King's Bounty: Crossworlds GOTY

Love this game. After reading some lukewarm reviews maybe my expectations were low, but I found this to be a really well-balanced and satisfying game. The core combat experience is indeed a HOMM3 clone (even stealing some of the units from that game), but the creature types have interesting and varied enough abilities to make it work well. The RPG elements I think are fantastic, with multiple ways of progressing your character, spells, dragon's abilities, items, etc. without it seeming bewildering at the beginning. You are able to explore each at your own pace whenever they seem relevant and necessary. And the best thing for me is the travel around the map. Other reviews have pointed out that you can wander across units that are impossibly difficult to beat, but that is clearly intentional - in fact hovering over any unit gives you a very reliable rating of their strength relative to you (including "invincible"). But they are ALWAYS avoidable by backtracking and going a different way, which means you end up tentatively working your way round each island, seeking out a safe path and seeking enemies weak enough to beat, while you gradually improve your abilities. You then return to areas you couldn't survive in earlier to beat those previously invincible enemies. I think this is really clever - rather than a linear progression like most games, you get to see what you will face later right away, and choose your own path to how you will get there. It gives you visual goals to work towards, and lets you choose which to target at any point. It also makes the difficulty curve more transparent, so you don' suspect game is just adjusting enemy strength to whatever level you are currently at - because you can see their army size at an point and that it doesn't change. The difficulty curve was perfect for me, with enemies just tough enough and resources just scarce enough that it is always a challenge to progress, and always rewarding when you do. A rare gem.

Bought this in the winter sale, wasn't expecting much, but after playing for a while, younger son started taking an interest, ended up spending a few pleasant days gaming together. No blood, no gore, and being turn based combat we got to discuss tactics and such Took a few tries to get it working (hence not 5 stars), needed to be run in XP Compatibility.

I am only on the first campaign now, and having at least 25 hours into it and a lot more to go I have to say as someone who was launching games in dos 3.1 i have been around when it comes to gaming. I have played them all pretty much. Heroes of Might and magic memories are brought back when playing this gem, but this game takes it up a whole new level. First things first, It has MASSIVE depth, tons of storyline to read, the menu is so simple, there is very little learnign curve at all. I cannot think of any flaws with this game whatsoever. The game is challenging on NORMAL, which is where i put it, and it fits me just right here. It makes you think, its difficult but winnable combat. There are so many ways to defeat each battle, so many methods, so many unit types, SO MANY SPELLS. the spellbook is simple and a rollover on any spell conveniantly describes the spell and the cost of casting it. You will want to try out each one to develop your favorite methods of battle. If there was anythign i woudl add to this game it woudl be voice acting. And woudl gladly pay more to have that. My eyes just strain a bit form reading text these days. I never leave reviews ...but this game deserves a chance. If you love stragety games, if you love RPGs, if you love StratRPGees,...you will most likely love every aspect of this game. The enemies on each continent do not respawn, but there are plenty of them and exploring to do anyway, It doesnt seem like a limitation far to me. Alsoif they made them respawn, i feel the game might be grindy? It would be interesting to have them respawn but i can understand why they did it the way they did. You dont linger grinding to get tougher, You fight, move on, do a quest...whatever...You get tougher fast enough to keep traveling to new places with MORE quests and enemies to Kill. you WILL be revisting oold places to unlock areas previously unpassable due to either a locked area OR...a SUPER powerful guardian type.

These games have really grown on me, after playing through the first in the series, The Legend, I had a lot of fun with it, up until the end-game when the game's balance went way out of whack and the "underworld" was almost impossible to even approach. This could be due to my inexperience with the game and building a party, so I will probably return to that with a different protagonist class after I finish Crossworlds. Crossworld's has noticeable additions and little improvements, including what seems like some balance improvements (i.e. less time going back to mercenary vendors after every...single...battle). The graphics seem a bit upgraded and the familiar gameplay lets you jump right in. I find the game relaxing and casual, but the combat and RPG elements require just enough thought and strategy to keep it compelling and fun. The fast-travel option when sailing is a HUGE benefit, requiring much less time to travel from island to island, there are more varied environments and smaller islands that make it easier to navigate and complete. I haven't finished it quite yet, so my opinion may change, but so far if I had to recommend one in the series, it's definitely Crossworlds - more variety, more inventory aids, your pets are more powerful, and there's quite a bit more mercenary types you can hire that give you more flexibility. It's always on sale for $3-$4 and it's a game that you can spend hours and hours with, great value in 2019.

I would say in the vein of these types of games, this is one of THE shining stars. Whether you play this version, or any other iteration of the title, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I disagree with a fellow reviewer, who instructed to steer clear of the Warriors of the North version, as that is still just as excellent. This version may be one of my favorites, though. Even the original, I will go back and play, and have played all of the titles several dozen time since they've been released -- that's how much I love this run of games. The sounds, the excitement, and the satisfaction of winning some (hard fought) battles just keeps me coming back for more and more. I feel like I have a virtual life, existing within the many dimensions of this game, as pathetic as that may sound. My advice is to save fairly frequently, and check out the battle patterns, and perhaps redo some of the fighting sequences, if you care to. It can save a great deal on costs of troops, as well as help to retain (and not deplete) powerful/versatile troop types that are not so readily available or are of limited supply. I'd also recommend, in the beginning, taking the dragon companion who is a treasure searcher, as this is a tremendous boon and aids in helping you obtain gold, crystals, spells, and sometimes runes! Plus, there are in-game achievement rewards for finding certain amounts of treasure chests, etc. Other advice would be to perhaps play the Warrior or the Mage classes, before the Paladin, which is a blend of the former 2 classes. The Pally is still great, but most satisfaction may come from the pure breeds, either of which are tremendously fun and each with great advantages. You'll love pulverizing enemies with your troops with high attack ratings, and enjoys taking little damage with high defense say you choose Fighter, or, wiping out huge swaths of enemies with well placed spells as a Mage. There are so many permutations of play, there should be 6 Stars for these games!