Etherlords II Impressions

On a visit to Strategy First's E3 booth earlier today, we were treated to a brief demonstration of Nival Interactive's Etherlords II, which is currently scheduled for release in August. Whereas Etherlords was essentially a strategy game with collectible-card-based combat, the sequel will also incorporate elements of role-playing in a portion of the game that'll see you exploring the Ether World, gathering resources with which to buy additional spells, and picking fights with any enemies you encounter.

Our demonstration of the new exploration portion of the game saw one of the heroes astride a giant lizardlike creature, walking through the colorful environment, collecting different resources, visiting towns, and eventually coming across an enemy. At this point, the game cut to a turn-based combat screen that, save for the fact that the visuals have been improved, was identical to the combat section in the first game.

The main improvements on the original game in Etherlords II are that you'll be able to play as the same hero through an entire campaign, and that there will be 15 new creatures and no less than 45 new spells in the game. Etherlords II will also feature two additional multiplayer modes of play in which players draw their cards from a shared deck instead of playing with their own. One of the new multiplayer games is designed to support up to eight players, although only in so much as it will have you all compete in a knockout tournament.

Etherlords II is currently scheduled for release in the third quarter of this year. For more information, check out our previous coverage of the game.