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Conquest of Elysium 5 (Turn-based 4x like you've never seen before!)

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
Conquest of Elysium 5!

Have you heard about it? I wouldn't blame you if you haven't, I learned about this game's existence myself only a few months back. It's unfortunately quite niche, as this game has wowed me with it's depth, complexity, diversity and re-playability. Among other things. I've put several hundred hours into it over the past few months - the 5th iteration of it released back in August this year.

Do you like 4X games? Fantasy/history based settings? Turn-based action? Well, this game has that, and more! It's got several thousand units you can equip your armies with, in addition to countless items and about a couple dozen classes to play with. All feeling quite distinct and unique from one and other. I would argue there is at least one class for every person's likings available in this game.

It's also quite affordable! The developers of the game, Illwinter Games, from Sweden - a TWO MAN team(!!!) has been at this game and another called Dominions for a very very long time. They started making games back in the SEGA days. And I gotta say, personally I am extremely impressed what only two people have been able to create!

This game is a masterpiece! I only wish I knew it existed sooner! It's even quite affordable on steam, and so far I've gotten veeeeeeery much value for my money. And I intend to get more. It's also got some great humour in it, if you're the kind of guy that can bother reading descriptions of units. One example that had me giggle is the Giant Ant Queen - apparently it is the law of the land to immediately attack these on sight, before they can settle down and make an ant hill. If you can not attack them immediately, you must gather a force that can at the very latest one hour after it's been spotted! (and trust me, you really want to do this, or it will make babies that you'll have to deal with) - this is just one of the thousands of colourful units you can encounter in this game.

You can play as, for instance, Senator (A faction based on the Roman Empire.), Dryad Queen (a faction that summons animals of the forest, and protectors of nature to fight alongside it's minotaurs, dryads, centaurs and satyr, among other powerful beings of the wilds.) - you also have everything from goblins and dwarves, to a vast array of caster-focused classes - and an un-believable amount of spells and spell trees to delve into!

Heck, I'm just scratching the surface here! You can play as factions based on the Aztecs, feudal lords of Europe, Japanese samurais and so much more!

(My favourite class in the game is the Dryad Queen - I love charming my opponents over to fight for my side, and capturing the animals of the forest with my spells and rituals to bolster my armies with moose, bears, boars, elephants, spider, snakes and a whoooole lot more.)

The game is massive! There is a lot to learn, so it can be daunting for new players to take on, but once you've played it for a little while, you will start getting the hang of it! And if it at all looks like a game that you would be even slightly interested in - I can damn near guarantee you that you will not regret picking it up! (until you watch the hours you've played it rack up into the hundreds and thousands, and start wondering what the heck you are actually doing with your life.)

All that being said - I from time to time play through this game and put out the playthrough on youtube, although mostly I just chill and play for solo enjoyment. That being said - you can also play with your friends in multiplayer!

Either way, let me present to you a few playthroughs that I have out of this game on youtube, so you can have a look for yourself and see if you might want to get it! (which if you're anywhere near answering that with "maybe", I'd say do not hesitate, and just get it already!)

The first playthrough I want to show you, is with my favourite class, the Dryad Queen. I just vibe so well with this class, it's such an enjoyable gaming experience for me. Below is the first episode in the playlist;


Secondly, I want to show you another class I really enjoy - the Necromancer! Raise the dead, summon demons from hades, kill your enemies only to raise them back from the dead and have them fight their previous masters! ...what's not to like about that??


Sincerely - if this at all looks anywhere near your alley - you owe it to yourself to try it out! And to the game developers for making such a masterpiece! Too bad they're not better known than they are. They really have done people who like games like this a great service!
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
I have a playthrough with another class in the making - the Priest King. I'm finding this class surprisingly fun to play, and a bit of choice/priority heavy, sending you down potentially endless options of advancing your faction as you move along. Personally I have gone with the strategy of spending my sacrifice resource on upgrading my casters that keep to the back and survive more easily so far - ending up with some serious spellpower over the course of the game!



Hopefully it will be entertaining for a few of you!

And hopefully posting playthroughs as I get into them every couple of weeks, at least the first episode of them, won't be frowned upon. If it is, I completely understand - just let me know, and I'll stop doing it!
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
some people

I think that part of the sentence, maybe less so on this forum, seems to unfortunately be the general consensus in regards to this game's popularity. It's a lot more niche than I think it deserves to be - it's damn gem, and I'm personally shocked I didn't learn about it's existence until it's 5th iteration released and I got it popping up in my steam feed. I rarely ever give a crap about the games that show up there, if I'd say I care about one every five years, that might be a stretch even. This game however hooked me right in! It's devs really deserve that more people get to know their masterpiece, in my opinion!
 

Comte

Guest
Dude is this some weird attempt at guerilla marketing? Or just to promote your channel newfag?
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,496
Conquest of Elysium 5!

Have you heard about it? I wouldn't blame you if you haven't

Dude, some people on this forum go as far back as Conquest of Elysium 2. We had dozens of forum Dominions MP games here. Of course we heard about it.
Even before that,but if we never played the first one its because it was on the atari falcon, almost no one owned that.
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,704
Location
Ingrija
Even before that,but if we never played the first one its because it was on the atari falcon, almost no one owned that.

Atari what? Good god, but why?

Always wondered why did CoE start with "2". Guess Illwinter started out as those special dudes who code for a theoretical computer existing only in their mind :smug:
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,496
Atari ST and amiga 500 had a loyal customer base and before that the c64, so while most shifted to the pc some went to the A1200 and falcon, made sense some enthusiast coder made something for them. Sadly those computer never took of, it was a lot better than using a 386 pc , a motorola 68030 was just a bit under a 386 intel processor if i remember well. Hard to find charts for that.
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,704
Location
Ingrija
Atari ST and amiga 500 had a loyal customer base and before that the c64, so while most shifted to the pc some went to the A1200 and falcon, made sense some enthusiast coder made something for them. Sadly those computer never took of, it was a lot better than using a 386 pc , a motorola 68030 was just a bit under a 386 intel processor if i remember well. Hard to find charts for that.

Well, in 1996 when CoE has first surfaced, we already had pentiums and windows 95, and games like HoMM2 or Warlords 2 deluxe were last year already.

I guess the swedes ("magical science", huh?) simply didn't have a proper pc at the time and coded for whatever system they've got.
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,496
Atari ST and amiga 500 had a loyal customer base and before that the c64, so while most shifted to the pc some went to the A1200 and falcon, made sense some enthusiast coder made something for them. Sadly those computer never took of, it was a lot better than using a 386 pc , a motorola 68030 was just a bit under a 386 intel processor if i remember well. Hard to find charts for that.

Well, in 1996 when CoE has first surfaced, we already had pentiums and windows 95, and games like HoMM2 or Warlords 2 deluxe were last year already.

I guess the swedes ("magical science", huh?) simply didn't have a proper pc at the time and coded for whatever system they've got.
Would have to ask them , it's very well possible, it was not so common to own computers already and money was tight for teenagers. That late i woudl tend tot hink he was jsut an atari enthusiast.
Theres a 1998 COE 2 review there ,on falcon too, so its even more late than you think
Atari ST Conquest of Elysium : scans, dump, download, screenshots, ads, videos, catalog, instructions, roms (atarimania.com)
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
Whoa! Thanks for posting that COE history lesson of a video! Looks trippy as heck, knowing what the game is like today! But I certainly enjoyed learning more of it's roots! And to be fair, I'd probably be sucked in by it if I played it when it first released!
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,704
Location
Ingrija

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,496

Interesting. I had assumed COE2 is simply a port of COE for non-obsolete systems. The screenshots certainly look more or less identical. If COE2 was on Atari too, how is it different from the original COE?
Better interface, more options from the begining like selecting the era, that wasnt in COE1. More AI controlled players it seems it was 4 in COE 8 in COE2. More factions..More more... Exactly like it its today.
you could see that on a video there Conquest of Elysium Episode 1 - YouTube
 

Harthwain

Magister
Joined
Dec 13, 2019
Messages
5,413
Between Dominions 5 and Conquest of Elysium 5, which one would you recommend and why? I am eyeballing both at the moment.
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth

Catacombs

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
6,116
Between Dominions 5 and Conquest of Elysium 5, which one would you recommend and why?
Dom5 because is a very, very deep 4X game that can yield hundreds of hours of fun as a single-player or multiplayer endeavor.
 

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