Online game "Elvenar"

Browser and MMO-projects - it is known, mostly RPG, betting on the quests (sometimes even the plot), characters, character development, battles and collecting equipment. But there are far fewer strategies among them. Therefore, each has a special weight and attracts increased attention. Like, for example, Elvenar - a very enjoyable and quite deep game that can please not only connoisseurs of classic urban simulation, but also those who love turn-based battles, and even fans of the cult Heroes of Sword and Magic. Why? We answer in our review.

Elvenar is a city-building strategy where our main goal is to develop our settlement, collect resources and expand the available territory. There is no storyline as such, we just periodically get tasks from the councilors in the vein of "erect such and such a structure", "learn such and such a technology", "solve 3 conflicts" and so on. For completing such quests we receive rewards in the form of money and materials - these are the two main resources that are spent on constructing buildings, resolving conflicts peacefully, producing troops and goods.

Sometimes different merchants (e.g., air) come with their own errands and rewards in the form of valuable diamonds, knowledge and chests with useful contents. But in this case, the lack of plot is not particularly regrettable - still a game about something else. In addition, even some quests allow not only to receive rewards, but also to learn the history of the world Elvenar.

First of all, as we said, here we need to think about the development and expansion of their lands. But first we choose one of two races, it depends on this what your possessions will look like. The city of elves, who understandably love the nature, seems to be very beautiful and harmonious, and the human settlement is filled with technology and medieval architecture. The troops are also somewhat different, primarily in the available fighters.

But these are still aesthetic (and less often tactical) trivialities. No matter who you play as (on one server you can try to play as elves, on the second - as humans), you still have to perform approximately the same actions. Another thing is that these actions are equally interesting and addictive.

Initially, our city has a small area and occupies a plot of 15x10 squares. Here we can build Residences, which increase the number of inhabitants and constantly replenish our coffers with gold, and Workshops, which produce a second important resource, supplies of materials. The workers who live in the Builder's Hut are responsible for building these and other buildings. The center of the settlement and the main warehouse is the Town Hall. All of our buildings and constructions must be connected to it by roads (and in the case of the elves, by paths) - otherwise they simply won't function.

The Residences, the Workshops, the Town Hall, and the Builders' Hut can and should be improved, even if we need not only coins and supplies, but also population and culture points. The latter increase as we build various aesthetically pleasing objects, a list topped by luminous signs and flowering trees in the elves. Rising in rank, buildings become more efficient. For example, there will be more workers in the hut - initially there are only two, which means you can only build two buildings at a time.

Gradually other useful establishments are opened - an arsenal, barracks, where the troops are produced, various factories that produce the goods we need, and so on. After a while it will even be allowed to create Ancient Wonders - powerful architectural magic structures, inherited from the ancestors, give really useful bonuses, develop your race and city.

All of these buildings become available as you learn new technologies, among which are, of course, not only construction-related. Do you want your units to be more numerous? Do you wish to raise the efficiency and efficiency of the production of goods in factories? Please complete the appropriate research. Knowledge points are spent on them, which gradually accumulate on their own, and are also given as a reward for capturing provinces.

Improving current structures rather than building new ones is a forced strategy, as there will always be a shortage of space in the city. And to expand your territory, you must periodically go out on the global map and first explore, then explore and capture provinces - they increase the available area in your village. In addition, the addition of new lands brings useful resources to our treasury. In addition to the knowledge points mentioned above, these are valuable relics, which are mainly needed to increase the efficiency of factories and the production of goods.

In the process of exploring and conquering the surrounding areas, conflicts with their inhabitants naturally arise. They can be resolved in two ways - peacefully, diplomatically, which costs money, supplies, and sometimes other resources, or militarily. This is where Heroes of Sword and Magic comes to mind.

The fact is that the combat system in Elvenar is just like what we saw in this iconic game series. That is, the battles take place in turn-based mode, where our and the enemy units move in turns and along the cells (hexagons, to be exact). Each squad can contain a different number of units - 6, 9, 20 or 40. The more warriors there are, the more they hit with their attack. And the harder it will be to destroy them, gradually inflicting damage and trying to reduce their numbers to zero

The list of available troops includes swordsmen, mages, archers, some particularly powerful melee fighters like tree walkers for elves or barbarians for humans. Each race has five unique types of soldiers, that we train in the barracks, as well as 10 common, they need to be discovered and "built" on the training ground or in the mercenaries' camp. In principle, the troops of both races are about equal in strength, but they differ somewhat in their tactics. Humans rely more on damage on offense, so their defense is slightly weaker. The elves look more balanced in this sense.

All of this should be taken into account during battles and act tactically. Therefore, success in battles largely depends not only on the number of your troops, but also on how you manage them, who you send into battle, guided by the composition of the enemies (if there are a lot of heavy melee fighters, it makes sense to use archers against them!), where you move, on whom and who you attack - you can not attack head-on, but lure into narrow passages, maneuver, retreat, and so on. Although if you don't want to bother with all that, you can give control to the computer by pressing the button automatically calculating the outcome of the battle.

As you can see, Elvenar has almost everything we appreciate in such games - a lot of urban planning and strategic opportunities, and the battles are fascinating, presenting a difficult tactical challenge. And we have not yet said about the fact that there is something to attract the attention of fans who like to create something by yourself. We're talking about the Academy of Magic, which allows you to make spells and charms - they absorb the power of relics to increase the effectiveness of certain buildings. There is also available production of items, knowledge and the same relics - we create them using recipes from unnecessary structures and charms.

And, of course, as in any MMO or browser game, in Elvenar constantly happens different entertaining events, tests, tournaments, some contests in Instagram and so on - in general, life here boils. Interest is fueled and the opportunity to do the revival of other races in the later stages of the game. Yes, yes, doing quests and learning the history of the world, we learn that not only humans and elves lived here before, but also dwarves, fairies, orcs, goblins, wizards, halflings, elementals, and many others. But then all but our two base peoples disappeared for unknown reasons.

And at some point, successfully developing in the game, you will not only learn how to visit other dimensions, where the souls of these forgotten races reside, but also find a way to revive them. And then you will be able to establish and develop small settlements in your city for the resurrected people, allowing you to gain access to their technology.

As you can see, there is no need to get bored. Another matter is that by the same standards of the genre, the process of gathering resources, constructing buildings and learning technology takes a certain amount of time. And to shorten it, get new builders instantly, just as instantly complete the process of building houses can be done with particularly valuable diamonds, which are bought for real money. But, first of all, that's the rule of all free-to-play MMO games. Secondly, no one is forced to reach for their ruble, because these diamonds can be found or obtained as a reward and just as tasks are completed.

Finally, Elvenar has an interesting system of mutual assistance between players, which facilitates the passage without any cost in real money. So, having explored another player's province on the map, you can trade with him without a commission and once a day give him the so-called "neighborly help" - donate coins, improve the performance of a cultural building for 8 hours or motivate his Builders to work faster. We get rewards for this kind of charity ourselves, too.

For the purpose of mutual assistance in Elvenar, player unions are also created - you can either look through the available ones and join them to get different benefits, including the same trading without commission and neighborly help, or at any time create your own union by becoming its archimage. There are no special requirements for this - just do not belong to another union and do not invite more than 24 members to the union.

Your acquaintance with Elvenar will leave a very positive impression. The project not only looks and sounds nice (the music is really very nice) - it, most importantly, offers a fairly balanced gameplay, which has found a place for city building, and for strategy on the global map, and for challenging turn-based battles, and the search for the missing races, and for interaction with other users. However, there is no "pay and win" principle - there is no rush here at all, you can develop quite meditatively, communicate and have fun. That's what we wish you.

Zarium, September 2020