Check out the new trailer for Paradox and 1C Publishing‘s Elven Legacy, a fantasy strategy game that looks real-time but isn’t. I know, an honest-to-goodness turn-based strategy game without Stukas or Spitfires or Tigers or U-boats! It’s like spotting a Bald Eagle in Kamchatka or something.
Paradox is one of these smaller publishers that flies under the radar but has a devoted base that usually turns out for its uncommonly complex history-minded games you’ve probably never heard of: Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, altogether forming a sort of historical spine linking ancient Rome to the closing beats of World War II. Occasionally Paradox picks up third-party stuff like Elven Legacy, a sequel to last year’s Fantasy Wars.
Here’s the press info:
Elven Legacy is a fantasy strategy game that sends players on an epic quest aimed to restore the former glory of the Elven race. With a thrilling nonlinear storyline and the tools that allow players can create their own missions and campaigns and share them in multiplayer mode, Elven Legacy will provide hours of exciting game play for strategy fans.
I didn’t play Fantasy Wars and I don’t know much about developer Ino-Co, so I’m flying blind here. One review calls the game “satisfying, albeit spectacularly tough” and “a paean to the past,” which is hoity-toity-speak for old-but-still-cool-school. Others give it two thumbs up, while a few irritatedly flip it the middle finger. None of the writeups illuminate the gameplay. Pretty much a day at the park.
Elven Legacy isn’t out until March 2009, but 1C Publishing lists a demo version of Fantasy Wars, in case you’re 371MB worth of intrigued.