SpellForce 3: Fallen God review

Reviewed on: PC

Spellforce 3: Fallen God, developed by Grimlore Games and published by THQ Nordic, presents another chapter of the strategy franchise that has kept a solid fan base since its first game in 2003.
This is the third chapter of the third title, this time focused on the Trolls’ point of view.

The game embraces its classic mechanics, giving veteran players an easy adjustment to the new context in terms of gameplay, but it may scare off players less familiar with the style, which is increasingly scarce in current titles, which can make it harder to some degree to attract new fans to the franchise.

The visuals, however, are fantastic, especially for the style, which can have so many things happening on screen at the same time.
The characters have excellently made 3D models, and the artistic approach to cameras, shadows and lighting is entirely appropriate for the game’s context.
The characters’ looks are another strong point; these trolls (who resemble Orcs more in the popular imagination) have several unique aesthetic traits, which makes it easy to remember extremely minor characters in a village full of them.

The monsters and adversaries are quite varied and charming, and the environments are well built: even though they are large, they have well-designed paths so you don’t get lost but, at the same time, they are open enough not to give the impression of being too linear. And finally, the lighting and particle effects when fire or magic happen all match the art style quite well; visually speaking, it surprises for the genre.

The voice acting (in English) is also a labor of care. It is not the first time interaction with the Trolls has happened in the franchise; however, the Moonkin even having casual conversations among themselves, with their own dialect, slang and ways of structuring sentences, is a labor of love that the developers put in to bring real identity to this civilization of barbarians and shamans.

The story starts slow, but flows quite well once the characters are together, with highs, lows and a series of twists that will catch anyone immersed in the game totally off guard, which only adds to the depth of the whole thing.

In the end, these Trolls, who are highly customizable from the start, creating several possible playstyles during the campaign, end up becoming characters you will remember with respect, like Thrall from the Warcraft franchise.