Naval combat is fairly well fleshed-out, making island maps a thrilling proposition.īut for six out of the eight playable factions, I just didn't feel like there was enough new going on here. And while I was worried naval combat would feel like an afterthought with how little Relic talked about it leading up to launch, it's fairly well fleshed-out, making island maps a thrilling proposition of their own.

But overall, it's a great variety of well-designed battlefields. Some of them can feel a bit unbalanced, though mountain passes will always favor castle-building civs over nomads like the Mongols, for instance. They each present different tactical challenges, from two opposing ridges overlooking a valley that feels very much like a StarCraft 2 tournament map, to very open layouts with lots of unit-concealing forest in the middle that encourages a cheeky guerilla war and lots of misdirection. I was also impressed with the semi-randomized skirmish maps, which let you choose a biome – defining the colors, tree types, and overall vibes, from European Temperate to Asian Steppe to Taiga – in addition to a layout.

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