Eador. Masters of the Broken World
- April 19, 2013
- Snowbird Games
- 118h median play time
Get on Steam"Eador: Masters of the Broken World" is a turn-based strategy game where you become a powerful Master, controlling and shaping the fantasy world of Eador consisting of countless drifting shards. The game features 4 different campaigns, a wide variety of heroes and units, and various gameplay mechanics, including controlling populations, building your empire, and engaging in tactical combat. The "Allied Forces" DLC adds 14 new units to enhance your combat potential.
Reviews
- Engaging and deep gameplay with a mix of strategy and RPG elements.
- Variety of units and heroes, allowing for different playstyles and strategies.
- Challenging combat that requires careful planning and resource management.
- Frequent crashes and bugs that disrupt gameplay and progress.
- Repetitive gameplay with a lack of meaningful progression between shards.
- Poor AI behavior and balance issues that can lead to frustrating experiences.
- gameplay163 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by deep and addictive mechanics, blending elements of turn-based strategy, resource management, and tactical combat, reminiscent of classics like Heroes of Might and Magic. While many players appreciate the complexity and strategic depth, some criticize the repetitive nature and bugs that hinder the experience, leading to mixed feelings about its overall enjoyment. Despite its flaws, the game offers a rich world with innovative mechanics that can be rewarding for dedicated players willing to navigate its challenges.
“Great game with deep and addictive gameplay mechanics.”
“Absolutely awesome long strategy - slow-paced, challenging on levels above expert, feels polished gameplay-wise, no one optimal way to conquer.”
“Perfect blend of grand strategy, turn-based gameplay, and original fantasy RPG elements.”
“Gameplay quickly devolved from army management to making the one hero as powerful as possible and just smash.”
“After the shine of a new concept, the novelty of the gameplay, and the fascination of the storyline wore off, I realized that I was really just playing the same battle over and over again.”
“This game runs, but gameplay is a broken half-finished mess that is just ridiculous.”
- story99 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its depth, character development, and engaging writing, while others criticize it for being slow-paced, repetitive, and lacking a clear direction. Many appreciate the choices that impact gameplay and relationships, but some find the campaign overly long and tedious, with a generic fantasy backdrop. Overall, while the narrative has potential and interesting concepts, it often feels overshadowed by gameplay mechanics and pacing issues.
“I was enraptured by the story and the characters, and as I played, that love deepened - I experienced so much fun in the first half of the campaign; everything felt just right.”
“Now after all that... this game's storyline is one of the best I've seen in ages (be ready and willing to read a lot, and enjoy it; the humor of the creators is fantastic).”
“The story and writing are actually surprisingly good, and that's usually a non-factor for me in a game focused on pure gameplay.”
“The story is also atrocious.”
“The story is lame.”
“There isn't much of a story and the battles kind of plod on.....”
- graphics75 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the aesthetic and artwork while also noting significant technical issues and dated visuals. Some find the graphics charming and fitting for the fantasy genre, while others criticize them for being clunky, distracting during gameplay, and plagued by glitches. Overall, while the graphics have improved from previous versions, they still fall short of modern standards, leading to a consensus that a major overhaul would enhance the experience.
“When I first played this a long time ago, I had a lot of fun - it was a difficult, compelling game with a beautiful aesthetic and some really interesting combat.”
“The aesthetics of the game are nice, there is good detail in the area tiles and the unit models are decent considering the large availability of characters to recruit.”
“The graphics are very pleasing to the eye.”
“Graphics during combat are distracting, difficult to see details, recognize terrain, and so on.”
“The game feels (as in it is) really dated with mechanics, graphics, music and themes that belong at the turn of the century.”
“Doesn't launch on most platforms, huge graphical problems with NVIDIA drivers, and when it does start by navigating to and directly launching the game, it's so hard to see anything that it is unplayable.”
- stability70 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 1 % neutral mentions
- 93 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a significant concern among players, with many reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and crashes that hinder gameplay. While some users have noted improvements over time, the overall consensus is that the game remains quite buggy, making it frustrating and often unplayable for extended periods. Despite its enjoyable mechanics and story, the persistent technical issues detract from the overall experience, leading to mixed reviews regarding its stability.
“Nice game, and seemed to be bug free before the patch.”
“Eador: Genesis is bug free and due to its age suffers no lag or delays.”
“Four months after release, this game is totally bug free (in my experience, of course) and offers a combat system that is very different, balanced, deep, and challenging, more than any other recent turn-based games like Heroes of Might and Magic, King's Bounty, and Fallen Enchantress.”
“It's a buggy mess and requires a great deal of patience from the player.”
“The game is completely full of bugs and glitches, making it very nearly unplayable for any long period.”
“With so many bugs, glitches, and crashes, at this time it is not worth your investment.”
- grinding39 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and repetitive, often leading to frustration. Many reviews highlight that progressing through maps and completing tasks feels like a long slog, with each shard requiring significant time investment and offering little variation in gameplay. While some appreciate the core ideas, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grind detracts from the overall enjoyment, making it a chore rather than a rewarding experience.
“This one was close because there are some good ideas in this game, but actually playing it is way too grindy. Each shard plays a lot like the last shard and takes too long to complete.”
“The biggest problem with the game is that once you've gotten a foothold on a shard/map, you're committed to several hours of grinding trench warfare against an AI that makes up for utter stupidity with unlimited resources.”
“The concept of the game is great, but in practice, the limits on troops, building ranks, and the failing of the astral campaign options results in a very tedious game where your choices are generally limited not by any sort of story or strategy, but just purely pragmatic necessities.”
- music25 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the fantasy experience, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variety. Many users prefer to mute the game and play their own music, indicating that the soundtrack may not be engaging enough to hold their attention during gameplay. Overall, while the music has its moments, it is often seen as a weak point due to its limited tracks and lack of dynamic combat themes.
“It's art and music is really fantastic, feels like you're playing a storybook.”
“I love the music, the atmosphere, the feel of the game, the artwork.”
“The soundtrack is very well done, and it is easy enough to forget about time and spend several hours to take over another shard and advance past it.”
“I typically mute the game sound/music, and play my own relaxing music in the background.”
“The game feels really dated with mechanics, graphics, music, and themes that belong at the turn of the century.”
“The music was repetitive beyond all measure, the sound effects and animations were amateurish.”
- replayability15 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game boasts exceptional replayability, with players noting the ability to explore different strategies and tactics, leading to hundreds of hours of gameplay. Many reviewers highlight the game's depth and randomness, which contribute to a sense of infinite possibilities, although some mention that transitioning between levels can feel punishing. Overall, the replay value is consistently praised as a key strength of the game.
“It has tons of replayability, and if you give it a fair chance, it will grab you for weeks and months.”
“Eador is the sort of game you can easily spend hundreds of hours in; the replayability is great.”
“This is a true 'one more turn' game. It has lots of replay value, and even now I still discover new little things in the game.”
“The amount of replay value the game has is nearly as staggering as the amount of time it takes to even beat it the first time.”
“This is what makes the game feel like it has nearly infinite possibilities and replay value for me, but I've heard others comment that moving from shard to shard feels punishing as you have to keep 'starting over'.”
“For me, the replay value of a game is key. I love to go back and play games again in a different way or using different tactics, and this one is no different.”
- humor11 mentions
- 91 % positive mentions
- -18 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a standout feature, characterized by colorful dialogue, unexpected comedic moments, and amusing interactions with characters, such as a ghost defeating an entire army. While some elements, like tooltip text, add quirky humor, the overall tone remains lighthearted, with both good and evil choices providing comedic value. However, some gameplay mechanics, like exaggerated task requirements, detract from the humor experience.
“I mean, really, some of the dialogues of the campaign are hilarious.”
“The dialogue is often humorous and the various masters you meet are just as colorful.”
“Additionally, humor is intermingled in rather well.”
“Completing some tasks becomes more difficult because if you need to kill 10 dwarves, you'll have to kill 100 dwarves, and that's not funny at all.”
“The jokes feel forced and often miss the mark, making the humor fall flat.”
“I expected a lighthearted experience, but the humor is more cringeworthy than entertaining.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues regardless of their hardware capabilities. Many experience slow gameplay, stuttering, and crashes, particularly on lower-end systems, indicating that the game is not well-optimized. While some users note improvements after updates, the overall consensus is that performance remains a major concern.
“The game might run smoothly for 5 hours or crash 5 times in 30 minutes...”
“Code's been optimized at last!”
“You will spend many turns pressing 'next', which brings the game to another issue: performance.”
“First of all, the game is not optimized at all!”
“Pretty unplayable, and my rig has no problem with games that have higher performance requirements.”
“Wtf is wrong with performance seriously, it's slow even on low settings. What is the problem?”
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in Eador is generally praised for its strong fantasy elements, impressive artwork, and atmospheric sound design, although opinions on the music are mixed—some find it enhances the experience while others feel it detracts from it. The graphics contribute to the immersive environment, though they may not appeal to everyone. Overall, the game successfully creates a unique mood, despite some concerns about repetitiveness and narrative depth.
“I love the music, the atmosphere, the feel of the game, the artwork.”
“It might seem repetitive, and I am not sure if the balance is good or not, but it creates a unique atmosphere and sets up my mood in a very good way.”
“The art is amazing, the sound atmospheric, the story... might be interesting, I can barely tell though and I think you can see the love and thought which went into this game, there are a lot of nice concepts packed into it.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game emotionally satisfying due to its unique leveling system and the heartwarming interactions facilitated by the AI, which allows for a variety of strategies and experiences.
“I have enjoyed this game a lot because there are very few others quite like it, and the constant leveling is emotionally satisfying in an odd way.”
“The AI is very good, and it's heartwarming to see how many different strategies can be played out in this game.”
