TW:WH1 is a mix of Civilization and the Heroes of Might & Magic series: a strategy game in a fantasy world. You pick a scenario or a large campaign and then you can pick which faction you want to represent. Each faction plays different: there is a lot of variation in units, buildings but also in diplomacy, objectives and research. Most of the game is run from a map setting like civilization but battles are massive and go beyond what you have ever seen outside of the Total War series. You can zoom out or go down to the individual troop while everything plays in real time. Battles are chaotic at first but as you progress you learn better tactics and which units work best together.

You can collect artifacts and level up your lords (the person that is leading your army) so they become more powerful and give advantages to the troops. The map is divided in provinces and when you conquer all settlements in one province you get additional benefits. Interestingly enough you can’t just control everything: for example as a human faction you are not able to take control of a dwarf city you can you only loot or raze the city. Then there are quests and minor objectives that each give some bonuses.

It may sound complicated but as you start to play you will notice that the in game tutorial does a good explaining the basics. You may have to restart one or two times before you get it but it is very enjoyable. It's one of those games that you tell yourself: I really need to sleep, ok one more turn to do A, B and C... and suddenly it's two hours later and you don't even realise it. The first time you play the campaign it may take 20 hours or so, but as there is a lot of replayability which all the different factions, quests and events you can easily spend hundreds of hours. I found one of the largest challenges is that you become too greedy and spread yourself too thin - the CPU will wait for that moment and then you lose a lot. Finding the right balance between building your economy, upgrading your armies and conquering the land is key to success.

Besides the main campaign there are two additional scenarios and there are Quest Battles (about 20 - 30; some heroes have up to seven different Quest battles others have about two).

Just one more turn... it's been a while since I experience this. It's a really good game.

The game still looks fantastic. The sounds effect and the voice acting are great.

You can zoom all the way in onto individual units or zoom out for a birds eye view. This is done really well.

The map is huge and there is a lot of variety. I also like the in-game events and that the AI will not give up and continue to fight to the bitter end or decides to give up and wants to become part of your empire all depending on how you treat them and who you are.

It's great that diplomacy and trading play a large role; it adds more character to the different factions.

There are so many achievements - great for people that like to earn them :-).

By purchasing TW:WH and the DLC you are able to bring these over to TW:WH2 & TW:WH3. It's a nice touch and I wish other developers would do the same.

I really enjoyed the differences between the races: it's not just different troops or buildings, the research trees vary greatly, tactics differ and even how to engage or not engage can make a huge difference between the races.

If you want to play with more than the basic faction you will have to buy DLCs. While not necessary if you're not interested - in the end you will probably buy them. However, the game is great and it got a lot of support of the devs.

I experienced minor slow downs at the biggest battles - likely a limitation of the engine.

Don't start with this game if you have an important week at work or school. All you will think of is playing TW:WH :-).

I found that the late game suffers in the same way when you play Civilization on a large or larger map: there are too many heroes, too many cities, too much micro management and I got bored managing the cities. You can play a race that is nomadic and that kept my interest longer but the end game is not so good. It's also a pity that it takes so long to get the interesting L5 troops - there are ways around this like using the Steam Workshop but it's a pity the vanilla game doesn't offer like a custom mode where you can start with all the units unlocked from the start.

It's a pity you can't apply the tactics of scorched earth to your own cities.

I wish we could build more defensive structures on the map or road etc similar like you can in Civilization.

It would have been cool to be able to have different formations for your troops or at least to be able to rotate your troops into a specific direction other than forwards at the beginning of the battle.

I wish you could instruct the heroes to auto cast spells and enhancements during combat.

It would be better to have an auto level function - especially when you have a lot of heroes there’s a lot of micro management.

In general I had a bug and glitch free experience. Some minor issues are:

I experienced one bug during the tutorial where the AI would not move and the game didn't freeze but just didn't move forward to the next AI. A restart fixed that.

Sometimes the game zooms on a hero in the map while you are actually controlling a different one. Clicking on their name fixes it.

There are 13 DLCs of which six are free. Some add new factions that you can play as, new heroes, a bloodpack (which should be free), quests, items etc. None is required but if you're a fan I would recommend to get these on one of the many sales.

TW:WH1 is in itself a huge DLC for TW:WH2 & TW:WH3

A strategy game that takes all the good from Civilization, HOMM and then adds more of its own to it. There is a lot to discover and the game still looks great. It's largely bug free and the DLCs add more replayability to the game. What is there not to like?

If you're in deep strategy games in a fantasy world then I strongly recommend TW:WH. Just be prepared to deal with "one more turn".

[H1]So what's it about?[/H1] TW:WH1 is a mix of Civilization and the Heroes of Might & Magic series: a strategy game in a fantasy world. You pick a scenario or a large campaign and then you can pick which faction you want to represent. Each faction plays different: there is a lot of variation in units, buildings but also in diplomacy, objectives and research. Most of the game is run from a map setting like civilization but battles are massive and go beyond what you have ever seen outside of the Total War series. You can zoom out or go down to the individual troop while everything plays in real time. Battles are chaotic at first but as you progress you learn better tactics and which units work best together. You can collect artifacts and level up your lords (the person that is leading your army) so they become more powerful and give advantages to the troops. The map is divided in provinces and when you conquer all settlements in one province you get additional benefits. Interestingly enough you can’t just control everything: for example as a human faction you are not able to take control of a dwarf city you can you only loot or raze the city. Then there are quests and minor objectives that each give some bonuses. It may sound complicated but as you start to play you will notice that the in game tutorial does a good explaining the basics. You may have to restart one or two times before you get it but it is very enjoyable. It's one of those games that you tell yourself: I really need to sleep, ok one more turn to do A, B and C... and suddenly it's two hours later and you don't even realise it. The first time you play the campaign it may take 20 hours or so, but as there is a lot of replayability which all the different factions, quests and events you can easily spend hundreds of hours. I found one of the largest challenges is that you become too greedy and spread yourself too thin - the CPU will wait for that moment and then you lose a lot. Finding the right balance between building your economy, upgrading your armies and conquering the land is key to success. Besides the main campaign there are two additional scenarios and there are Quest Battles (about 20 - 30; some heroes have up to seven different Quest battles others have about two). [H1]The good[/H1] Just one more turn... it's been a while since I experience this. It's a really good game. The game still looks fantastic. The sounds effect and the voice acting are great. You can zoom all the way in onto individual units or zoom out for a birds eye view. This is done really well. The map is huge and there is a lot of variety. I also like the in-game events and that the AI will not give up and continue to fight to the bitter end or decides to give up and wants to become part of your empire all depending on how you treat them and who you are. It's great that diplomacy and trading play a large role; it adds more character to the different factions. There are so many achievements - great for people that like to earn them :-). By purchasing TW:WH and the DLC you are able to bring these over to TW:WH2 & TW:WH3. It's a nice touch and I wish other developers would do the same. I really enjoyed the differences between the races: it's not just different troops or buildings, the research trees vary greatly, tactics differ and even how to engage or not engage can make a huge difference between the races. [H1]The not so good[/H1] If you want to play with more than the basic faction you will have to buy DLCs. While not necessary if you're not interested - in the end you will probably buy them. However, the game is great and it got a lot of support of the devs. I experienced minor slow downs at the biggest battles - likely a limitation of the engine. Don't start with this game if you have an important week at work or school. All you will think of is playing TW:WH :-). I found that the late game suffers in the same way when you play Civilization on a large or larger map: there are too many heroes, too many cities, too much micro management and I got bored managing the cities. You can play a race that is nomadic and that kept my interest longer but the end game is not so good. It's also a pity that it takes so long to get the interesting L5 troops - there are ways around this like using the Steam Workshop but it's a pity the vanilla game doesn't offer like a custom mode where you can start with all the units unlocked from the start. It's a pity you can't apply the tactics of scorched earth to your own cities. I wish we could build more defensive structures on the map or road etc similar like you can in Civilization. It would have been cool to be able to have different formations for your troops or at least to be able to rotate your troops into a specific direction other than forwards at the beginning of the battle. I wish you could instruct the heroes to auto cast spells and enhancements during combat. It would be better to have an auto level function - especially when you have a lot of heroes there’s a lot of micro management. [H1]Bugs and glitches[/H1] In general I had a bug and glitch free experience. Some minor issues are: I experienced one bug during the tutorial where the AI would not move and the game didn't freeze but just didn't move forward to the next AI. A restart fixed that. Sometimes the game zooms on a hero in the map while you are actually controlling a different one. Clicking on their name fixes it. [H1]The DLCs[/H1] There are 13 DLCs of which six are free. Some add new factions that you can play as, new heroes, a bloodpack (which should be free), quests, items etc. None is required but if you're a fan I would recommend to get these on one of the many sales. TW:WH1 is in itself a huge DLC for TW:WH2 & TW:WH3 [H1]Summary[/H1] A strategy game that takes all the good from Civilization, HOMM and then adds more of its own to it. There is a lot to discover and the game still looks great. It's largely bug free and the DLCs add more replayability to the game. What is there not to like? [H1]Should you buy it?[/H1] If you're in deep strategy games in a fantasy world then I strongly recommend TW:WH. Just be prepared to deal with "one more turn".