Fantasy General II: Invasion

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy

Players: 1

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Review:

Fantasy General II may have a title that seems like it’s straight out of a mobile gacha game, but this is actually a revival of an old and influential game franchise, or at least a spin-off of one. The original Fantasy General, released on PC in 1996, was a spin-off of the beloved strategy game Panzer General that took the celebrated hex-based mechanics of Panzer and brought it into a medieval fantasy setting. Nearly 20 years later, in 2019, this game finally received a sequel on PC, with the game being ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2020, and then to Nintendo Switch in 2021.

The presentation in this game is generally good, though the 3D visuals here aren’t what anyone would call “impressive”. Still, it’s perfectly sufficient for the gameplay, and it’s greatly enhanced by an excellent orchestral and choral soundtrack that really sells the high fantasy of the setting. However, this great soundtrack is offset by extremely underwhelming sound – even with sound effects turned all the way up, the sounds of battle barely register.

The gameplay here is mostly combat-focused – there is some resource management, but most of what you’ll be doing is coordinating and managing the growth of your viking-like troops, who each have upgrade trees enabling you to promote them to new types of troops if you have the right conditions met. In addition, your gains and losses carry over from one level in the campaign to the next, so you’ll want to be shrewd about what unit types you promote and how you deploy them in battle.

Another interesting element of Fantasy General II is the emphasis this game places on resting your troops. Your units’ health is typically in green, changing to temporary damage in red that can be healed by having a unit stay rooted for a turn to make camp. Neglect a unit for too long, and they’ll start taking damage in black, which cannot be healed as it represents deaths within that unit. As with other elements of the game, these deaths persist after the battle is over. Players can opt to spend some cash to enlist fresh recruits to fill in the unit, but doing so will reduce the level of experience that unit has, as you’re literally replacing skilled combat veterans with unskilled newbies.

All of this makes for a solid and generally satisfying Strategy experience, but there are two major issues I have to point out here. Firstly, the Nintendo Switch version of the game has somewhat small text that can sometimes be difficult to read on the screen. It’s not horrible, but it could be better. And secondly, this game features no multiplayer. While including such a feature might seem impractical due to the slow turn-based nature of the game, the original Fantasy General allowed players to play together by sending information via E-Mail, and I have to think that better internet technology developed over the last few decades would at least allow us to improve on that mechanic.

Still, if you’re looking for a solid Turn-Based Strategy game on Nintendo Switch with a solid modern presentation and a fantasy theme, Fantasy General II will be an excellent choice. It’s not without its flaws, but the game does have multiple unique mechanics and overall plays very well. Fans of the genre should definitely have their eye on this one.

tl;dr – Fantasy General II is a Turn-Based Strategy game that has you commanding viking-like troops in a medieval fantasy setting on a hex-based grid. The gameplay here is solid, with some interesting mechanics and a good presentation. It could do with some multiplayer options, and the text is a bit small for the Nintendo Switch, but those issues aside, overall this is a solid entry in the genre.

Grade: B-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Strategy Game/Simulation

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