E3 2008: Disciples III: Renaissance Updated Impressions - Graphics, Gameplay, General Status Report

The E3 2008 event may be winding down, but that didn't stop us from taking an updated look at Disciples III: Renaissance, the long-awaited sequel to the cult hit fantasy strategy series developed by the now dearly departed internal development team at Canadian publisher Strategy First. Disciples III, like the previous games in the series, will be a fantasy-themed turn-based strategy game that bears a strong resemblance to another classic series: the Heroes of Might & Magic games from the late, great New World Computing.

The faithful few who recall the Disciples series will remember that the game took the turn-based strategy of Heroes of Might & Magic and reduced the scale from adventuring war squadrons full of dozens of fantastical creatures down to smaller adventuring parties with four to six members, who might be knights, wizards, archers, dragons, werewolves, or banshees. Despite this colorful-sounding collection of possible armies, the series has always had a darker, gothic look and feel--the series always had an elaborate, baroque art style with highly detailed character portraits and sonorous choral music to accompany the action.

From what we can tell, Disciples III will remain true to its roots of being a tactical, turn-based strategy game, even though it will be making the jump to 3D graphics. Like in previous games, you'll command small parties led by a hero unit across overland maps, fighting your way past guardians to liberate treasure troves, using items in your inventory to strengthen your party (or aid them--healing potions will return as well), and gaining experience levels for both your hero and your troops. As in previous games, you'll need to build upgrade structures in your home city to unlock the more-powerful versions of your troops, and as before, these upgrade structures will branch in different ways--you'll be able to choose only one path to upgrade those wizards and dwarves. As before, when your troops gain experience levels, they become upgraded to whatever path you've chosen in your home city, while your hero unit will gain a new passive skill, such as a tougher constitution or the ability to command a larger army.

The biggest change in Disciples III will be in the game's turn-based battles, which will actually let your troops move in battle (in previous games, they were stuck in place and would simply attack or take action in sequence). The tactical battles will play out on hex-based grids, along which you'll want to send your melee units as far as possible to attack the enemy while defending your weaker back-row units. The tactical battles will also randomly have spots on the hex map that grant special bonuses, such as powering up any abilities used by mage units that stand on them.

Disciples III has been a long time coming, and apparently the game still has a way to go. It's scheduled for release in early 2009.