Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars: Might & Magic: Heroes with Vampires

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is the bloody answer to Might & Magic Heroes. The round strategy title from publisher Kalypso and developer Palindrome is coming this spring and impresses with some good ideas of its own, a dark, dense atmosphere and a high level of difficulty. There are also many opportunities and different ways to win, which ensures great long-term fun.

If you like sophisticated, turn-based strategy games in combination with extensive role-playing mechanics, as they have become known worldwide thanks to the "Might & Magic: Heroes" series, we should have good news for you. The Swedish developer Palindrome Interactive is currently working on a title that is strongly reminiscent of the successful fantasy games from Ubisoft in many respects and should be released this spring. Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars – take command of one of three vampire clans who are in a devastating war with their peers.

Might & Magic with vampires

Just like in the famous role model, each army is led by a hero, a so-called vampire lord, who has various powers that can be expanded and improved during the campaign. In your own fortress and in special buildings, you recruit new units, which also have different powers and abilities, in order to fight rival vampire clans. On the map, you can conquer a wide variety of buildings and locations to equip your army, strengthen your forces and collect blood. The latter is basically the universal currency in the game.

The individual units and lords develop and learn new skills. Conquered towns and buildings can be gradually expanded. This gives you important improvements that bring you the decisive advantage in war. On the game card, however, you can only carry out two actions per round, which is why your own approach must be planned well. So it should always be considered at every step whether this is the right procedure in the right order. If you expand too quickly too soon, you run the risk of being overrun by the enemy just as quickly as those who get into your home territory.

The game becomes significantly more demanding in the fights, which are also strongly reminiscent of Might & Magic. In the turn-based confrontation with enemy heroes and their army, it is important to position your own units tactically and to anticipate the adversary's approach.

Depending on the initiative, units of both armies take turns, which have to be positioned according to their strengths and weaknesses. Ranged fighters, as always, are in the back row, melee fighters go straight to the enemy and fast units try to fall on the enemy’s flank. And just like in Ubisoft's famous strategy game, there are units that have special abilities, those that can counter an attack, and magicians who can master powerful spells and can be used in a variety of ways.

Although a tutorial explains the basic elements of the game and gives helpful tips, the fights are pretty demanding from the start. From the very first mission, the action in battle should be well thought out. Even the slightest mistake will cause the enemy army to slowly grind up their own troops and, after two or three battles fought, to stand there with their pants down.

The magic cards

To prevent a hasty end, you use spell cards on the world map as well as in the battles, which differ depending on the controlled lord and cost mana. These cards are the decisive tip on the scales. For example, you can increase or decrease the initiative of units, reduce the cost of recruiting, do direct damage to enemy units, and so on. As your hero rises in level, not only do their stats get better, he or she also gets new and stronger spell cards or improved versions of existing cards.

In Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars, using this magic at the right moment is the be-all and end-all. There is only one problem, unfortunately: the enemy also uses it – which means that a battle can change direction quite surprisingly several times during its course. But it is precisely the uncertainty about which cards the enemy has, combined with the rather high level of difficulty, that make the game an interesting affair.

The world behind it

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars – play three vampire clans that are at war with each other. These include the Dracul, the Nosfernus and the Moroia. All three play very differently, have different strengths and weaknesses and represent fundamentally different philosophies. Between the missions, the story is told in atmospheric still image sequences. But even during the missions, conversations between people drive the event.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars – E3 2019 Announcement Teaser Trailer

Kalypso Media is working on Immortal Realms, a new vampire strategy game.

This may not be presented visually, but it does not detract from the fun. The talented voice actors who lend the vampires their voices also impress. The refreshingly different scenario is likely to be an exciting and interesting alternative, especially for fans of dark fantasy worlds and vampires. Those who have completed the campaign or need a bit of variety in the end can finally look forward to a sandbox and a battle mode.