Songs of Conquest is great. Sometimes you know the moment you play something that it’s a belter. You can feel that sense of quality oozing through as soon as you load it up. It’s in the music, the look, the feel – I love a game that plays with real zip and this does. I smile returning to it. I want to tell people about it. Songs of Conquest has me.
Songs of ConquestDeveloper: LavapotionPublisher: Coffee Stain PublishingPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now in early access on Steam, GOG and Epic for £25
Caveat: I am exactly the game’s target audience. A colleague summed it up best when he wandered over to watch me playing and asked if this was Age of Wonders. No, I replied. Was it Heroes of Might and Magic then, he asked. No, I replied. But those two comparisons nail exactly what Songs of Conquest is, and I love them both.
Songs of Conquest is a game about steering a fantasy hero around a map while building their army, then fighting in grid-based, turn-based battles. On the map, you find treasures and buildings to interact with for troops or buffs.
You can also grow troops yourself in towns you build, which aren’t on a separate screen as in Heroes of Might and Magic (and I think Age of Wonders? My memory deserts me), but laid out on the map itself. And to do it all, you’ll need resources either collected from around the map or earned, turn-by-turn, by buildings of your own.
It’s all very familiar, which is part of the game’s charm. You know exactly how to play it even if you don’t understand the game’s specific nuances yet. And the thrill of wandering around a map, scooping up treasure like a frenzied child at Christmas, is giddying. There’s barely a turn that goes by without the game rewarding you, at least to begin with, and it feels wonderful.