Safe Hex
Getting into the Disciples series on the third game was, in hindsight, perhaps not the best introduction. The art design of Disciples III: Renaissance was appealing but everything else was an uneven mix of boredom and confusion. A standalone expansion, Resurrection, and a revised version of both couldn’t really save it so years later we now have Liberation, an attempt to escape the shackles of the past and forge a new destiny upon the dying embers of the franchise.
To be fair, it is indeed a vast improvement upon Renaissance and Resurrection but doesn’t quite reach a level to likely entice many beyond those already aware of the series or fans of the old King’s Bounty combo of turn based tactical battles and a real time over-world adventure.
This time around you take on the role of Avyanna, mercenary for hire, who, after a botched assassination attempt, finds that she has access to a secret city and unique powers which kick off the inevitable questions about her heritage and their potential consequences for the wider world of Nevendaar.
The story is inoffensive but largely forgettable, it has little in the way of tension and jeopardy but the issue lies perhaps more in the characters, who are unlikely to find their way into anyone’s hearts post credit roll.
The writing is perfunctory at the best of times, but the voice acting veers wildly, from the barely tolerable to the eye-rolling awful, as if half the cast were pulled in off the street to fill out all the secondary roles.
Good old Ludo-narrative dissonance also makes an appearance with some pretty wild and perverse events taking place, albeit via text, but where characters talk in such a manner as to have wandered in from mildly comedic YA drama.
The lurching tone and main cast’s smarmy American accents make it hard to really connect with anyone or anything as their reactions don’t register as anything even approaching human. It’s bizarre; mass murder? Here’s a vaguely comedic quip, demon orgy? Ooh-err matron! It’s no Sacred 3, but for the product of multiple writers and narrative designers it’s a pretty poor showing. If it was an attempt to modernise traditional fantasy dialogue then heaven help us.
As for the game part, anyone familiar with the King's Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic series will find the fundamental gameplay quite familiar. You explore a real time overworld, collecting quests, resources, meeting NPCs and picking fights. Fights taking the form of a walled off hex-based arenas where your current posse face off in turn based battles with a variety of enemy units.
The size of the arena doesn't change but different obstacles like barrels and buff/de-buff hexes attempt to change up each encounter. You are usually able to assess the enemy before starting a fight and, mostly, can retreat one time should the encounter appear a step too far for your current group.
Units take turns based on initiative and typically have two action points to spend, be it on attacks, movement etc. as denoted by colour. Units can flank when placed either side of an enemy and you can also make use of a backline mechanic where up to 3 units provide assistance each turn but are not considered part of the battle when determining victory or defeat.
The game also makes use of a faction system to unlock new units through showing favour to one or other. Whilst helping one often hinders another, it isn't too hard to raise your standing with each and after a while you'll have access to most of their units without too much trouble.
It’s all nicely put together and works as intended, yet Disciples Liberation’s greatest trouble is that of repetition and battle fatigue. The AI suffers from being far too predictable so as to make each battle largely a repeat of the last with minor variations accounting for unit and obstacle layout. Melee units will rush you, ranged units will attack then move away, rinse and repeat. It makes combat something of a formality should you be sufficiently levelled for the enemies faced and the need to go through so many over the course of the game can begin to wear pretty quickly.
Fortunately enemies can be auto-defeated if the gap in levels is wide enough, but overall combat is somewhat tedious despite some nice ideas and a fair degree of technical competency.
There's also an appreciable RPG system underpinning combat where you level, find new armour and weapons along with unlocking new skills and abilities. Nothing revolutionary but all very solid and enjoyable, and the number of different units to play around with is considerable, if not as varied in abilities as might be expected.
The visuals are pretty solid as well; games today have to work pretty hard to look bad but Liberation has its own identity at least. Whilst I personally preferred the more overtly gothic designs of Renaissance and Resurrection, the greater variety in colour will have its supporters. Music also exists but I cannot for the life of me remember any of it to give an opinion one way or another, not the greatest of signs but hardly damning either.
Disciples Liberation takes a similar path to that of Spellforce III in attempting to revitalise a moribund franchise, but despite some measure of success in being a much more polished title that its immediate predecessor, its competency lacks a degree of inspiration and depth. I certainly enjoyed it for the most part, but finding oneself skipping over battles and dialogue suggests there’s work to be done to make the experience truly compelling. A decent first step, should the franchise get further titles, but room for improvement remains.