i got this off a bundle and played it for the cards. before i noticed i already had racked up several hours of play.

rather than our sily skirmishes where we start off with resources and move on slowly, this game lets you play the way you want to(to a certain extent, of course). rpg mechanics that let you build your heroes up to your liking with different active and passive abilities, quests and equipment. add to that some nice rts elements(hate it or love it :P) and you get a rather enjoyable game. i recommend it.

I have played the Spellforce series from the beginning, and loved every installment. Until this one. The side quests are completely boring, mostly just "go back to the last area you cleared and find an item or two." The combat is easy but everything takes way too long to die. They probably expect you to skip the terrible side quests, so maybe I was stronger than I should have been.

The dialogue is terrible, and not because it's translated from German. The translation is fine. Every conversation just is way longer than it needs to be, packed with unneccessary dialogue, and delivered at a pace that would bore a sloth. I usually read the entire line of dialogue before they'd said two words of it, but with plot dialogues you can't skip lines, you can only skip the whole conversation. So you have to sit and listen to the sloooooowest talking dragons rehash plot points from previous games to which your character replies "I know. I was there" before they move on to new information. Or you can skip the whole thing and learn nothing. I feel like I'm being punished for caring about the lore. At least I get to look at close up shots of said dragons, which would look decent for a game from the early 2000's. To be fair to the dragons, though, the elves/humans/ghosts are just as bad.

The level design is terrible as well. In order, the levels are: a level from the last games, but ON FIRE! Then the laziest designed map in the history of games: a bunch of small islands that you teleport between so that they didn't have to try to create a flowing envronment. Then the most frustrating city ever, because it's very large and you move very slowly and the crappy fog of war doesn't update until you actually walk inside one of the dozens of buildings looking for the thing you need to move the plot along. Then a different level from the last game, again, but WITH DEMONS! That's where I stopped, due to it suddenly becoming unplayable.

Oh, yeah. It doesn't even work. The series has always been buggy, but it's never been unplayable for me before. Some examples of bugs: if a character is talking, and you go into a dialogue, your character starts what he was saying over. Which was really annoying during one puzzle in the second level where you have to use trial and error and keep initializing dialogue with some objects, and every time you fail they say the exact same lines. So Caine would start to talk, I'd interact with the item, he'd start over, I'd click the next item, he'd start over, etc etc etc. In the five minutes it took me to solve, I probably heard that first line about 100 times. Next, after completing a side quest involving 6 items, it didn't remove those items from my invenory. So I just put them on inventory page 10; not a big deal, but shoddy work. What finally broke the game for me was in the fourth level I had to go kill an NPC that was formerly neutral, and when it told me to go kill her it never set her to hostile. Reloaded my backup save and trudged through the tedious fghts and crappy dialogue and guess what: same bug. Unistalled.

So, I didn't finish the game. From what I played though, the "25+ hours of gameplay" would probably be about 5 in a game with better pacing. Slow movement, slow combat, slow dialogue. No new units added, poor map design, poor writing. I have been progressively more disappointed in each installment of Spellforce 2. I'm gonna reinstall the original Spellforce to cheer myself up.

I tried this game on Easy setting. I get to the quest where I am supposed to set up my first base. Suddenly there is enemies everywhere. There is no way to be able to micromanage battle and base building simultaneously. I have read that this is a bug but I have no stamina to start the game over, for the possibility of getting it to work. I simply deleted the game. I have enjoyed previous versions of Spellforce but this one nearly made me hairless.

can be buggy sometimes but still awesome

i have been a fan of spellforce since i got the very first game which came out in 2003 i think. Since the developers phenomic and jowood are out of buisness i am extremely pleased to see this franchise is continuing but i don't feel like it is as good as it used to be. That being said i love this game series and am looking foreward to seeing where the story goes with the now confirmed spellforce 3.

Demons of the past i feel is aimed more at the people following the story that began in the previous games and any new players i feel miss out on alot of the story line and so may not get references in the game. However it is still fun to play.

One major issue i have with this game is that a quest in the shadow realm is bugged and cannot be completed.

like the older ones. i dont do campigns so shortness is nothing . free mode is cool and has extra fromm the old. 1080 screen is welcome since last i played the gold version :)

Im big fan of spellforce and it's hard for me write this review but I have to.

This game sucks , I keep that first spellforce will be best spellforce ever . Dont think to play this game , of course it's cooperation here , but if you have hamachi you can play in coop first spellforce too , I was bored after 15 hours to play it vs spellforce dawn of order never .

Game have very lot bugs , singleplayer , cooperation
Game is bored , boring missions .


5/10 31.12.2014

Although Faith in Destiny, the previous (also chronologically) installment of Spellforce series, was slightly disappointing, Demons of the Past is an amazing game, especially for the fans of the Spellforce series.

Gameplay - RTS and RPG mix still exists. Although I always liked Spellforce 1 (platinum edition on Steam)'s RPG system (skill building, etc.) more, the RPG side of Demons of the Past is pretty great still. Many side quests and main quests give you many details about the story, making it long, good and rich. RTS, on the other hand, is really good - challenging, yet easy to do still. The system also makes it easier to use some of the skills, spells and other special abilities. Army often can even do it on their own. It may be a bit hard for the newcomers at the start, but not too hard.

Soundtrack - as always, soundtrack to this new part of the series is pretty good.

Voice acting - it has certainly improved from previous titles.

Bugs - there may be a couple, but nothing too big. They haven't really bothered me.

I haven't played multiplayer with DotP much yet, but previous titles were already a lot of fun. You can even play the campaign with someone cooperatively.

Overall - 4 out of 5. It brings a good end to Spellforce 2, similar to Dragon Storm, and perhaps equally dark to Shadow of the Phoenix. Although the engine is old, it was improved. It may have some bugs and/or a downside or two here and there, but it has been a very enjoyable game with a very good story and also a good to Spellforce 2.

Spellforce II: Demons of the Past is an old-looking game, both in graphics and gameplay. There is some kind of narrative value here, but will appeal only to faithful fans of the series.There’s a lot of content here, with a sprawling campaign and varied multiplayer modes, but ultimately it’s not worth the slog of what amounts mostly to tedious battles and glorified fetch quests. Despite this, the core gameplay is solid and the mash-up between RTS and RPG is a lot of fun. If you are a long time fan and follower of Spellforce 2, then I can imagine that Demons of the Past is right up your alley. You’ll easily understand the events surrounding the main storyline, and you will have been used to the nuances of properly playing the game. For everyone else, Demons of the past is a mediocre game that is not particularly memorable.Maybe SpellForce 3 will be a game that anyone will have to play, unfortunately Demons of the Past is for hardcore fans only.

Actually I am sitting on the fence a bit with this new Spellforce game. I've clocked a number of hours but haven't got a long way through as yet. But I'll give it a thumbs up merely because I think it will end up ok - vastly different to the number of thumbs down reviews here from people who have spent little time in the game and their issues sound more like technical or other problems rather then an actual "review" of the game itself.

Sure, it's got a few bugs, but I haven't seen a game release in ages that didn't have bugs first up - sometimes badly affecting even being able to play. It does have some other developer issues like the stealth mission in the Stepping Stones "My god what were they thinking!". This kind of mission doesn't suit this type of top down rpg/rts at all. And there are bugs where if you skip missions, do things in the wrong order or something, some weird things show up. But like all other games, the dev's do hear about these issues and I'm sure there's patches coming.

The game itself, well if you have ever played the other Spellforce games, it will be instantly recognisable. it's much the same gameplay. What they are doing here is finishing up the story of the entire series. Considering the series started a long time ago, I've forgotten most of the story anyway... but, certain things do spark a memory flash in my brain at times.

The game is reasonably priced, it's not an "A" title, so don't expect the latest graphics and latest engine, it's running on the old Spellforce 2 engine. So far it's reasonably enjoyable, although sometimes a little frustrating. Mainly because the game so far is pretty linear in format. Even though they have lots of side quests (so they say) they are really nothing and get swallowed up by the main quest ie: if you complete a section of the main quest line then bang! Those side quests you had are now irrelevant or unplayable because you moved on - literally - it shifts you to a different area in the game world.

I guess Spellforce has always been a bit like this - just wasn't expecting for it to hit me so hard in the face with it, like when it transports you off to the Stepping Stones and you are sitting there going "No, I need to level up and I wanted to visit the merchants and that side quest I was doing...oh...bugger".

But as I said, it's not an "A" title and it's price means it's most probably worth it, so give it a shot - whether you've played Spellforce before or not.

Now then, I have been very fond of the Spellforce series this far, and have many fond memories of them. Unfortunately though, this release is still in a serious need of further updating. As the game is currently, it is nothing more than seriously frustrating and an annoyance.

Leaving the lack of missing patches aside, this standalone release of Spellforce may provide many hours of joy and feelings of nostalgia to everyone who remembers playing Spellforce 1. But until those bugs have been removed, a bit of patience may be useful.

Well, I've always been more or less a fan of Spellforce games. Granted the first one was vastly superior to the 2nd one, Spellforce 2 still had some good things going for it. However... this "expansion"... yeah stay away from it. It's horrible build, has "quests" that barely work. It wouldn't be a bad thing if you could skip the majority of these quests but most of them are main storyline quests which do hinder your progression. The only redeeming quality is the Freeform Game which is also horribly bugged in some levels.

What more can I say? It's a badly made expansion and I do hope that the devs who worked on this never touch another piece of software again. But that seems to be wishfull thinking since the rumor is that Spellforce 3 is already being made. At least I know which game to avoid in the near future. A real shame the Spellforce series dies here because of this "expansion" for me.

This is a honist review if you call it that from my play though of the game I enjoyed it even with the bugs granted some where almost game breaking but I would say its a pin shot better than Faith in Destiny the campain will test you even on easy and the Free Mode is also worth a go granted with freinds its all the more fun

aside from the bugs that the patch did not fix I would say its a nice game but if you are the type of player who wants a game that does not have a tendancy to explode in your face or cause a restart of several hours as you did not save then its not for you.

I loved, SP1, SP2 and all the expansions. This game is not the same. My first map was bugged, i spent an hour getting to the point where you can actually build a base, you are then MEANT to be attacked by waves containing 5 mobs, one wave every few mins. My map - i got his by 6 waves of 5 at once. Game over. Reloading - same thing. Only fix is to restart the game.

Then ther eis the AWFUL stealth mission that took me 3 hours to get passed, Your char gets detected once, GAME OVER, go back and start again. Worst SP mission i have played.

Then the Build and Defend the Ziggurat mission, you are meant to make an army of 30 and then defend the orcs are they build this temple thing. Apprently you have to defend them for 45 mins. MY game? I have been defending them 4 HOURS!!! and the tempe is barely 50% done. Not a single orc worker has died in hours.

I cannot recommend this game to anyone. Such a sad end to the excellent SP series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKHTJdnQ0HY

This very much feels like a rushed beta-version at best. They forgot to put in the tutorial, which I don't mind (seeing as I own all of the Spellforce games before this), but for anyone new to the series this could be a huge issue. The game is littered with a relatively boring story-line that involves cut-scenes (multiple minutes at times) that one can't skip. To be fair, the story might be good, but the video at the very beginning did not work for me, which is just one of the many bugs that make the game-play a frustrating experience. I am probably still going to finish it (if the game lets me), but I would strongly discourage buying this unless you are a die-hard fan of the previous games.

I like it allot. Although I like all of them, this one was different in some ways, allot alike really, just changed campaign but it was really well created and put together. Can't wait for Spellforce 3. (completed it, clocked it, did all quests) #level30

Has a few annoying bugs, but was worth playing.

I love the mix of rpg and strategy elements. Graphics are slightly imporved and it runs much smoother than previous games. No new faction but there are new game modes. My main (and only) annoyance and I hope developers fix this, its the lack of save game in the skirmish modes. Its really annoying not being able to save your game. But once they fix that, Best game ever!!!

Good game but cant restart which ♥♥♥♥s up when ur doing missions

If you aren't already a fan, start with an earlier game. Lots of content here, not all of it's great, but if you've stuck with SpellForce 2 games for this long, then keep going because it's not like this is much worse than previous entries. I think the camera kinda sucks and managing units and hero skills is a chore, personally, but maybe other people are used to it. The only real disappointment for me comes from not being super into this game when I used to really like RTS games - and no one really makes RTS games like this anymore.