Move over, Age of Wonders; there’s a new player in town, or at least… they were since they are undead. Get it? Oké, I’ll stop. Still, if you are in the market for Gothic Vampire Action mixed with the core concept of Age of Wonders (yes, I’m looking at you, Germany), Immortal Realms got you covered.
Kalypso
Kalypso, you are at it again, branching out from Tropico and Railway Empire and diving into the world of Age of Wonders. So, what does Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars bring to the table? Well, an engaging strategy game set in a dark vampire world in turmoil, that combines empire management and turn-based combat with unique card-game elements. Descend into a mythical world filled with horrors and legends – and hurl yourself into a compelling gothic adventure paired with challenging game experience. Discover the secrets of Nemire and experience an enthralling story from the perspective of four mighty vampire lords, each with their own goals and agendas.
Age of Wonders
When I was young, I played so many hours of these kinds of games. I was happy to read that Kalypso tried to fill that hole on the Nintendo Switch since there are not that many games in this particular nitch. Luckily we have our neighbors in Germany, who LOVE these kinds of games. In Vampire Wars, you get to command one of three unique vampire clans with distinctive units, powers, gameplay mechanics, and characters, making strategic maneuvers in “Kingdom” mode before switching over to “Combat” mode to take on your foes intense, closely fought battles. The card game elements enhance the gameplay by granting buffs and other powerful attacks on the battlefield. It does provide a refreshing take on the genre. Each clan and vampire lord has access to their own set of cards, which can be combined to powerful effect.
Immortal Realms
I started with running through the tutorial before diving teeth-first into the campaign. Luckily I did since it’s a pretty complicated game. You get to pick on the three factions (one is unlocked at the beginning); you’ll be dealt pre-determined clan cards to get your deck started. You’ll then choose a further three from a set of five and take these cards onto the map to commence the sucking of blood and besting of immortal foes. Cards here can do any number of things by simply selecting one at any time and hovering it over a target. You can ambush a nearby enemy force, inflicting 30 percent damage to their health bars before a battle has even commenced, bestow extra action points on your troops, summon zombies and gargoyles, get discounts on new troops, increase city and town populations – giving you more blood to quaff – and so on. There’s an impressive number of cards with plenty of fun powers here, and they’re also pleasingly well animated to boot.
Alongside the various boons and traits bestowed by your constantly evolving deck of cards, you’ll also gain legacy points every time you claim an area of the map which you’ll use to unlock traits on a legacy tree. You can compare this with your standard RPG tree, unlocking upgrades for your troops, Lord, or granting buffs to structures in the territories you command.
Card Tricks
But, it’s not all cards play! It’s also a game about combat since the heretics of the human population are trying to rattle up the ranks of the vampire. When moving into battle, I had immediate flashbacks to the Age of Wonders (or Total War in a small setting). While fighting another lord/champion, they have their own set of war cards that can curse enemy units, poison areas of the map, restore life to comrades, cause rot and decay, and more. These cards are upgraded every time you win a battle or gain enough XP to move up a level, and by the time your neck-loving Lord has risen the ranks, you’ll have a deck capable of causing severe problems and turning the tide of a closely-fought fight.
Growing Pains?
Sadly it’s not all blood and gore behind the vampire’s door. The AI can be painful at times, with the best example being that I often started a campaign within a few moves of the enemy and no real option to grow my army. Only to find they’ve somehow amassed a great army that proceeds to decimate my glorious undead force. Sure, this happened all the time when I played Age of Wonders (Shadow Magic and sorts), but it still ‘sucks’ if this happens in the first few campaigns. You’ll also often find yourself scraping through a tough fight only to be immediately pounced on by another army before you’ve had time to recover at all. Yes, this is the style of games, but for those who don’t know the background, history, and typesetting of a game like Immortal Realms and thinking, it will be like ‘ToTaL WaRs with VaMpIrEs from TwIlIgHt,’ really don’t understand the charm of a given setting.
On the Nintendo Switch, the graphics took a beating, though. I played it both in handheld and on my tv in docked mode. The latter improved my gameplay a bit, but still – they could have shown this version a bit more love and polish. Immortal Realms is pretty text-heavy, but I don’t want to know how this even plays out on a Nintendo Switch Lite. For those players, I highly recommend picking up your vampire fix on the PC or even another console. You’ll see the difference in the trailer below:
Conclusion
So, to conclude; It’s a decent game which could have been a little more polished. Especially the Nintendo Switch version suffers from some gameplay-ruining moments, which sucks. For the fans of the genre, these are easily looked over, since it fills a hole in their gaming heart. However, even though I’m a fan of the genre, I also play games to relax and unwind. When a game pushes me to switch from handheld to dock, to make it readable and playable, you walked into the wrong shady alley.
6.5/10
Tested on the Nintendo Switch.
