Seven Kingdoms: Conquest E3 2005 Preshow Report

Seven Kingdoms: Conquest marks a return to the Seven Kingdoms universe for Hong Kong developer and publisher Enlight. The first two real-time strategy games in the series came out in 1997 and 1999, so needless to say, six years is a long time between chapters. That said, Enlight has partnered with Australia's Infinite Interactive, the developer of the cult Warlord Battlecry series, to make this new Seven Kingdoms game, which promises to be quite different from what we've seen before.

The first two Seven Kingdoms games were somewhat fantasy-based, blending in elements of Earth culture with fantasy elements, such as demons. Conquest will shake things up a bit, as it presents an alternate history of human civilization, and it ties together ancient Egypt to the distant future, along with the major ages of civilization in between. Basically, the story is that 5,000 years ago, an Egyptian pharaoh opened the door to a demonic invasion of Earth. The Egyptians drove the invaders back, but every 1,000 years, the gateway opens, and the demons return. However, they'll face a different era of human history each time, so you'll progress from the Egyptians to the Sumerians to the Greeks, Normans, Saxons, Americans, and beyond. That translates into plenty of playable factions in the game (21 in total), but you can also play as one of the seven realms of demons as well.

Enlight and Infite are sharing development duties on the game. Infinite is developing the actual gameplay, while Enlight is handling the art and graphics. Since Infinite is responsible for the gameplay, we can expect an interface that's similar to the one featured in the Warlord Battlecry games. Enlight touts that it's going for a very action-heavy game with lots of strategic depth but less micromanagement. To that end, the game features an automated resource gathering system to let you focus on gameplay. You can engage in warfare, as well as trade, espionage, and diplomacy. Each faction has hero units, and each also has magic and technology at its disposal.

The game will feature single-player and multiplayer skirmish maps, and skirmish mode will support up to eight players, human and computer-controlled. The multiplayer mode will also support up to eight players over the Internet or a network. Barring any changes in plans, Enlight is planning to ship Seven Kingdoms: Conquest this fall.