1. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (PC)(Action)2. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)3. DRAGON: The Bruce Lee Story (SNES)(Fighting)4. Eradicator (PC)(FPS)5. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC)(FPS)6. D-Force (SNES)(SHMUP)7. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (PC)(RPG)8. Dying Light (PC)(FPS/RPG)
9. Dying Light: The Following (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition (PC)(Hack and Slash)
11. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PC)(Walking Simulator)
12. Dead Pixels (PC)(Run and Gun)
13. Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. (PC)(FPS)
14. Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (PC)(Action Platformer)15. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC)(FPS)16. Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory (PC)(Platformer)17. Zombie Shooter (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)18. Torchlight (PC)(Action RPG)19. Descent II (PC)(FPS)20. Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen (PC)(RPG)Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen is effectively a fan game using the engine from Might and Magic 4 and 5 which ended up getting picked up and published by New World Computing, the makers of the M&M series. While its obvious that SoX was developed by different people (precisely two of them to be exact), the game still features the same combat, the same tactics, and a few little tweaks to the Might and Magic formula to allow for shapeshifting enemies. However, it doesn't adhere as strictly to the general design philosophy of the main series, and as a result, it feels more like a step between Might and Magic 3 and 4 instead of a game to build upon the success of the 5th and the Worlds of Xeen combo.
While Might and Magic 4 and 5 offer smaller worlds with much larger cities and dungeons, Swords of Xeen has an enormous world...that is sparsely populated. One of the standout elements is just how empty SoX feels when you play it. That's not to say there aren't quests to undertake and things to do, but despite the much larger overworld of SoX, cities and dungeons are fewer in number and much smaller on average. As a result, SoX feels empty. Again, this brings me to think of M&M3, which had islands chock full of monsters and dungeons, but these were disconnected with vast and often empty ocean between them.
Might and Magic 4 and 5 also feature voice clips with gatekeepers for every city and dungeon. SoX only does this for cities, and they only use one design, which makes the interaction feel limited compared to its cousins. Since 3 didn't use this convention, again SoX feels like a step up from 3 and down from 4 and 5.
Most importantly, and perhaps in the biggest departure, is that Swords of Xeen feels considerably more structured than any of the Might and Magic titles of its era. SoX starts you off with a party at level 10, and then it's off to save the first town, then the second, then the third, while also grabbing the six necessary weapons to finish the final dungeon. Typically the party only reaches about level 30 by the time you're done, as opposed to starting at level 1 and getting up to ridiculous heights in the other entries. While you do get to explore the world and slowly feel yourself become more powerful, SoX also inhibits this by strategically using quests to block the acquisition of necessary movement skills and places powerful monsters as gatekeepers to prevent the player from advancing at times. Eventually you get to a point where you can drop these gatekeepers, and it is a satisfying situation when you finally bring down your first dragon, power lich, or minotaur. But in the minotaur's case, that also means you're pretty much entering final dungeon territory, and you've had to stripmine the world of monsters to get there.
Another point of note: Swords of Xeen is rife with bugs and errors. Some are small, such as spelling mistakes. Hey, it was a two man team, I can't totally fault them on this. But then there are bigger things, like quests not wrapping up correctly. I still had two quests in my journal that I had actually completed when I beat the game, so I was unable to grab one of the titles I had rightly earned as the savior of Sand Town. This is frustrating, partly because it can lock a bit of content, and partly because it makes your quest journal less useful if you have to scroll through bugged out crap to figure out what you actually need to do.
Swords of Xeen also has a frustrating ending due to its tightly controlled progress, which means you're less likely to have a character with a high enough accuracy to hit many of the enemies in the final dungeon. Get through this by abusing tricks with the AI(particularly backing into them instead of approaching head on), and you're rewarded with a simple splash screen that makes for a pitiful attempt at an ending reward. When I wrapped up SoX, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? This is it? At least tell me we got a burger with the president or something." Nope, no dice, just a generic "You won" screen.
Overall, Swords of Xeen is probably best played by the RPG diehards who are just getting into the Might and Magic series. If you've only played up through Might and Magic 3, it'll feel like an upgrade in some manner. If you have moved on to 4 and 5, it'll feel like a slide backwards. It's not necessary for those who want to stay with the main series, though it does help rekindle some of the nostalgia for the 3-5 era of the series if it's been a while. Despite the problems, I'm happy to have played and beaten it; it has been an experience I've been meaning to seek out for a while. Now that I'm done though, I'm also happy to set it aside and move on to 4 and 5.
