But it's just too limited. Very small selection of enemy types across the expansive amount of territory you will cover. You won't see much variety from engagements. The story feels paper thin, there are no stand-out characters to attach to. I like the idea of the game but it feels like opponents that are demons, magical demons and undead demons could have been expanded further and displayed some higher concept differentiation. Classes have some neat ideas like swapping damage types to help them synergize with multiclass choices, and they can generally choose between being either melee or ranged focused. I completed the game three times: first with an inquisitor occultist several years back, forgot everything the game was about and came back to #2 the summoner/melee necromancer shaman, trying to be that vampiric army leader archetype. Character #3 was an arcanist who specced everything in to aether damage. Build variety is a definite plus and theres enough for the player to experiment with using respecs in game to keep that feature fresh. Unfortunately the story is atrocious. All of the exciting events of the setting happened months or years prior to your character waking up. You're cleaning up the mess left over, with very little to make you invested and scant reactivity from the game world. Nearing the finish of the base games' content you will be left bewildered by the past 2 or 3 hours of your play time - as the final boss is a total non-sequiteur against what you've been doing the whole game. The expansion Ashes of Malmouth does drag things back on track in that regard, I just wish that AOM had come first and maybe diverted over to the other core plot line later. Even though I am leaving this particular game in a tepid state I am optimistic that a future possible sequel will be much better. This game is a great proof of concept but fails on the execution in enough ways that I can only award it 3/5. FWIW the game ran well at 4k and I never suffered any bugs or crashes. As an ARPG the game is perfectly serviceable and I recommend it to someone just looking for a solid AA game and can look past the shortcomings. I gave the game 85 hours which is much more than I expected to.
EE adds better visuals to many models (but sadly not all) and comes with all of the basic DLC which I previously never had with Diamond. While nothing can save us from the abysmal main campaign, the added other content is more concise, more intelligent and self aware. I would recommend the EE to anyone who enjoys RPGs but caution not to play the main campaign first.
Reviewing this game is rather difficult! The main story starts with you being contracted by a Brevan house of nobles; the Aldori, to sieze and secure a region of contested provinces called the "Stolen Lands". After the mansion you are staying in is attacked (a rather cliche opening but I love it anyway) you are dispatched with a small party of survivors to Oleg's Post and begin your conquest of the region. The story at large has several running themes in it, from character driven drama thanks to your party members, major setting characters getting their fingers involved and the story of the Stolen Lands itself, an exploration in to why things are so miserable and downtrodden. This is now my third full playthrough of the main campaign and I've waited a few years to do it after my last, to help me remain neutral with presenting this review. I rate the story a 7/10, it roughly follows the plot of the adventure module and tries to ask difficult questions particularly with how our characters behaves and the nature of curses. Seemingly benign things can turn in to disaster, in this game you will see plenty of examples. Combat is typical DND 3.X style, if you are looking for a challenging RPG where your character builds can and maybe will influence what challenges you can overcome, this is the correct ruleset. There are hundreds of build guides on youtube and forums if you want help coming up with something fun and strong to play. The game balancing can feel a little unfair especially if you haven't prepared yourself properly. Truth is though, with the benefit of experience I think the balancing is mostly fine. As long as you can think laterally you will probably find a scroll or skill to solve any problem. If you are playing on Normal difficulty, you should find it only reasonably challenging even if you blow your build. It rewards strong tactical thinking and preparation and punishes those who can't. The kingdom management isn't that great, sadly. Overall 7/10
