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Disciples: Liberation
Released On: Oct 21, 2021
73
4.6
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
73
46% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
46% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
73
46% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
46% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Disciples is back with a very interesting and lengthy campaign and addictive turn-based battles. A clear recommendation if you are interested in this genre.
Liberation severed all ties with Disciples’ strategic heritage. There’s only one playable faction, and our capital exists in a separate dimension so it never gets attacked. The resources are abundant, units and items are cheap, and fights are easy, so that nothing would distract the player from following the story.
[Issue#258, p.58]
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 84 User Ratings
4.6
40% Positive
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
6% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
54% Negative
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 84 User Ratings
4.6
40% Positive
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
6% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
54% Negative
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
I like this game. Good graphics, nice tactical combat, new mechanics. Yes, it's more RPG than strategy now, and I like it. I hope developer will update the game further and bring us new features, units and, maybe, playable characters or factions. I also like that the game is cross-platform. Thank you, Frima!
P.S.: Honestly, it's 7 out of 10, I just wanted to compensate unjustified zeros and ones a little bit.
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It is fun, but a bit on the easy side. Reminds me of a mix of HoMM and Kings Bounty. If you are a hardcore Disciples fan you may be suprised, it´s like a reboot. But a good reboot. New gameplay, new start into the story. Just give it a try. As Barney said: New is always better!
To be honest, I like the fact that this is not a Disciples II clone, it´s something new which fit´s the year 2021... So far I played 78hrs and I had a lot of fun.
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PC
Disciples: Liberation is a unique combination of turn-based strategy and real-time RPG. The game features interesting gameplay hooks that could redefine the genre in long-term perspective.
A lot of content, yet too easy for pros. Disciples enthusiasts better
prepare for some adjustments.
Disciples: Liberation is a vast turn-based/ RPG/ city management hybrid that would have been great if some aspects of the game were trimmed down. The core ideas behind the gameplay are implemented well. Skills, units, battle mechanics, dialog choices are classy. On the other hand, the writing is juvenile and the low level of challenge can make the game feel tedious.
Disciples: Liberation is a promising RPG with rich stories and compelling tactical combat, but nothing quite makes it a must-play.
An overly simplified simplification that winks at the audience of casual players displeasing the old ones is at the same time the cross and the delight of the new chapter of Disciples. Other than this, the "role-playing" developments of the plot could have been more effective.
If Disciples II fans can shut up we may actually appreciate how good and blody badass DIII was. Fantastic art. Now this next installment just moves the game forward with being on the same level as the DIII. Beautiful. I get it, Heroes III is the best heroes ever, but because the later are not Heroes 3 doesnt mean they are bad. HeroesVI is fatastic, with fantastic story. Same is applied here, dont s*** on the product because you want another DII.
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PC
Great potential
The good:
- exceptional art design, vfx, and animation
- one of the best user interfaces I have seen in a long while
- diverse combat units, the game has enormous potential for great tactical gameplay
- loads of content
The bad:
- extremely repetitive and grindy in the early stages of the game: it takes way too long to unlock new units.
- progression and pacing are completely off: you are a legendary hero before unlocking tier 2 units.
- convoluted lore, story tumbles through grimdark territory.
- level design constantly breaks tension and immersion: overworld maps look great but seem empty, most encounters are skippable because of your army being too strong while story encounters feel random and often feature even weaker enemies.
- resource management feels superflous within the campaign (would probably better fit into a skirmish mode)
- small combat maps limit tactical gameplay
- tactical gameplay isn't really required because you can steamroll 98% of the encounters in the story campaign.
In my opinion, a director's cut would be great with a streamlined campaign, quicker access to new units, interesting combat encounters, and a story with more focus. Alternatively, a skirmish mode, like in HOMM, would do wonders. With some tweaks this game could be really good.
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PC
Disciples: Liberation es algo a medio camino entre un juego de rol y un juego de estrategia por turnos estilo Disciples III (o Heroes of Might and Magic si preferís). La mezcla funciona razonablemente bien y tiene ideas interesantes, pero al mismo tiempo acaba no alcanzando la potencialidad que podría haber tenido si desarrollasen más cada una, siendo un juego de rol un poco simple y un juego de estrategia igualmente un poco simple. El combate es lo principal del juego y funciona bastante bien, siendo entretenido y razonablemente variado gracias a las cuatro facciones bien diferenciadas y la cantidad de unidades. Los grandes bosses de algunos momentos añaden variedad y los entornos y situaciones lo mismo, haciendo que **** bastante en volverse repetitivo, lo que ocurre un poco ya en los últimos compases del juego. En cambio, todo lo relativo a la gestión del castillo es realmente pobre y escaso.
Gráficamente el juego cumple, sin grandes aspavientos ni errores. El sonido cumple igualmente, aunque de un modo más irregular, especialmente con las voces de algunos personajes que son bastante malas. Me he encontrado con un par de salidas a escritorio y ralentizaciones, pero nada demasiado terrible.
El resultado de todo ello es, sin duda, un juego entretenido que, sin embargo, quizás podría haber dado más. Un 6.
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PC
Well, this one is difficult. On one hand, I can't deny I had some fun with the game, all things considered, on the other hand, it has lots and lots of idiotic design decisions.
The game was made by Frima, developer who primarily has experience in the mobile market, and boy, it shows. Disciples Liberation is a Kings Bounty clone with base building. Constructing buildings, hiring units, and upgrading equipment costs resources (and there's a lot of them, like not just gold but 7 types). How does one gather so many various resources in what is ultimately a real-time game, you ask? Well, of course, you gather it in REAL TIME. Yes, that's right, you conquer mines on various world maps with your army, and that gives you resources per hour. Once every few hours, you have to return to Yllian (your capital base), and manually click on "gather" to add the mined resources to your stockpile. Overcomplicated? Yes. Completely unnecessary? Yes. Copied from mobile games without further thought? Yes.
Combat is turn-based, and is very flashy. Units are quite varied, and even if there aren't dwarves this time around, there's a ton of units and companions you can bring along to fight so the game doesn't get stale. Well, not until late game, anyways. Combat is super easy, anyone who wants a challenge should play on hard at a minimum, as normal presents no obstacle whatsoever, and you will regularly stomp even higher level enemies. Now, there is a special place in hell for whoever implemented the ultimate abilities your heroes get later in the game. You see, EVERY battle is decided on the first two turns, tops. The longest battles are with bosses and even those take like 7-8 turns maximum. Ultimate abilities, unlike all other abilities, begin on cooldown at the start of combat (standard: 5 turns). That means you can use them only 5 turns into combat. By then, every single fight except boss fights will be over... I don't know who thought this is a good design, but "imbecilic" is the appropriate word for it. I have 70 hours in this game, and I have NEVER seen a single ultimate ability in action. Game also encourages you to finish fights asap, because if you drag them, enemies will eventually start killing your units, which is something you obviously don't want to do.
The main heroine, Avyanna, is the modern archetype of a strong, independent woman. She is super special, chosen by destiny, of course, and great at everything. At the very least, it's explained why she is so great and powerful. This is the core messaging of the game - all females are regal and powerful (Ormeriel, Illmeren...), and all males are either stupid (Baghtal), or a laughing stock (Orion). Avyanna can also sleep with anybody, and I mean anybody - she can treat anyone and anything, no matter if male, female, undead bone golem, etc., as a **** The game is woke af, and what it's trying to say is obviously that males are here to please women, and women are above all. A redeeming point for the main antagonist being a woman, too, though.
The game looks like it will have a lot of replayability at first glance. To recruit the strongest units from each of the four factions (Humans, Undead, Demons, and Elves), you need to upgrade your reputation with them to the highest level, which is not easy. Also, the game seems like it has a lot of choices in its dialogues. It encourages you to play through it multiple times. But that is an illusion. Besides trying a different factions, I see no point in playing this twice. The choices aren't real, the outcome of quests and the game itself will be more or less the same no matter what you do.
The devs also very much like to waste your time. There are two unskippable logo animations you are forced to watch every time the game is launched, there is, of course, the launcher, which offers zero functionality other than spying on you and showing you ads for their other games (I am not kidding - there is literally nothing there, you cannot even adjust game options from it), and every time you finally get to the main menu, you are greeted by a giant prompt to leave a review... which cannot be dismissed permanently, and doesn't go away even if you do leave the damn review on Steam. Absolutely appaling.
The Disciples lore has been butchered, the game connects to the atrocious Disciples 3 and there are tons of references, but it doesn't respect the lore in any meaningful way.
So why the 4 stars if it's so bad on so many levels? Well, if you pretend that this is not Disciples, and turn your brain off, you can have fun with the game and I certainly had some. So, I am not giving it 0/10 but I can't give it a high score either, for reasons stated above. If you want a cheap King's Bounty clone with nice graphics, you won't go wrong with this one, but for Disciples, replay the 2nd one. It will never be surpassed.
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Summary Disciples: Liberation is a mature, dark fantasy strategy RPG with turn-based combat. Liberate the land of Nevendaar and uncover the endless stories hidden within this richly detailed world where every decision has a consequence, and every wrong move could be deadly.
Rated M
for Mature
Platforms:
- PC
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 5
- PlayStation 4
Initial Release Date: Oct 21, 2021
Developer:
- Frima Studio
Publisher: Kalypso
Genres:
