"Illwinter Game Design, the Swedish development team of two responsible for the Conquest of Elysium and Dominions series, is a lot like Blizzard Entertainment. Both happily stick to releasing new iterations of their flagship series, Warcraft & Diablo and COE & Dominions; both have a loyal fan base that will buy anything they release, albeit a magnitude smaller in scope for Illwinter; both cross-pollinate ideas and resources from their different titles, such as item naming conventions from Diablo to World of Warcraft and Illwinter using the same sprites in every game; and finally, but most important, both release games that are distinctly of that developer. There’s a little magic in both developer’s titles that only a select and glorious few are able to capture. Not the same magic to be sure. The ultra-polished-neon-casino-fan tasy vibe of a Blizzard game is not the vibe Illwinter goes for. Illwinter games are hoary, misty, murky, strange and interesting. When I’m playing an Illwinter game it feels…special. And that’s why I think they are the Blizzard of the indie fantasy strategy world."
- Michael Raston, HBHUD
Conquest of Elysium 4 looks like a humble little pixel art strategy game — which it kind of is — but underneath the inviting and simple facade is a diabolically deep and addictive turn-based experience.
PC Invasion's PC Nolan speaks to Illwinter’s Johan Karlsson and Kristoffer Osterman about Conquest of Elysium 4, the Dominions series, and game complexity.
