Songs of Conquest (2024)

I gushed about this game in it's early access state and recently came back to it to play the new campaigns and gush some more now that it is officially out.

I just finished the Loth campaign and the minor issues I experienced seem to be completely gone as the game runs smoother, units all have more unique abilities and use cases, distinct flavor and lore to each faction, and the range of player choices for strategy really help it stand out from the shadow of the Heroes of Might and Magic (HoMM) series. The differences I outline below might annoy some diehard HoMM fans but I think they help give the game a unique identity while also building off the HoMM formula in interesting ways.

In terms of castle/town management, your bases can have more varied max sizes which limits the number of buildings that can be built and defenses when compared to Heroes of Might and Magic games. They also have much greater flexibility, letting you choose what building to construct on a given number of available plots. This allows you to make one town all economic, giving you resources each turn, or all military, producing more units to recruit each turn, or a mix as you see fit.

Armies have set stack size limits, and each stack contributes essence to your Hero or Wielder in this game after their turn in a battle. Essence acts as mana, allowing your Wielder to cast spells in battle. The spells available are universal to each faction and Wielder, limited by the types of essence you have generated and the skill of your Wielder with different types of magic. Each faction has easier or harder types generating specific essence types which does give flavor to the kind of spells you'll see typically from each. Limitations on stack sizes, and how each stack contributes to your available spells adds another layer to army composition that is interesting to play around with. To further add to this, Wielders start with limited army slots available and more can be added as a choice when leveling up over other skills.

In terms of combat, a number of smart features help make Songs of Conquest's combat more fun, rewarding, and dynamic than how it usually flows in HoMM games. All ranged units generally have a limited range, a deadly range, and a damage penalty if they move and then shoot making their positioning much more crucial to a battle and helps keep them being overly useful in any army. Units all also have zones of control so if an enemy unit attempts to pass by them they will endure a free attack of opportunity. Other innovations include higher terrain, and some unique unit abilities that I hope to see more of as they add additional factions in the future.