A hero’s main job is to undertake side-quests and conquer provinces by fighting on a chess-like, hex-based playfield. As in any good RPG, they start weak and grow as the game goes on.

The role-playing element is provided by your roster of heroes. There’s a tremendous amount of depth here but, to the game’s credit, it never feels overwhelming. This part of the game is like Total War with a fantasy twist: expect much head-scratching as you decide whether to spend your limited resources on units, upgrades or equipment. It’s a tough task, and it’s only possible if you develop your realm using the extensive economic, military and magical tech-trees available. It’s your job to recruit some heroes, explore a bit, kill some monsters, build an army, overthrow the enemy hero and conquer their castle. As each level opens, you’re presented with a gorgeous view of your citadel and a portion of the surrounding area. Longevity certainly isn’t a problem with this game.Įach shard is a map in its own right, and conquering one leads to bonuses in the next, so there’s a reasonable amount of forward planning as you fight your way through the campaign. To be honest, I’m hazy on how it’ll all turn out, as the game features 8 possible endings and takes between 30 and 120 hours to complete. Or, possibly, to usher in a new era of suffering and damnation. The story goes thusly: the world has been shattered into shards, and it needs the intervention of a higher power (that’s you) to unite them and see off the forces of chaos. We’ll get to the faults in a moment but, for now, it’s time to offer an overview of how things work. Unfortunately, Eador has one significant problem, so a certain amount of unkindness is the reviewer’s sworn duty, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll take any pleasure in exposing it.

It feels like a game that you’ve played before – or, more accurately, like a mashup of several games that you’ve played before – but it does everything with such charm and enthusiasm that it’s hard to be unkind about it. The graphics are lush, the music inviting, the economic options broad, the role-playing meaningful, the campaign game extensive and the story entertaining. Everywhere you look, a gleeful sense of excess abounds. Thanks to little touches like that nicely-written manual, Eador manages to pull it off.

Eador guide