Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is a reasonably fun turn-based strategy affair with an excellent setting and some unique ideas of its own. The streamlined nature of its gameplay makes it pleasingly zippy stuff that's well-suited to strategy newcomers but a lack of real depth, a clunky UI and some dodgy enemy AI means the fun here is, unfortunately, pretty short-lived overall for anyone but genre enthusiasts and vampire fans.

Streamlining many of the typical strategy game mechanics while adding more depth with the cards system and tactical battles, Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is a game worth playing for all strategy games and role-playing games fans. While the experience tends to become a little repetitive over time, the different factions and the many customization options provide all the tools for players to make the experience feel fresh even after tens of hours.

Take command of the legions of troops loyal to one of three Vampire blood lines. Drawing on pretty much every cliché and gothic trope, you can imagine Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars liberally applies its source material to everything that it does. The question, therefore, is how well does the game use its inspiration and does it make sense?

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is a strategy game that has the perfect atmosphere for the season we currently find ourselves in, and we're not strictly talking about Halloween here! Some cumbersome menu navigation and mostly unchallenging AI means that without even local hot-seat multiplayer, players looking for more challenging opponents will unfortunately need to look elsewhere. Still, console gamers who are desperate for more strategy games should look to Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars to get their fix, and at a wallet-friendly price point of $49.99 to boot.

While getting started can be a chore due to the poor tutorial implementation, clearing that barrier reveals a fun and interesting casual strategy title. Playing as a band of unapologetic vampires is a hoot, and taking over large swaths of land is entertaining. Mixing a wide variety of features from across the strategy genre, Immortal Wars somehow makes it all work together. An interesting diversion for strategy fans.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars does have some pleasingly involved battles, but as a grand strategy game, it is a tad simplistic and limited in scope compared to the titles it draws inspiration from. Still, the campaign provides for an entertaining romp, and it’s well worth delving into these dark realms if you’re a fan of the strategy-RPG genre.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars will keep strategy gamers busy for a while, so you get decent value for money. I think the experience would be much more enjoyable with some well-aimed tutorial, movement, and UI refinements. Hopefully, we will get some improvements with the next installment, as I'm looking forward to seeing where this story can go.

Some minor issues hold it back at times, but overall newcomers and strategy enthusiasts alike will have plenty to sink their teeth into.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars presents a very satisfying mix of different genres and aside from some UI quibbles along the way, does a good job of porting over from PC to console. The presentation works well with the vampiric theme, and while the narrative itself is nothing all that unique, the different campaigns are fun to venture through all the same. Fans of single player strategy games with some RPG and card game mechanics should enjoy this offering despite some of its flaws.

Average in every respect, and with little to reward or keep you playing, Immortal Realms Vampire Wars is a dull strategy sim, concealed behind an acceptable veneer. When the night is over and sunlight reveals its true form, it’s your will to play that’ll have dried to a husk.