In the center-most mountain range of the Desolate East lies hidden the Pit of Lost Voices.

Magnar has now lived in the Desolate East for over 140 years, and after eking out an empire under the harshest conditions, and both starting and finishing a war with the Kingdom of Gilden, the only obstacle that remains on the path to total dominion is the Empire of Resoln. Resoln’s sovereign, Oracle Ceresa, is not only aware of this fact, but she commands five times as many soldiers are Magnar, and she’s itching to land the first blow. In the summer of 295 A.C. (I have no idea what that means, and I suspect Magnar doesn’t either), she does exactly that.

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Powerful Warg Mages. All you need are Wargs. And Mages.

Much to my surprise, I’ve been having a grand time with Fallen Enchantress. Magnar’s Empire has grown from a tiny walnut into a massive tree of enslaving doom, and most recently booted the stuck-up Gilden out of his birthright territory. Unfortunately, now my Empire is facing new troubles — and while a few are intricate Gordian Knots just waiting for my sword to descend with a satisfying thwack, others have arisen courtesy of Fallen Enchantress’s less-endearing eccentricities.

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The Gilden city of Farhammer.

After only a couple hours with Fallen Enchantress, it was plain that Stardock had learned some strong lessons from the disappointment of Elemental: War of Magic. Magnar and his growing retinue of allies were on a happy romp across the Desolate East — now an actual magic-ravaged desert rather than the lukewarm fantasy of the first game, which was filled with characters who were constantly insisting that no, really, this is a wasteland. Magnar had founded eight proud cities, assembled a few decent armies (mostly composed of freebie slave militia), and done some stuff that could only rightly be called heroic, even though he has a strong dislike for that term. After all, what else do you call a team of adventurers who drives back a demon invasion? Neglecting the fact that in the end they’d persuaded the demon to join up, of course.

Now, with the appearance of the arrogant Kingdom of Gilden and their vast treasuries and demands for tribute, times are a’changing for Magnar’s Empire.

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Magnar, Lord of the Quendar. Once he founds them, anyway.

It’s the 24th of August, 2010, the day I’ve been eagerly awaiting for over three months, and there’s something heavy on my mind: which I should play first, Mafia II by 2K Games or Elemental: War of Magic by Stardock? They arrived together, shared the same potential-smelling cardboard box (cardboard always smells like potential to me though), and sat shrink-wrapped for nearly an hour while I wrestled the question back and forth. Yeah, I’m one of those, the sort who would rather do nothing than commit to just one, especially when the topic is games.

I played Elemental first, which turned out to be the right choice, as Mafia II seemed quite good after suffering through the trauma of four hours with Elemental. Now, two years plus change later, we have Fallen Enchantress, a sequel built over a foundation of lessons learned, better designers hired, and apologies delivered. And to my surprise, that’s a pretty decent foundation.

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