Not sure why many hate on this game. It has flaws yes, but I think it is good work from a AA studio.

I played this game right after finishing the last two KB games (The Legend and Crossworlds) and I must say that I was pleasantly surprise by the improvements they made for this game compared to the other 2:
- Many fast travel points
- Fully voiced dialogues (albeit some voice lines are not very well acted, I find it still better than reading a wall of text)
- Larger variety in combat maps, with the addition of tile elevation
- No more running around trying to not be attacked by wandering ennemies
- Possibility to pay to get back fallen troops after a battle if the unit was not completely wiped out
- Beautiful 3D environments and sceneries. Seriously, not sure why people complain about graphics. It's a beautiful game

All in all, the game has the same foundation as Legend and Crossworlds. It is as unforgiving in them in the sense that you have to properly manage your money and your troops not to run out of funds. Yes, it is a shorter game and there are less fights, but I feel like they were all meaningful instead of simply having to fight random enemies.

They changed some game mechanics and, while I don't agree with some of them, I feel like it creates a more interesting gameplay. You now have a limit on the number of troops per unit (which depends on its type) which now makes it unviable to have low tier units as the progresses (and hence forces you to change your army instead of always sticking to the same units throughout the game). Units can now also gain their own level by killing enemy troop and get better as they level up.

My only real gripe with this game are the simple brain-dead "puzzles" where you just have to run around and push some things without thinking (which is simply just a waste of time) and the fact that some meshes are not well polished and you can get somewhat stuck on them...

It pains me to say that this sequel is a total junk.
For starters, the graphics are cheap and the controls are messed up good. I have trouble just walking around on the horse. Fortunately at some point it just disappeared and I was happy I could just walk ... did I mention walking also requires some fps gaming skills? :)
The items are so boring ... most of them are labeled "useless junk, you may sell it". The useful stuff is rare and just boosts one of the few attributes your hero has.

Which brings me to the second point of failure: battles. They are primitive to say the least ... The battlefield is tiny ... I mean, Heroes I had a larger battlefield... And all the tier 1/2 troops I encountered were pretty much the same, doing pretty much the same amount of damage and their "features" didn't seem to do much difference.

Thirdly, the story and the universe was hilarious such that I would have laughed if I weren't busy crying :)
You start as a prisoner, but somehow the "prince" calls for your release, gives you some "starting gold" and some guards ... you are summoned to the capital (I suppose) in order to save the world ... So Chapter I of the story would be "From prisoner to world messiah in 20 steps and a couple of dialogs"
Then you have some weird side stories:
- marauders wanting to starve the prison you just got out, opposed by some dwarves
- a skeleton mage who's researching how to end the winter and bring summer again in a village called Bliss...
- a were-bear guy who's in love with a dubious which ... or so he says ... never got to check upon his story 'cause I left this dumb universe...

All in all ... Another legendary game franchise has been destroyed by greed, lack of vision and "time to market" (?)

Good game except for my xbox controller inconsistency