For those of us not lucky enough to be in beta, here's a quick catch-up: Elemental is intended to be Stardock's answer to Microprose's cult classic Master of Magic, a game that challenged you to conquer an ancient fantasy world as the sorcerer leader of a specific nation, spreading your influence through military might or wizardly research.
But the studio is definitely making the game its own by introducing numerous key differences. To name just a few: Unlike Master of Magic, which had elves and dwarves, Elemental's base game will have six human factions and six "fallen" factions (though if the industrious fan community happens to use Elemental's powerful toolset to make elf and dwarf factions, Stardock won't object). And while Master of Magic took place in a lush world where each wizard started his career with a castle, holdings, and a basic army, in Elemental, you begin your adventure as a lone immortal wizard on a devastated landscape starting from scratch...no armies, no castle, no nothing.
The game also includes integrated modding tools that allow players to create their own fantasy maps, monsters, tiles, effects and much more. The game’s story-driven campaign, written by Random House’s writing team, was made exclusively with the built-in modding tools.
“We wanted to make a game that players would be able to keep adding into for years to come,” said Brad Wardell, president & CEO of Stardock and the game’s lead designer. “With the built-in tools, players can create whole new worlds and share them with others players seamlessly from within the game.”
Besides including the sand box game and campaign, Elemental also includes a multiplayer mode in which up to 16 players can play online while taking simultaneous turns. Players can save their multiplayer games online and return to them to continue in order to support players who wish to play more epic-sized games.
