separate attribute means you no longer suffer penalties for hiring a slow army. Beyond that, you also get plenty of artifacts, points of interest, and skills that adjust your movement points, meaning you don’t just get Logistics, Boots of Speed, and win.

The game’s skill system is fairly robust and more complex than it initially appears. Upon leveling up you can choose between learning or upgrading several skills, with your skill choices apparently influencing the options you will get further down the line. Higher skill tiers also tend to provide additional bonuses, as opposed to just making a skill stronger, and initially, you may not know about those. But to the game’s credit, it has a Codex listing all of its skills, artifacts, and whatnot.

Beyond that, every eight levels you get to choose a Power, and those generally offer game-changing bonuses, like a blanket flat damage increase for your army or a global unit production bonus.