Name: Heroes of Annihilated Empires
Genre: Hybrid; Real-time strategy mixed with role-playing game elements (RTS-RPG)
Developer: GSC Game World (ukrainian)
Publisher: CDV Entertainment (Europe, North America), Tecmo (Japan), GSC Game World (digital)
Language: English (additional languages: french, german, spanish, russian, japanese and ukrainian)
Platform: Windows PC
Release date: 06.10.2006 (Europe), 01.12.2006 (North America), 12.12.2006 (Japan), 22.11.2006 (Steam)
Did you ever wonder where legends, sagas and characters like elves, gnomes, dragons and mages – the races and creatures we typically refer to as fictional fantasy archetypes – come from? There is no smoke without fire, we say. If any gossip and writings get spread around, there must be some link between what was imagined and reality. Even an authentically candid lie or skillfully disguised fiction bears links with true to life events…
We are breaking the seal on the door to myths and legends, the entrance to a world where magic was commonplace, the gateway to Empires long ago extinct. The memories of them were methodically erased from the public consciousness, and have remained in oblivion for ages. Now, the time has come to take a step through that door leading to a distant reality where lived mysterious peoples and societies, where lived heroes keen on defending their lands until the last droplet of blood. You will find the truth about what happened to that ancient world of magic and why our knowledge of it is so scanty. The game Heroes of Annihilated Empires is a key to that world’s door.
Episode One
The first game episode reveals the opposition of the Forest folk, authentic Atlans habitants, and the underground legions of undead. The main game’s hero is a young and courageous elf named Elhant , who is destined to become the key figure in the conflict. The game is set in boundless lands of Atlans and far beyond them. On his path, the main hero will encounter love and hatred, friendship and betrayal; he will have to survive through blood-shedding clashes and massive battles. Legions of undead will contrive multiple ambushes; the authentic races of Atlans will not remain uninvolved either. Those include goblins expelled from their caves by the undead, as well as orcs and gnolls – the old-time elven foes – inhabiting Wasteland, the southern part of Atlans.
To assist Elhant, there will come Lana – daughter of the elven supreme commander, Monfor Bylal. Druids will help him to master magical spells the warrior can’t do without in unequal fights against the enemy. The hero will need to garner the support of other Atlans residents, who, in exchange for his help, will fight alongside the forest folk. However, gaining the upper hand in a war when every dead warrior can be resurrected by forces of necromantic magic is not the easiest task whatsoever… And when bloodshed becomes senseless, only the hope of a miracle remains. Our reality is unaware of miracles, but they do happen in the world of magic – and while pursuing such a miracle, the warrior will traverse the lands of other races, each derived from one of the magical guilds that previously made up the great Universum. The ice-clad halls of northern mountains, the weird lands of the mechanicians, the flying islands of the Sun folk… Elhant has a long trip ahead, and the destiny of his people depends on whether he’s able to come back on time.
Main features of “Heroes of Annihilated Empires” engine:
- Thousands of units on the battlefield simultaneously
- Skeletal animation
- In-game terra-morphing.
- Use of vertex and pixel shaders.
- Revolutionary technology of building modeling based on degrading 3D models.
- View in “Free Camera” mode
- Harmonic combination of 3D and 2D elements
Main game features:
- Seemless combination of two genres RTS and RPG with a possibility to combine or choose in-between.
- Massive battles of armies of many thousand units.
- Four unique races. Individual skills, spells and artifacts.
- 12 heroes, 12 neutral races, 100 different units and 150 different buildings.
- Over 150 magic items and more than 100 spell types.
- Peculiar and captivating campaign storyline created by a renowned author Ilya Novak.
- Original magic system based on cards with spells equally interesting to any kind of player. Over 50 spell cards.
- Classic multiplayer mode. Up to 7 players via LAN or Internet.
- Involving process of hero development through the gameplay.