$9.99SpellForce - Platinum Edition Sword in hand, armies at your back
Fight your own battles as a hero, then command elves, dwarves and more across a broken fantasy world.
Is SpellForce - Platinum Edition worth it?
SpellForce - Platinum Edition is worth it if…
- you have patience for a slow, methodical pace and long sessions on one map
- you like games where you build a character and an army in the same sitting
- you enjoy classic early-2000s strategy and role-playing, square jaws and all
- you want a grim fantasy story that unfolds across three full campaigns
Screenshots
A world broken into islands
Thirteen mages got greedy, summoned the raw power of the Elements, and shattered their world. Continents broke apart like glass, and what survived are scattered islands linked by magic portals. That is where you come in: a Rune Warrior, an immortal fighter bound to a rune, called back to life by the last surviving mage of the Circle. Evil has returned to finish what the Convocation started, and the prophecies point at you, a human damned to live forever. You cross from island to island, uncovering what happened and deciding the fate of many. The tone is grim and serious, a wounded world still bleeding.
Half hero, half general
The idea that made SpellForce known: you play a hero with your own body, skills and equipment, and at the same time you found settlements, gather resources and command armies. One minute you fight a skeleton horde in person, the next you are raising an orc town. Workers are summoned with runes, each race gathers and builds its own way: elves have no iron mine but plant forester houses that regrow the forest for endless wood. Your avatar levels up, learns spells from white and black to elemental magic, and collects enchanted gear. The Click'n'Fight control system keeps battles readable and quick to command.
Three campaigns and the battlefield
The Platinum Edition holds three titles. In The Order of Dawn you begin as the summoned Rune Warrior. In Shadow of the Phoenix a necromancer is reviving the Circle mages with an enslaved god's essence, and two rune warriors must join forces against him. In The Breath of Winter a Prince of Darkness needs the blood of the last first-born elf, Queen Cenwen, who sings beneath the ice for the dragon Aryn. Your character carries over between campaigns.
Can you play it solo?
How does the RTS part actually work?
You claim monuments on each map, then summon workers with runes to gather resources and raise buildings, and summon units and hero companions with other runes. Humans and dwarves can double their iron income, elves regrow their forests, and every race has its own units with distinct strengths and weaknesses. You can field all six races, humans, dwarves, elves, dark elves, orcs and trolls, at the same time, against more than thirty enemy kinds, from goblins to giant ice dragons.
Has the game aged well?
It plays like the classic it is. The graphics still have their own charm, and the soundtrack is a real strong point, especially the music in The Breath of Winter. The voice acting is dated and the pacing is slow, with maps that can take hours, so it suits players who like to take their time rather than those after a fast modern strategy game.
