Disciples II - First Impression

The original Disciples: Sacred Lands came out in 1999 some months after New World Computing's own turn-based fantasy game, Heroes of Might and Magic III. It was a similar game, but rather than merely emulating Heroes' more whimsical gameplay style that combined tactical combat with resource management and role-playing elements, Disciples took the turn-based genre in a different direction. Disciples had a more serious tone, thanks largely to the impressive fantasy art featured throughout the game, and its streamlined gameplay minimized micromanagement to focus on strategic and tactical decision-making. The result was an unusual, addictive, and highly enjoyable game - and one that left plenty of room for a sequel.

Disciples II: Dark Prophecy will improve on its predecessor in a number of ways and will also expand the scope of the previous game. Disciples II will feature a much more dynamic overworld map. Monsters will no longer sit still and impede your progress as in the original and as in the Heroes games but may instead be inclined to attack you if you intrude on their territory.

Once again, the game will focus on the human, dwarven, demonic, and undead factions as they vie for world domination. But now each side will have more warriors at their disposal. Like the original game, Disciples II will make you choose from branching research paths. You might opt to train your fighters to become more powerful knights, but you could instead convert them into fearless inquisitors. Disciples II will rebalance the technology tree to make all the research choices viable and will also introduce around 50 new characters to the game.

Like in the original, your parties of characters in Disciples II will gain experience and proficiencies as they fight. Disciples II will also feature a much more elaborate victory-objective system in which your goals can change mid-mission, which ought to make the individual scenarios much more interesting. Each of the four sides will have a campaign containing seven big missions, making the game much bigger than the original. Disciples II looks promising and stands to help establish Disciples as a lasting and popular fantasy-themed strategy series. Make sure to look for our hands-on impressions from the show floor, as well as our exclusive interview with the game's designer. We've also got concept art from Patrick Lambert, the artist who's designing all of the great-looking characters in Disciples II.