Within the pantheon of excessive fantasy technique RPGs, few collection have clung to their roots with as a lot persistence because the Disciples vary. Ever since Disciples: Sacred Lands launched in 1999, Nevendaar has felt like a setting perpetually caught within the remaining 5 minutes of an apocalypse. Disciples II: Darkish Prophecy arguably stays the high-water mark, whereas later entries, together with the current Disciples: Liberation, have struggled so as to add a lot new to the blueprint. With Disciples: Domination, it’s clear that new developer Artefacts Studio isn’t seeking to reinvent the wheel a lot as they’re intent on guaranteeing it retains grinding over the identical jagged, blood-soaked stones. It’s, in lots of respects, a continuation of the collection’ traditional sensibilities, sustaining life in a personality that hasn’t modified its wardrobe a lot over 20 years.
As within the earlier video games, Disciples: Domination attracts on the foremost factions and deities of Nevendaar and continues the story of Avyanna, the heroic Queen who fought and reunited (to some extent) the disparate peoples on the finish of Liberation. Now, a brand new evil threatens her previous victories, at the same time as she grapples with disillusionment about management. Should you didn’t play Liberation, the story loses a few of its impression, because it assumes familiarity with earlier occasions and depends on that information to offer sure conversations extra weight. Earlier than lengthy, although, you fall again into the acquainted rhythm: assembly factions, recruiting troops, and venturing into maps crammed with enemy armies, treasure, lore fragments, and collectible sources. One further draw this time is the return of the Dwarves as a recruitable faction, and the plot writes them (and Avyanna’s first companion) into the story early, which is good. The story spans a variety of settings, and whereas the voice performing leans towards the hammy and the musical rating isn’t memorable, the script is usually evocative, barring just a few odd turns of phrase.
The environments in Disciples: Domination vary from ruined medieval farmland to shattered mountain hellscapes. Nice particulars—like weathered buildings and lingering magical results—assist draw you into every location. Nonetheless, the artwork path can’t totally cover how acquainted the setting or character design feels. The core factions—Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Demons, and Imperials—stay largely unchanged, and their ways and playstyles unfold as you’d count on from comparable fantasy video games. Actual-time exploration feels easy, and the clear overview UI retains your consideration on scanning the atmosphere for hidden treasures or spots to make use of companion skills and unlock new routes.
There are 4 distinct courses for Avyanna—Warmaster, Primordial Ruler, Holy Regent, or Witch Queen—as the principle character. The selection feeds into a big, multi-tiered ability tree the place you spend factors throughout totally different disciplines inside every construct. Every class helps a definite playstyle. The Warmaster, for instance, can lean into tank-style skills that strengthen Avyanna when she’s surrounded, or shift towards a extra aggressive setup that inflicts Bleed injury. Regardless of the vary of spells you possibly can analysis and equip, development typically feels sluggish. Many upgrades provide solely small proportion boosts or minor passive results, which may really feel underwhelming if you earn a single ability level per degree. This sense of stagnation deepens as a result of Avyanna and her chosen get together solely ever achieve entry to 2 core fight abilities per construct. Outdoors of spells, you don’t unlock many new lively skills.
To be truthful, that is the place the broader forged of Disciples: Domination fills the void. Avyanna’s passive Management stat permits her to construct a squad of story companions, distinctive heroes, and normal mercenaries. She will stability her tactical method by way of these selections. Elves have a tendency in direction of robust ranged assaults combined with nifty stealth tips. The Imperial troops provide stability, with tank-like Paladins matching nicely with the therapeutic and Divine-damage dealing Disciples and Priestesses.
Items struggle in turn-based fight on small, hex-based maps. Whereas the maps themselves aren’t massive, they characteristic a variety of constructive and adverse standing results, resembling Regeneration buffs or Blinding results that scale back accuracy. Every unit operates with several types of motion factors: some govern motion, whereas others mix to set off restricted skills or Avyanna’s spells. Talents fluctuate in vary, cooldown, and space of impact, and Disciples: Domination locations robust emphasis on abilities that reposition models across the battlefield.
As a result of models can’t go by way of each other and the maps keep compact, positioning turns into essential. Lining up results, bottlenecking enemies, and delaying key actions typically matter greater than uncooked injury output. With every unit restricted to a small set of tactical choices, you may as well begin predicting their conduct in a chess-like method. Assist models are likely to cluster round allies to buff them earlier than shifting into fight, whereas sneakier rogues rush in, strike, after which vanish into invisibility. Extra motion normally goes towards avoiding straight traces or adjacency to your individual models. At first, this simplicity feels restrictive, however as new map results, unit sorts, and skills start to overlap and work together, fight reveals itself as an actual tactical puzzle.
Character development fuels the emphasis on preparation and roster administration in Disciples: Domination. Levelling primarily will increase fundamental stats and doesn’t unlock new skills most often, though it does improve Avyanna’s capacity to recruit stronger models or discipline bigger numbers of weaker ones. Preserving tempo with the issue curve can really feel demanding, since every map presents solely a restricted variety of encounters tied to particular degree ranges. You may tackle higher-level enemies for bonus expertise, however extra typically the sport turns into a seek for the subsequent suitably matched struggle inside what seems to be an open world.
Aspect quests and companion tales add selection, however you’ll typically have to abandon them quickly till your get together grows robust sufficient. Whereas degree gating doesn’t inherently hassle me, its implementation right here generally undercuts the impression of particular person story beats and lore drops. In doing so, it reinforces the sport’s core id: Disciples: Domination expects you to get pleasure from fight above all else, together with the fixed cycle of planning, optimizing, and refining your unit methods.
Battlefield selections exist alongside mild strategizing in Avyanna’s hub world, the legendary fortress of Yllian, your private pocket-dimension hub that has grown right into a sprawling seat of energy by the occasions of Disciples: Domination. It’s a satisfying, if considerably inflexible, loop: you spend your hard-earned sources—Gold, Iron, Wooden, and the rarer Essences—to improve buildings that unlock higher-tier models or gadgets. The catch? You’re sure by the extent of your fortress, which means your army ambitions are sometimes held static by your development by way of the principle narrative. It’s much less about inventive structure and extra concerning the strategic bottlenecking of energy, forcing you to decide on what to prioritize as sources allow.
You purchase, improve, and handle gear and Shards in Yllian. Avyanna can equip a variety of weapons, armor, and gadgets relying on her class. For instance, the magic-focused Witch Queen solely makes use of wand or staff-type weapons. You discover gear out on the planet or at Yllian’s market, with rarity tiers making it simpler to evaluate attainable upgrades on present loadouts. Every merchandise additionally presents an non-obligatory improve path that may unlock further results, resembling including Burn injury to assaults or therapeutic Avyanna when she defeats an enemy. Sadly, merchandise administration typically feels clumsy, and this technique particularly would have benefited from a extra thorough interface overhaul. Shards, magical crystals that every one models can equip, additional increase stats and skills, growing issues like well being or essential probability. As Yllian develops, you possibly can merge these into stronger variations. Each methods draw from the identical restricted pool of sources, so development turns into a continuing train in prioritization—or a ready recreation whereas real-time useful resource nodes slowly generate what you want.
Lastly, you have to handle your standing with the assorted factions of Nevendaar. Beforehand, favour normally shifted by way of aspect quests and occasional character interactions, however Disciples: Domination introduces a brand new system: Grievances. These take the type of quick narrative eventualities that play out in Avyanna’s animated throne room, the place you select from a number of responses. Some grievances seem naturally because the story progresses, whereas others unlock after assembly particular characters or triggering sure occasions. Every alternative adjusts faction favour, with the choice to spend sources to extend it additional. In observe, faction advantages typically felt much less pressing than upgrading gear or managing Shards, and I not often prioritized them, however it’s a system with poignant hyperlinks to Avyanna’s absent rulership and the way she tries to deal with this.
The breadth of quests, companion combos, and high-level gear in Disciples: Domination can simply hold you busy for dozens of hours, and the usual problem presents a real problem. With out studying enemy weaknesses and mastering methods to chain and maximize standing results, chances are you’ll find yourself adjusting the beneficiant problem choices. By the late recreation, particular person storylines start to blur collectively, however there’s at all times one thing to do on any given map, whether or not it’s a roaming horde you ignored earlier, a mine you by no means cleared, or a grievance you continue to have to resolve. Secondary battle goals, resembling profitable with out companions or managing environmental hazards like rockfalls, hold development feeling contemporary. On a technical degree, Disciples: Domination runs easily and by no means calls for a lot out of your system. I solely encountered the occasional irritating freeze (oddly, most frequently throughout Ice Storm maps). Though it’s not at present rated, the sport feels well-suited to the Steam Deck because of its bite-sized encounters and modular construction. Gamepad assist works nicely sufficient, too.
It’s tough to fault Disciples: Domination for what it does nicely. The sport delivers a good tactical expertise, helps a variety of distinct factions, and presents loads to discover. Its visuals are detailed, and the UI holds up nicely throughout lengthy play classes. The place the sport stumbles, it does so in acquainted methods: a disjointed narrative, forgettable voice performing, and the chance of loot overload. The sport doesn’t push far past its predecessor, nor does it considerably shift expectations inside the style; its methods, story, and presentation all really feel largely acquainted. Like a pal whose costume sense hasn’t modified in twenty years, Disciples: Domination struggles to be really related or contemporary, however should you’re keen to bounce to her older tunes, it is a queen who will fortunately conquer your doubts.
