Disciples III: Reincarnation Reviews

How good is Disciples III?  First of all, it was made by a totally different company than the first two installments, so the magic behind the series is gone (probably forever). If taken apart part by part, we have: - Gameplay. Probably the strongest side of the game. It's still fun to upgrade your units and fight monsters. Maybe even more than before due to units actually being able to move around the battlefield and having active abilities. AI on a strategy level is totally braindead, though (the same issue as in Heroes 6-7, when AI, after wasting his strong armies, just passively sits in the capital doing nothing). - Art style. The thing for which Disciples II will be remembered forever. Art in Disciples III, on the other hand, just sucks. It's all shades of grey and brown; units look mostly bland and samey. Some are just laughable. Low-poly models only add to the ugliness of the whole affair, but the main gripe is that visual design is bad on its own even without an outdated engine. There is almost no good 2D art; all portraits are just shots of 3D models (which are bad). The game looks like ass, and it's not because it's outdated, but because the whole visual direction is really bad. - Story. Bland, boring, and uninspiring. The Hordes of Undead campaign (which was originally a DLC) is a bit better, but only a bit. Also, I think the writer was not that good at understanding factions of Nevendaar. They just don't feel the same (narratively) as in previous games. - Music. Good, but tracks are too few. The core gameplay is still good (but it gets repetitive from time to time); the rest is a total downgrade when compared to Disciples II. I had my fun with this game, so if you are into the TBS genre, you probably should try this, but only after beating the first two games in the series.