Warlords III: Darklords Rising

This game should be an advice for modern TBS developers, that this kind of games MUST HAVE hot-seat mode as a standard. No neverending DLCs, pure gaming in one game.

When I was 6 years old, my uncle introduced me to Warlords II. As soon as Warlords III has been released - I've put at least 100 hours each year into it. It is the best turn based strategy game I have ever played, I value it even more than HoMM III.

This is my favorite strategy game of all time, and I've been waiting for it to show up here since GOG began. To be able to play it on modern systems with no hassles... well, that's the reason GOG is the best! The gameplay blends strategy, tactics, and just enough RPG elements to have you totally invested in the fate of your generals and their armies. If you haven't played it yet, you're in for a treat!

When I bought my first desktop back in the days, I got a free boxed edition of a game of choice from the guy who sold me the desktop. It was Warlords III I picked and I never changed genre since. Warlords III paved the road for me to many hours of turn-based strategy gaming for me and I was waiting so much for a rerelease of this game. It's finally back again and brought by my favorite publisher. Warlords III offers 4x elements on huge random maps with multiple factions. It uses a random quest system, unit upgrades, experience, construction and much more. It was it's time far ahead. My only wish left for now is a Warlords V.

The Warlords III is the great turn-based strategy classic. The game focuses on strategic level where you manage your unit productions in cities, form strong army stacks, and send them to conquer new cities. It is reasonably easy to get into, but has plenty of depth with high variety of units and different bonuses, which can strengthen your armies and weaken your enemies. Various different heroes can lead armies, explore ruins, and do quests for acquiring additional abilities, useful items, and very powerful special units. Battles themselves are completely automated, which in turn allows game to keep at reasonable pace even then your empire grows very large and you have numerous of armies marching around. The game includes multiple campaigns, numerous stand-alone scenarios, and a very solid random map generation function. Additionally, some fan made scenarios can be found on the old Warlorders.com fansite. The Darklords Rising expansion includes also all the content of the original Reign of Heroes. It should be noted that this is the version 1.02, some unit balance is slightly different from what some people may remember from their original CD version. Works completely fine for me on Windows 10. It does give a nonsensical low disk space warning at start-up, but that little bug can be safely ignored. I have very fond memories of playing Warlords III in both single player and in hotseat multiplayer. Was waiting for it to appear on GOG for a long time, it is great that it finally reached here!