Etherlords 2

OK

MTG + Heroes of might and magic, good mix

Old gem that needs no introduction and always a whole lot of fun

This game catches a lot of comparisons to HoMM and MtG, but I think both comparisons are ultimately superficial. You control a hero that goes around a map, levels up, and fights wild monsters and other heroes. The map *looks* a lot like HoMM, and it did actually borrow many of the same concepts (including artifacts, and a very similar leveling system). The problem is that it lacks the core element that makes HoMM fun in the first place: strategy. Every single battle is its own self-contained unit; at no point do you ever have to worry about the effects of attrition or replenishing your forces. And so that means there are no actual decisions to be made in the map: you move around it, you fight everything. There are no opportunity costs to be weighed; you just keep on grinding. The map portion is really just poorly-designed interface to find the next battle. (And it is *very* poorly designed. The camera is always locked on your hero, and you can't zoom out very far, which makes it very hard to plan out movement, etc.) As for the battles themselves, the dueling system is very similar to MtG (down to power/toughness, flying, first strike, etc.), but the game is much shallower. There are no instant spells, and most of the things the game adds function entirely randomly. For example, the "regeneration" mechanic will save a creature from death one out of every six times. But when card or hero abilities function so inconsistently, you simply can't strategize around them. More often, they just prolong a battle your opponent is already destined to lose. Which brings me to the second problem: This is kind of like MtG, if every opponent played lifegain or draw-go control with no win conditions. If you have the right deck, many battles are simply un-loseable, but they do take *forever*. The terrible animations that you can't turn off don't help. Oh, and one last thing: The writing is absolutely terrible. So you have an unfun game with an uninteresting plot. Why bother?

Great game, but setup doesnt work for me :/