Paradox Interactive keeps up releasing its titles according to the announced schedule. The main event for May here would be the coming out of the Warlock: Master of the Arcane strategy game, and it is even more valuable for the Majesty (2000-2012) series fans, since it extends it to a new global direction. The IP rights for the franchise were acquired by Paradox in 2007, and the publisher helps it to prosper in new areas. Not so long ago a Tower Defense title was released known as Defenders of Ardania (2012), and now comes the time for some more strategic fun going away from the traditional RTS gameplay.

A few years ago the Russian development team based at Ino-Co Plus created a decent sequel for the community titled Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim (2009). At the time it was a worthy project, which also found its audience in the Western markets. Their next game looks to be influenced by many grand strategies released in the past two decades, starting from the Warlords (1989-2003), Civilization (1991-2011), Master of Magic (1994), Heroes of Might & Magic (1995 -2011) and going right to the Age of Wonders (1999-2003) era. All these games have a huge number of fans around the world, who are more experienced gamers remembering, how the genre was starting its evolution. Every series had its remarkable points, though was definitely inspired by its predecessors.

It would be worth to note that many of the names above are still recognizable brands, some of which are staying in good health up to the present day, what can be seen from their release dates. Warlock: Master of the Arcane as an initial Preview build appeared in the end of 2011, and since that time the title has come a road of enhancements and polishing. We can admit that in its present state it looks exciting and addictive, especially for those, who miss the days of the good old school gaming. It is not surprising, since it incorporates the same charming traits that made players enjoy the titles named above for days, weeks and months.

The detailed analysis of the in-game features will come a bit later in our extensive Review as close to the official release date as possible, but now we are willing to present you some of its notable traits. So the new Ardania project is a classical Turn-Based Strategy (TBS) project, where right in the beginning you can select your mage, a number of rivals, size of the map and its shape. For your leader several options are available provided with pictures and textual descriptions, but you can also adjust starting bonuses and spells manually, when distributing the available score points.

Don’t be deceived by a tiny mini-map opening to you at the start. The Warlock: Master of the Arcane strategy changes its scale during the course of your play, and if you really want a huge Fantasy map, you will get it, though be prepared to work for a few dozens of hours trying to conquer the whole realm. If you missed Fredrik Wester, who is a CEO at Paradox, hosting a live stream of the game, then we can tell that here you begin with one tiny city, but gradually you will expand your borders to the size of the whole world. Inside the settlements you can order the construction of various buildings to increase the income of such resources as Gold, Food and Mana. Each tile in the proximity of your towns, except for water ones, could be used to place a structure upon.

The list of possible buildings includes 30+ choices, and the key ones for your Capital are directly related to one of the three game races. By the way, if you Pre-Order through Steam till the 8th of May, 2012, you can get a Day One DLC for free. It is named Powerful Lords including two new characters: Imp Adviser and High Blademaster. It is unlikely that this title will limit its scope only to the Human, Undead and Monsters factions, since the total number of units we encountered during our many hours of playing too quickly exceeded fifty different species.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane includes goblins, orcs, dwarves, humans, rats, sea monsters, magical creatures and others familiar to the Ardania lovers, so don’t even worry about the variety here. Still the forces of Life or Light as usally consist of Humans and Elves. Naturally, the potential of the new factions in the game could be used with all the future upcoming DLCs. Perhaps, then we will see additional story campaigns, since as for now we have only noticed a Free to Play mode letting you select one of the five difficulty levels and engage in a long World Domination adventure.

Each building or unit here takes up some resources from your treasury for its maintenance. The upkeep toll is tied right into the game’s economy, where you first have to accumulate, and then it would be easier to spend more. The developers managed to make the food and the gold to be equally important for the gameplay. Thus, the summoned creatures do not work for money, but, in addition, to consumed mana, they love a tasty meal just like nearly all the other Ardania habitants.