PAX West Spotlight: Immortal Realms- Vampire Wars
By: Scarlette
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is an engaging strategy game set in a dark vampire world in turmoil, that combines empire management and turn-based combat with unique card-game elements.
No lies, I enjoy vampire games. I love playing immortal goth hotties in any gaming genre. When I heard of Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars I was interested, my interest grew when I learned it was a medieval RTS. There's just something so satisfying about playing vampires in the traditional Gothic era. Frankly, its my true power fantasy; who doesnt want to be overtly attractive immortal with some insane powers, commanding over armies? It is a power trip and I want to play it.
The story line to Immortal Realms is pretty standard as far as vampire and fantasy plots go: Vampire clan (not so originally named the Dracul) are pretty strong overlord, humans are causing a ruckus and your need to go put that rebellion down and show the blood bags who's boss.
Classic Vampire vs Humans campaign.
Nothing original, but standard and acceptable.
I do hope that the plot line thickens out just a bit more for the full game release, and the demo build I was playing was more like the appetizer for the story line. Otherwise, the story might be one the weaker parts of the game.
In terms of game play...It may have been because I was playing a beta version and I had insisted on playing right away, but it felt as if the control for Immortal Realms was not very intuitive. Specially if you're not a huge RTS genre player, the controls can be challenging, particularly when there is no tutorial mode that informs you of the layout and scheme of the map/controls. I found myself scrolling and going through quite a bit of side menus before I could even figure out the basic function of moving my vampire unit...keep in mind, I dont know if I was given a demo that did not include a tutorial or if this truly was the opening sequence where players learned the basics of combat. If its the latter, new comers to the genre will find that have a learning curve they will need to conquer.
Once I managed to figure out some of the basics of controlling my unit, the game play was fluid and standard RTS structure. Combatants take turns, prepping their units,, moving them and commanding them to attack or stand down. Actions take turns or action points- familiar concepts to anyone who has played RTS's or turn based strats
Immortal Realms attempts to set itself apart in the RTS genre by instilling a deck building/card base attack system. The idea of adding deck building to RTS is a fabulous one, it makes for a strategy game in an already existing strategy genre; giving Immortal Realms the potential to have a deeply complex and intriguing battle system. I know I could loose myself trying to build or theory craft a deck with my vampire units...if I could figure out *how* to utilize my cards or incorporate them into my deck. Unfortunately, my particular demo was capped at 15 minutes, so I didnt have much time to learn more about the decks or cards, as I spent a significant amount of time just trying to learn the controls
The graphics for Immortal Realms is great quality- but not exactly prime. You can see in some cut scenes that the models used are not very fluid, they feel slightly stiff and the textures are lacking. Im hoping once its out of the beta build that these items will get some improvement. Overall though, the graphics for the game are solid.
The level designs seem pretty standard as well- the area are flat with a few items on the map meant total movement or provide a flanking opportunity. Again, the graphics for the levels are good quality, but you can see that uit lacks from texture and depth to give it something extra. Hopefully outside of the demo, the maps for battles have some variation rather than being flat.
For the little time that I spent with the game, I can see that there will be some big replay ability for some players. I imagine players will go through their first campaign and then opt for a second run, but with different options and different decks varying from their earlier campaign.
My overall first impressions for Immortal Realms? When it comes to its story, level design and graphics, its average. It's the replay ability and the addition of deck building attack system that gives Immortal Realms a much needed boost for gamers to take notice and play the game. Will it be enough to earn a fan following? Hard to say based off the beta build as I feel like a lot of pieces are missing, or unexplained- which will intimidate new comers- but I'll keep my fingers cross that the complete build will improve on what it has so Immortal Realms can be a more than "just a good game" but instead a great game.
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars will be available 2020 for PC