XIII Century: Death or Glory
Preview
Meticulous realism and medieval battles.
by Marko Susimetsä
previewed on PC
Battles at a time when you could still see your enemy eye-to-eye
Remember how we previewed this game last year when it was still called XIII Century: Sword & Honor? Well, time has moved forward and games get new names as the publishing date gets closer. In this case, the name changed to a more dramatic XIII Century: Death or Glory. The new title is undoubtedly a little more fitting for an RTS game and for the fact that swords were, after all, never the main weapon in a battlefield (and let's not talk about honour at all, eh?). In addition, with the passing of time, we've also seen some more concrete details of the game and hopefully know better what we are talking about.
XIII Century: Death or Glory focuses on what is most important for a battle game: battles of the 13th Century. Anyone reading history books knows that the medieval era was pretty full of wars here and there in Europe although they were never as bloody as modern wars. In the case of the XIII Century: Death or Glory, we will see as many as 30 wars, divided into five campaigns: Russian, Mongolian, French, German and English. The developers have dug into the history books a bit more than one usually expects from game developers and the campaigns will certainly serve as a good introduction to history at the same time as they provide you with some fun. Since I've got a weak point for medieval history, let's first take a look at what this game offers in that front.
Realism of the 13th century
First off, the game will include over 60 historical characters, including Philip II Augustus, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Edward I, Alexander Nevsky, Daniil Galitsky, Simon de Montfort and William Marshal. There are also dozens of unit types, such as heavy knights, mounted and foot sergeants, archers, lance knights, darters, arbalesters and all sorts of units of warriors wielding various sorts of weapons. Furthermore, each nation's troops will be depicted true to history (or at least history books): the French will have unrivalled mounted units, the English will love their Welch archers, the Mongols will have lightning fast mounted units and the Italians, naturally, rally forth with their arbalests. Naturally, the tactics and strategies of each nation, as well as their forces and armies, are based on the history.
Likewise, you will see the genuine European heraldry in the battlefields, meaning that the coats of arms and colours will reflect the ones you might actually have seen in the battlefields in the 13th century if you had been foolish enough to venture to them. Alongside the heraldry, also the weapons and armor have been painstakingly modelled, taking into account the styles and qualities of the items in real battlefields. This meticulous art of modelling is also apparent in the battlefield designs and fortresses that make an appearance in the game, such as the Chateau-Gaillard. In essence, with the tools at hand, you will be able to recreate battles and see how different decisions might have lead to different outcomes. The only thing not modelled (at least at this point) that is immediately obvious is dirt. All the units seem to wear strangely clean outfits after what must have been long marches to reach the battlefield in the first place.
