Older players remember how many attempts there were to make a game not even better, but at least at the level of Heroes of Might and Magic III , a recognized classic of turn-based strategies. Then these attempts were abandoned, and in principle, such games practically ceased to be developed. And finally, in 2019, the Swedish studio Lavapotion announced Songs of Conquest , which immediately became the new hope of all remaining fans of the genre. The release in early access in 2022 showed that the authors are moving in the right direction. And now a full release has taken place. So, have we got a new classic.
Elves-people and dragon-toads
It should be said right away that the Swedes were moving in the right direction, but along their own path. Yes, the basis is classic – we move heroes in turn-based mode across a map dotted with all sorts of altars, chests and cities, collect gold and artifacts, capture and develop settlements, and when confronted with enemies, we are transferred to a tactical map and participate in turn-based battles.
But Songs of Conquest also has its own nuances. For example, it has a rather unusual take on the classic factions. For example, the local undead (the barony of Lot) are led by dedicated scientists who also began to cooperate with the nobility – both sincerely believed that they were doing a good deed. The Knights of Arleon actively cooperate with the local elves in the struggle for power. The faction of mercenaries from Baria is a mix of steampunk mechanics and people from the East who have their own code of honor (though they serve primarily a contract). Finally, the lizardmen here have been replaced by the bullymen of Ran, who are actually a little dragon.
The plot is also presented in an unusual way. There were only two campaigns in early access, and two more were added at release. You can play any of them at once, but the entire chronology of events is made up of the alternation of missions from all campaigns. The authors here applied the method of Julio Cortazar from his novel “Hopscotch” and in the same way left encrypted instructions that reveal the sequence of tasks from different scenarios, which will allow you to put together the overall picture. The approach may not be appreciated by everyone, but it is original (well, almost).
In any case, the story turned out to be interesting. The leitmotif – attempts to resurrect the Empress – is classic, but, as they say, the devil is in the details. And the missions themselves are structured interestingly. Within one, yesterday’s enemies can become allies, and noble lords and barons – turn into cultists. In one task, you need to escape from superior enemy forces, in another you constantly have to choose a path to the goal – and each time this leads to a fight with other enemies and the replenishment of our army with other units.
The scenarios themselves, the dialogues, the characters, the lore of the world and the factions are well written. And everything is accompanied by beautiful videos to the songs of a bard telling about the events he just experienced. Everyone here is constantly singing or speaking in verse, and the conversations of the baron named von Lot with his subjects resemble somewhat comical sketches from the life of a Russian village in the 19th century, and this may confuse someone, but this is already a matter of taste.
Spot changes
In any case, people don’t come to such games for the plot. As I already said, Songs of Conquest has a classic gameplay, in the spirit of “Heroes of Might and Magic” , but with its own features. The main ones are aimed at bringing even more tension, tactics and strategy to the game. Therefore, for example, both the overall size of the army and the number of each individual squad are initially limited.
In addition, the mechanics of cities are interestingly arranged. Places for buildings are strictly limited – not only in quantity, but also in size for small, medium and large buildings. At the same time, initially your cities are not protected by any walls, and if you have not managed to build them, then any master, if he wants, can calmly burn all the buildings, without even storming the center of the settlement, where the garrison is located with all these walls and ballistas.
Of particular importance are buildings that allow you to study technologies that, among other things, increase the size and effectiveness of squads. But there are two types of such buildings, both are extremely useful, and having two at once is rare and only at later stages. In addition, some valuable resources are especially expensive and rare, so markets decide – the more of them, the lower the prices. But given the fragility of your cities, placing important buildings in one place is not recommended. Although settlement specialization is also useful.
Heroes of Sword and Essence
Separately, it is necessary to say about the unique system of magic. It is filled, fed and strengthened by entities – Chaos, Order, Creation and Destruction, which gives certain types of spells. And we receive entities from objects on the map, as well as from units. Initially, faction masters can specialize in one magic school, but then no one prevents you from mixing different entities.
All this is reflected in tactics. Magisters do not spend mana in battle, but, on the contrary, gradually become saturated and gain access to more powerful spells. And it is often better to first take out those units that feed the enemy hero with essences.
Almost all units are well balanced, many have unique abilities that can also be developed. For example, after upgrading, the mechanics of Baria’s mercenaries can install mines on the cell in front of the squad instead of the standard palisade. The terrain on the battlefields is different, and it is important to use it – especially obstacles and heights. And the magic of our masters allows us to influence the location of our fighters – for example, instantly move squads to the right place or remove enemies from our archers.
In Search of a Challenge
There are certain things in Songs of Conquest that can and should be criticized. For example, there is a simple role-playing system – at a new level, we simply choose one of three upgrades (plus we pump up the parameters due to equipment). Although these upgrades are useful, and you have to choose wisely.
There are also practically identical technology branches for all factions. In armies, you can often mix units of different nations without any particular consequences (morale does not suffer in any way – there is simply no such parameter). Considering that any master is free, if he wishes, not to destroy or occupy enemy cities, but simply to lure them to his side in a few turns, all this smooths out the differences between factions.
Finally, in story scenarios on normal difficulty, the gameplay quickly boils down to us gloomily “vacuuming” the map without encountering much resistance. On hard difficulty, of course, it’s much more interesting – enemy heroes quickly begin to press our territories or put us in front of difficult tasks. But even there, many key battles can be won through auto-battle. And in simpler situations, the AI often makes mistakes, forcing us to replay even easy battles – for example, by exposing elite units to attacks.
The best part is on the “monstrous” difficulty. And, of course, in “skirmish” and multiplayer – here I definitely give the game a like. In the “Puzzle” mode there are interesting scenarios that force you to race to light torches or choose which path to explore the map (after choosing, the fork closes). And almost always we initially find ourselves in a very difficult situation, surrounded by more numerous and stronger enemies.
I’m not even talking about matches with live opponents. There are also plenty of interesting conditions on the maps. On one, you need to level up to level 12, buy troops with limited resources and fight in the center of the map. On another location, players try to be the first to capture a city guarded by dragons.
Songs of Conquest is unlikely to become a classic of the genre, but it can and should become an example of how to revive the classics and supplement them with your own discoveries.
Pros: interesting, unusually structured and excellently presented story campaigns; exciting classic gameplay in the style of “Heroes of Might and Magic” , which has its own features; gorgeous “skirmish” and multiplayer; the presence of a built-in editor; beautiful art and an abundance of atmospheric, pleasant music.
Cons: Would like more differences between factions; some difficulty balance issues in story scenarios.