SpellForce
SpellForce is a real-time strategy and role-playing series created by Phenomic and currently owned by THQ Nordic. The first release was published by JoWooD Productions and Encore Software in 2003, and by THQ Nordic in 2017. Setting and plot. The games take place on a planet called Eo, a high fantasy world ruled by near-immortal mages (collectively known as The Circle) and inhabited by various sapient races, such as humans, dwarves, (dark) elves, orcs and trolls. The mages used servants called rune warriors, summoned from magical monuments, to keep peace. Several years before the start of  the first game in the series, the mages discovered an ancient text describing the Convocation: a dangerous, but supposedly power-granting ritual. They started fighting amongst themselves, rune warriors being their main weapons of war. When the planets and stars aligned, enabling the start of the ritual, each of the 13 of the most powerful mages performed the ritual; however, unable to control the power, the world was shattered. Where once stood great continents of Fiara, Urgath and Xu, now only small pieces of land remain, centered around magical towers created by Aonir, the Star God. The first game in  the series begins with a reappearance of one of the Circle mages: Rohen. He summons a Rune warrior (the protagonist) to save the world. Gameplay. The role-playing game aspects of "SpellForce" games parallel games such as "Diablo", "Diablo II", and "Sacred" in character development, skill trees, equipment customization, and top-down isometric viewing. However, the capacity to control multiple heroes often makes the gameplay comparable to that in the "Baldur's Gate" or "Neverwinter Nights" video games. The real time strategy aspects of "SpellForce" games mirror the "Warcraft" fantasy real time strategy games. These include the ability to control  several separate factions such as "The Realm" (humans, elves and dwarves), "The Pact" (dark elves, gargoyles and shadows), and "The Clans" (orcs, trolls and barbarians). Each faction has its own individual troop and building types. "SpellForce" games have several game modes, including campaign mode (expositional), skirmish mode (real time strategy based), and free play (similar to campaign mode but without an overarching plot). "SpellForce" can also be played cooperatively or competitively in multiplayer mode. Games. SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. "SpellForce: The Order of Dawn" is the first game of the franchise, developed by Phenomic. It was first published by  JoWooD in Europe on and by Encore Software in North America on . SpellForce: The Breath of Winter. On , JoWooD announced the first SpellForce expansion pack named "SpellForce: The Breath of Winter". The expansion pack features over 40 hours of new single player campaign gameplay. SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix. "Shadow of the Phoenix" was released on . The expansion pack continues the storyline from "The Breath of Winter" and enables the player to continue playing with a previous game character by raising the character's level limit to 50. The pack also includes upgrades for the game's "Titan" units. Section::::"SpellForce  3". "SpellForce 3", the latest entry in the series, was released in December 2017. The game was developed by Grimlore Games and published by THQ Nordic. The story of "SpellForce 3" takes place before the events of "" in the fantasy world of Eo. The first glimpses of the game were seen during Gamescom 2014 in Germany, where Nordic Games first released gameplay of the game, as reported by German online magazine "PCGames.de". SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest. Standalone expansion released in 2019. SpellForce 3: Fallen God. Standalone expansion released in 2020.