The level of choices and customization in this game is IMMENSE, but don’t let scare you… well, let’s be honest, if thinking, strategizing, and making choices on how to level you character all in a typical 1-2 hour game session scares you off, then perhaps this game is not for you.

This games has a great story (the dwarf NPC is pretty well developed… he’s very talkative and everyone has ZERO patience for him - it’s fairly comical), the puzzle mechanics are solid and intuitive, and the RPG elements make the game awfully addictive.

My one gripe was that it was not terribly intuitive as to how the various buildings in your little kingdom would work (i.e. building a dungeon, building a stable, building a tower to keep your conquered kingdoms orderly, etc). Eventually the little “on demand” tutorial girl sheds “just enough” light on it to give you a sense, but never anything that is in depth which would make you feel comfortable about the potential purchase… this is compounded by the fact that at the beginning of the game money is somewhat scarce, so some assistance on those choices would have helped. Eventually you are able to lay siege on the surrounding kingdoms and the money starts flowing in, but up to that point it can be difficult to know what to buy first (and why).

Overall, this is a tremendous hybrid of a variety of gametypes (strategy, puzzle, and RPG) and as a whole these gameplay elements make for a very compelling game experience. I’ve put in at least 12 hours and although some of the battles can be repetitive and laborious at times, I’ve had a tremendous time playing it so far and I really appluad Infinite Interactive for their efforts on this one…

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Rating — 4.5 out of 5
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