XIII Century: Death or Glory First Impressions

If you took the popular Total War strategy games, stripped out their overarching turn-based strategic layer, and kept the awesome real-time battles, the resulting game would look a lot like XIII Century: Death or Glory, a real-time tactical game from 1C and developer Unicorn Games Studios that's about the brutal era of medieval warfare.

XIII Century is a game that's about battles, and nothing but battles. It will feature more than 30 of them, divided into five campaigns that cover European history. These include notable battles such as Bouvines, Falkirk, Las Navas de Tolosa, and Lake Peipus, a legendary battle in Russian history that was fought on the surface of a frozen lake. All of the battles aim to historically reconstruct as much as possible, from accurate depictions of the landscape and terrain to the weather conditions and the colorful heraldry of the participants. Of course, how the battle unfolds will be up to you and your skills.

Just looking at the screenshots will tell you that the battles in XIII Century look and feel a lot like those found in Total War. At your command will be a wide range of units, from simple warriors and archers to light cavalry to different types of knights. Each faction has its own unique factions and specialties, as well. For instance, the French have some of the best mounted units in the game with its knights, while the Welsh have the best archers. Meanwhile, the Mongols also make an appearance, and Mongolian cavalry are incredibly swift. These units are armed with the appropriate weapons and equipment, according to historical research.

All of your units will be divided into formations, which is the basic control unit on the battlefield. You simply click on a formation and click somewhere on the map to tell it to move there, or click on an enemy formation to tell it to attack. Selecting multiple formations and click-dragging the mouse lets you play with different formation options on the battlefield, so you can put your foot soldiers in line to face an enemy charge or position your archers in the back of the formation for protection. Victory will go to those commanders that use their units wisely and maneuver them effectively on the battlefield.

The scale of the action is comparable to that of Rome or Medieval: Total War, as you can easily have hundreds, if not thousands, of units on the screen at one time. The visuals are sharp and detailed, and there are subtle variations between each man on the battlefield. If you like medieval warfare tactics, then XIII century is a game worth checking out when it ships. 1C hasn't announced a specific release date, but it is scheduled to ship later this year.