Doom: The Reconquest

Doom: The Reconquest by developer krokots is an ambitious hybrid of strategic management and real-time tactical battles with pausable combat, built on the Doom engine. The mod abandons standard first-person shooting and offers a unique gameplay style reminiscent of the iconic Heroes of Might and Magic series and elements of Civilization.

Gameplay is split between strategic management on a procedurally generated map and tactical battles. On the global map, you take key actions to expand your influence:

• Each day change brings gold. To gather wood, stone, sulfur or mercury, you need to build roads and construct sawmills, quarries and mines. An alchemy system is available for exchanging resources on a market-like basis.

• There are no full-fledged castles in the game — buildings are erected directly on conquered territories. Creature dwellings are tied to terrain type (for example, efreets prefer desert, wendigos prefer snow, ettins prefer mud). Troop growth occurs once a week, and farms can be built to increase it.

• The main goal is to gather a powerful army, explore the surrounding lands and capture the well-guarded Black Castle.

In battles you do not take up arms yourself but act as a tactician:

• Before a battle, you choose your army's formation. During the battle itself, you can pause, give orders to individual creatures or squads, and split your army for flanking maneuvers.

• Battle can be paused, allowing you to select specific monsters or groups of troops and direct them to a certain point on the map or order them to attack a specific enemy.

• Terrain affects tactics (trees can block projectiles), and the battlefield features magical nodes that apply random buffs, debuffs, or summon ghosts.

The mod offers a deep hero development system and a rich arsenal of tactical options:

• 44 creature types, including monsters from Doom, Heretic, Hexen, as well as unique original units.

• 14 core attributes (Strength, Endurance, Health, Magic, Wisdom, Speed, etc.) and 11 upgradeable skills that reduce penalties or strengthen the army.

• 70 combat and support spells to aid your troops.

• Separate Arena battles are available, and a built-in reference guide will help you quickly get to grips with all the mechanics.

Doom: The Reconquest is an incredibly bold and daring experiment that shows just how flexible the good old Doom engine can be in the hands of enthusiasts. The author has managed to do the nearly impossible: take the foundation of a dynamic first-person shooter and build on it a genuine turn-based strategy with deep micromanagement and the soul of Heroes of Might and Magic.