Warlock 2: The Exiled

About

"Warlock 2: The Exiled" is a turn-based strategy game of fantasy warfare, where you lead mighty armies, wield magic and faith, and seek revenge on those who cast you out. Experience the challenge in single or multiplayer mode, playing as a Great Mage in the shattered worlds of Ardania. The game features a sandbox mode and a new "Exiled" mode, with the ultimate goal of conquering all who oppose you and reclaiming your home.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,208 reviews

gameplay70 positive mentions

stability64 negative mentions

Warlock 2 offers a fun and engaging fantasy 4X experience, reminiscent of classic games like Master of Magic.
The game features a variety of races, units, and spells, providing a rich and diverse gameplay experience.
The new spell research system and the addition of multiple worlds enhance the strategic depth of the game.

The AI is poorly designed, often making illogical decisions and failing to provide a challenging experience.
The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, particularly on Mac and Linux, making it frustrating to play.
Many players feel that Warlock 2 is too similar to the first game, lacking enough new content to justify its release as a standalone title.

gameplay
174 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
55%
5%
The gameplay of Warlock 2 is a mixed bag, featuring intricate mechanics and a fantasy setting that some players find enjoyable, while others criticize its pacing, flawed AI, and frustrating new mechanics like unrest and spell research. While the game offers strategic depth and a variety of units and worlds, many players report that technical issues and a lack of significant improvements over the original detract from the overall experience, particularly in the mid to late game. Overall, the game has potential for fun but is marred by balance issues and bugs that can lead to a tedious experience.
- “So many diverse units, and the mechanic where you gain access to the buildings/units of other races means that you won't miss out on your favorite faction just because you started with somebody else.”
- “It's no graphical masterpiece, but the intricate game mechanics make it very fun to play.”
- “The gameplay is so much richer with some scarcity and consequences for overextending -- just as it is in the best 4x games.”
- “In conclusion, while Warlock 2 has an enduring allure that keeps bringing me back, its flawed AI, pacing issues, and lackluster spell mechanics prevent it from being the satisfying experience it promises.”
- “- the new unrest game mechanic is dreadful and incredibly frustrating and makes the game much less fun than the original game.”
- “Gameplay is terrible and there are now city statistics which are impossible to correct.”
story
134 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
76%
3%
The game's story revolves around a campaign quest involving shards and portals, where players must defeat inhabitants to progress, but many find the narrative uninteresting and lacking depth. While some appreciate the fantasy setting and mission-based elements, numerous bugs and crashes related to the quest system significantly hinder the experience, leading to frustration and a sense of incompleteness. Overall, the storyline is seen as somewhat compelling but ultimately superficial, with many players feeling it fails to deliver a rich lore or engaging narrative.
- “I absolutely love this game; the fantasy setting is challenging and the story is pretty good.”
- “The game would give quests I simply couldn't do half the time because I was choked for resources due to lack of expansion options.”
- “It gives you multiple worlds to discover and an interesting story.”
- “As a 4X game, it is quite limited and superficial; it tries to have magic take the place of historical depth, but it fails, also because any form of world's lore behind the quest is completely absent. The presence of missions could have given some RPG flavor, but they mostly fall flat.”
- “The story is so poor, with too many things to do in one turn and nothing being easy to manage.”
- “I was most hit by the fact that the quest system, which is integral to progress in some places, is completely broken on both platforms in both release and beta versions, revealing a huge number of other issues from broken saves to constant crashes.”
graphics
90 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
56%
9%
The graphics in "Warlock 2" receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the colorful and detailed visuals, while others criticize them for being dated and plagued by glitches. Many note that the game maintains a similar aesthetic to its predecessor, with only minor improvements, leading to a sense of disappointment for those expecting a significant upgrade. Overall, while the graphics are generally pleasant, they are not considered groundbreaking and suffer from performance issues and limited options.
- “Graphics are very pleasant and easy on the eye.”
- “Beautiful graphics, great gameplay and always something unique to keep your interest.”
- “The graphics are very colorful and detailed, the sounds are nice too.”
- “I waited too long to buy it; the graphics look dated now.”
- “Graphics are unappealing and units are quite dull.”
- “Also, the graphics seem very low quality, especially in the city management UI.”
stability
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The game is widely criticized for its significant stability issues, including persistent bugs, crashes, and glitches that have remained unresolved since its initial release. Players report problems with save files becoming invalid, frequent freezes, and a generally unreliable user interface across various platforms, particularly on Linux and macOS. Despite some users experiencing fewer issues, the overall consensus is that the game's stability detracts heavily from the gameplay experience.
- “A buggy mess that seems fine until you're fully invested and then says your save files are invalid.”
- “It's very buggy; for example, if you have too many save files, the game stops saving properly and you have to delete all of them before you can save properly again. When you try to overwrite a save file, it just ignores you and makes a new one, so if you save more than once a turn, expect to have a lot of trouble later.”
- “The game is also buggy even as of the latest patch, with constant crashes, freezes, and stalled AI turns.”
replayability
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
62%
12%
Replayability in the game is a mixed bag, with many players praising the diverse races and play styles that offer significant replay value, while others criticize the lack of character customization and poor AI, which detracts from the overall experience. Some reviews highlight the campaign mode and mod support as enhancing replayability, while others feel the game lacks depth compared to other titles in the genre. Overall, the game is seen as having high replayability potential, especially for those who enjoy strategic gameplay with varied factions.
- “7+ races that play very differently: elves, with lots of mobility; undead, mana-based, heavily resistant to archery but weak in melee; infernals, gold-based, wizard-heavy; humans, all-around balanced; etc. Tons of replay value.”
- “Endless replayability.”
- “This is a pretty deep hex-tile strategy game with a ton of replayability.”
- “Finally, the lack of customization really hurts replayability.”
- “I don't think it has much replayability; since there's not much character customization to experiment with like in the old Master of Magic.”
- “I found it lacked the replayability that many other 4x games have, and the AI is foolish at best.”
grinding
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players consistently describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and repetitive, particularly in the mid to late game where managing cities and dealing with respawning enemies becomes a chore. Despite some enjoyable mechanics, the overall experience is marred by a lack of strategic depth and an overwhelming amount of busywork, leading to frustration rather than fun. Many reviewers suggest that adjustments, such as reducing monster spawns, could alleviate some of the grindiness.
- “Ultimately, this game just becomes tedious, and when it becomes tedious, it stops being fun.”
- “I was really looking forward to Warlock 2, but the game quickly became repetitive and tedious.”
- “The game doesn't have much strategy to it at all and it's very tedious when the game gets larger.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a mix of quirky and well-thought-out humor, with some standout moments like a pantless paladin and amusing hero perks. However, opinions vary on the humor's appeal, with some finding it juvenile and excessive, while others appreciate its charm. Despite the comedic elements, technical issues detract from the overall experience, leaving some players wishing for a more polished game.
- “A genuinely enjoyable game, with lots of quirky humor.”
- “I have seldomly seen a game with very well thought out hero perks (some of them hilarious) and the heroes = a paladin with no pants - priceless!”
- “Units will pop up in funny places as they exit at the nearest unoccupied hex on your side of the portal.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
42%
33%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, particularly in sandbox mode, where enabling all AI leads to severe performance issues, including long wait times and frequent crashes. While some users report acceptable performance on high-end PCs, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, making certain modes unplayable.
- “Civ meets magic... although maybe not quite as good as MOM or the original Warlock, the planar dimension is an interesting wrinkle and probably improves performance.”
- “On a strong PC, the performance should be fine and the crashing not too often.”
- “Performance issues and bugs are about it.”
- “Sandbox mode is unplayable with all of the AI (all 8 enabled). It is terribly optimized and turns on the impossible difficulty, taking a few minutes to finish (up to 5 minutes of just waiting per turn!). After 100 turns in sandbox mode, the game decides to quit, and it keeps crashing when finishing the turn.”
- “Badly optimized.”
- “Game engine not optimized.”
monetization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
33%
50%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as exploitative, with users labeling the Linux version as a cash grab and the Naga expansion as poorly conceived. While there are no visible microtransactions, the presence of hidden in-game purchases has raised concerns about transparency and value, especially given the game's minimal upgrades from its predecessor.
- “There are no microtransactions that I can see.”
- “There is now one line saying 'This game contains in-game purchases.' hidden after the features list, implying you can purchase these items later.”
- “Linux version is not a port, but a cash grab.”
- “Seems to me the Naga expansion wasn't really well thought out, just sorta thrown in for a cash grab.”
- “So, on top of being only a minor upgrade from Warlock 1, there are now cheesy hidden microtransactions.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The music in the game is generally described as pleasant and well-executed, contributing positively to the overall experience. While some reviews note that the soundtrack remains largely unchanged with only a few new additions, the quality of the music is appreciated alongside the game's graphics and gameplay.
- “The graphics have a very nice style, the music is pleasant, and the gameplay is actually fun, something lost to a lot of modern 4X games.”
- “The graphics and music are very nicely done.”
- “The units are the same, the spells are the same, the voice clips are the same, the soundtrack is the same, and even the ridiculous AI is the same.”
- “Just a few new music additions.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional impact of the game significant, particularly due to the strong personality of the units, which fosters a deeper emotional investment. The heartbreak of losing these units is amplified by the player's choice to rely on an automated save system, making the consequences of their decisions feel more poignant.
- “When you lose them, it is heartbreaking. I can save at any point, but I let the automated system save, so I punish myself for bad choices as I can't go back two turns before and try again.”
- “Perhaps it is because the units in Warlock have more personality, thus I feel more emotionally invested in them.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players desire an epic atmosphere in 4X wargames, expressing frustration when the tone feels more comedic or absurd, akin to Monty Python's style. The expectation is for a more serious and immersive experience that aligns with the genre's grand themes.
- “If I play a 4X wargame, I want its atmosphere to be epic.”