I definitely do recommend this game.

Pros:
- Fun TBS game with a decent AI which provides a decent challenge. It's no match for an experienced strategist, but makes the game fairly enjoyable.
- Your units gather XP which allows you to improve them.
- Heroes can also find and equip items to improve their stats
- The developer is very active on the forums, and will spend time fixing any bugs that are found.
- As the name suggests, the campaigns are from the perspective of the evil factions.
- Completing both campaigns takes around 30 hours in total.

Cons:
- The weak point of the game is really the graphics, as can be seen in the screenshots. However, it is an indie developer, and the game is around $10. It's no worse than those 8-bit games that are becoming so popular again.
- The writing can sometimes be a bit amateur-ish. But the overall story are fairly interesting (if generic fantasy stuff).
- MP is currently only via connect by IP (although the developer is working on changing that!)

Once I got in to it, this hooked me well enough that I played through until the end of one of two campaigns in it, but there are too many rough edges for me to recommend it overall.

One of the core mechanics here is all your units (not just your heroes) earn XP, and the stat gains they get from that are significant given how few HP they start with. They can also die in battle, so I fear losing those upgrades.

In many tactical games, that means figuring out how your units can use the terrain for advantage over the enemy, but here the maps are little more than window dressing. There's no taking the high ground, or staying in cover for a defensive bonus, or even breaking line-of-sight.

Enter summoners. They throw away that "every soldier is precious" idea entirely. Summoned minions de-spawn after a few turns anyway, so there's no hesitation about using them as disposable meat shields. They even feed their combat XP back to their summoner.

But wait, there's more! Summoned units are not only useful for shaping movement on the battlefield, they can also act on the same turn that they're summoned. And one of the types of summoned units has a ranged attack, which is otherwise hard to come by early in the campaign.

The other bit of level design I got stuck on is that there's a battle that is widely regarded as unwinnable unless you have a unit that can stun-lock the teleporting baddie with the one-hit kill strike, and despite the campaign offering that unit to you right before that, it's real easy to end up without them in your party, since you probably were already at your maximum number of party members.

As for the story, there are a few good one-liners, but I didn't care for the voice acting, and I was surprised it ended when it did.

The user interface has a lot of room for improvement. The rendering performance is especially disappointing in the later battles with lots of units on the field.

There are things I liked. The variety of units that you play with, ranging from knights in shining armor to giant half-demon spiders. And the upgrades you get, either through loot or XP, give you something a little different to play with every battle.

There's potential here, and I'll be curious to see what comes from this developer in the future, but players can pass on this one.

I played this game on Desura a while back and its nice to see it come to Steam with achevements.

This is an old school game; a throw-back to when preperation and strategy meant more than quick reflexes.

Age of Fear 2 takes the tried and true turn based hex battle system and removes the hexes. You must choose carefully when and where to move units on the battlefield and try to keep them grouped together to be sucessful. The enemy AI is quick to pick off that lone wolf in your army marching ahead of the crowd. No leading the way with mages and archers unless of course you WANT them to die. The mages are the most fun to play with all the different spells they offer but you dont want to get them anywhere near the front lines. You will be forced to shield them with cheap melee units as most battles will have enemies comming from different directions. Oh and the AI knows this, they will come after your frail units and even knows to move its ranged units away from the front lines. The AI is competent in this game and will offer you a challenge.

Graphicly this game is not going to blow you away, but its not supposed to. Its uses overhead 2D graphics system, which is pretty much the only downside to the game. Its just a bit bland in that department and you can see that pretty easily from the screenshots. The game shines elsewhere and it shows in its balance and depth of strategy.

The sound effects and voice acting are basic, but the music is pretty darn good.

There are two campains with a dozen or so missions each. The story is fairly long delivered via text between battles.
Your units (if they survive battles) can gain experience and level up or upgrade. If they do die you can hire new units between battles. This type of game isnt for everyone but true strategy fans will certainly have plenty to sink their teeth into.

Age of Fear 2: The Chaos Lord GOLD is perfect for fans of tactical fantasy turn-based strategy with RPG elements (as long as the 2D graphics and english language can be tolerated). My personal assessment of the game's advantages and disadvantages:

Positive:

- Levelable and skillful units, which can be taken to the next battle.
- Use of magic, some of which must be learned.
- Heroes with learnable special abilities and findable items (rings, swords, amulets, etc.)
- The story offers decision options in certain situations, which influences the progress of the game
- Movement and range always recognizable when selecting a unit
- Obstacles (terrain, own troops, etc.) block the path of units
- Each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses, which must be taken into account tactically in combat

Negative:

- The game is entirely in English (but no drama - if you know a little English, you'll find your way around easily)
- No cutcenes, just text with background images
- Graphics are in 2D.
- Battle noises could be staged much better (e.g. battle cries, cries for help, screams, etc.)
- Troop formation before a fight is predetermined.
- There is no human faction between the 2 playable campaigns (only orcs or demons can be played)

In conclusion, the game is definitely worth its estimated price if you like fantasy, tactics, and RPGs. I leave here my recommendation of this amazing game...

I'm going to start with the bad because all of the following are bad enough that you should know before going in. First off, the game is clunky and doesn't look great. The story, while well-written, is a wall of text and the tutorial is barely there causing me some early confusion (I didn't realize my soldiers had the Beserk trait and automatically spend their action to attack nearby enemies). Finally, the game is old-school random that can be frustrating (An early battle has 2 enemy groups that should weaken one another before facing you. But due to bad luck one steamrolled the other and then crush me.)

But despite the complaints I am having alot fun. The hex-less battles create some really cool tactical thinking. Positioning matters both to protect your troops and leave room for them to manuever past one another. The AI can be a jerk because it will circle around and target your weak troops if possible. This becomes more important because surviving troops can gain levels and you'll want to keep everyone alive.

If you can get past the flaws, there's a really good game here.

My friends on steam know that I have to completely love a game, or absolutely hate it, to bother with a review. Unfortunately that surprise is ruined by the thumbs up spoiler they put on these reviews. All I can do to make up for that spoiler, is tell you what you will be getting yourself into with this title. Bear in mind, this game is a trilogy and I have only played this installment (What can I say, I love Chaos on Warhammer, and the succubus looks like that girl all of us took home after drinking a case of beer, but you wake up next to the orc, so.....)

What is it?
Age of Fear two is an rpg/war strategy hybrid with some micromanagement (of your forces) and turn based gameplay. There are two complete stories with each installment, and each story is long enough to be its own game. There are multiple paths, quite a few secrets, 100s of units and items just as the description says, and every one of them is useful, as are all of the units. There is no filler here, as everything has a purpose and a time when it can be invaluable to you. Right away the game assumes you have experience in the genre, and as such it gets you going with some challenging battles early on, although it does give you a tutorial on how to play in the first couple of missions. There are countless skills to master, and some of your units can actually evolve into elite classes (Fire Emblem/Shining Force fans will be pleased with this feature, as its very well done, I just wish ALL units had an evolution tree, but hey, a good number of them do, so...) Units carry over from battle to battle, and you can select how they grow, from buying stat upgrades for them, to buying skills and spells, no two units are alike. The game uses a rng dice system, based on D6 so it isnt as frustrating as alot of games which use a rng. By keeping the numbers low, it actually FEELS like pen and paper combat that, lets face it, started the genre and is a system that few developers successfully pull off. But THIS game did, with a gold star! The AI is also VERY capable. In over 40 hrs of playing, I had YET to see the AI do something stupid, instead they will advance on you slowing guard each others flanks, rush in to save a comrade, this developer isnt lying when he claimed his AI was excellent in his description!

Youll move through the story, mission by mission on a world map, with some non combat related surprises along the way as well that can also benefit you. There are optional battles, and battles that progress the story. I am kind of hoping re-doable skirmish battles are added at some point as well, which would REALLY up the replay value for us grinders, but its a solid game nonetheless. Other then your hero units, your units need to be careful of permenant injuries and perma death, which always adds a bit of tension, especially when some units that you get in some situations are NOT replacable, so if that awesome, 6 headed hydra you got for making a certain choice at a certain time dies, your S.O.L. until the next playthrough. But as long as you use care, such special units dont go down with ease. Units are also limited (they dont cost gold, but items do) unless your playing on easy, so use them wisely. How many you can field, depends on Hero upgrades. You can have 30 in your roster, and so far I have been able to put 15 on the field (I'll be honest that I have only reached about the middle of the campaign so I dont know if thats the limit or not). I LOVE that this developer has faith that his fans are not to stupid to handle a large roster like this. Most games cap you out at 6 to 10 units, and that always disapointed me. The best games, like Fire Emblem, or my favorite classic Dark Wizard, give you large rosters, and I must say this game really has the vibe of the later 2 in gameplay. You can even choose to stay on the field when a battle ends, to search out any secrets, so you dont have to risk your units doing it during the fight. Another GREAT feature, to be sure!

The story is tongue in cheek with a serious undertone. There are some great story moments, some moments that made me laugh my ass off due to top quality humor, but there are a couple of cringyworthy moments as well. I read the whole story for both campaigns in the mod files, and I would say its a solid B+ for fantasy fans, maybe a tad higher. The anti-hero in the picture, the succubus Bel Kara, kind of grows on you quickly, with her smug "I can do whatever the hell I want" attitude, and her genuinely slutty aproach to everything, she is a very well done protagonist for the Chaos path, and I hope to see more of her in other stories. All of the characters from all instalments cross paths at different times as well. Im starting to think there is a larger, connected plot to it all, but im not sure yet. As for the music, its a perfect fit. From the inspired war drums, to classic rpg scores, the music never falls short on setting the right atmosphere for every situation.

There is only a couple of weak points I can see, and they are by no means game killers. One, I already mentioned, is the need for either a new game plus feature, or redoable skirmish battles. We players who are into this genre are usually grinders and completists as well, and if they were to add those, it would litterally double replayability. The other would be the graphics. This series is NOT made out of the same eye candy that the sucubus is. Its a top down, 2D view, and it works for what it is. So if your the type of gamer I am, you will not mind these graphics at all, in fact by the second or third battle, I actually didnt mind AT ALL. But if your looking for modern, ground breaking graphics, this aint it. As for the voice acting, its decent enough (It would have been MUCH better if a female and others spoke the parts in the narrative for the characters, but is otherwise good to acceptable.

Overall
I HIGHLY recommend this title to fans turn based srpg/fantasy hybrids. The developer of this game is constantly upgrading it, and when he does, I was told he upgrades the whole series. Once you see the vast number of units, Items, upgrades, maps, and other surprises I wont spoil here (if you wanna know, buy it!) You will know what I knew a few hours in. That this was a labour of love, and created at a standard I really wish more indy games would thrive for. Ive seen people BEGGING in online forums for a game like this, and at least now, I can respond with "Age of Fear is a Masterpiece well worth a look!"

T

Turn based strategy without hexes (gasp), garbage graphics, but surprisingly competent mechanics and interesting tactical battles. Units are persistent from battle to battle so it's in your best interest to keep ♥♥♥♥ alive because you can level up between fights. There's a campaign but it's all text and it's that kind of text that has way too many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ apostrophes (f'ukin 'd''um fan'tasy names') so I skimmed it and there were some demons doing some crap who cares.

It legitimately is a pretty solid game that I think was designed by a dude who understands that just plopping ♥♥♥♥ on a screen, animating a few things, and tossing experience points at the player it doesn't make something a game. There's some legitimate complexity here and it's pretty obviously a labor of love for this dev. I hope he continues to make games and excel at doing so. This is a shining example of truly indie development from a person who understands and loves games which really stands out from all the absolute trash software that the "indie" market has pumped out like candy in the past few years. Mechanics first, then the bells and whistles, kids.

I'll keep this installed for a while and pluck away at it, but I don't know if I'll commit to beating it because it really does feel like a bunch of disconnected battles with no particular goals. It's a shame because those battles are fun, but if there was something more cohesive tying everything together and some higher production values it would keep my attention much longer. I did some reading and it's not a matter of me playing the second game in the series first since they can be played in either order so it's just a shortcoming of the game itself. That said, it honestly is a pretty sweet game that I'd recommend to anyone if it's on a steep discount and they're jonesing for some TBS.

A good little turn based strategy rpg featuring two different campaigns. The first, featuring you as a demon is easier. The second, where you play as an orc, is a bit tougher.

Pros:
Combats play quickly.
Fair variety of units.
Hilarious writing in the story sections.
Choose your own adventure style quest.
A fair amount of customization options for your army, what you bring, and how you level them up.
If you take the time to read it, there are help screens that will walk you through all the mechanics of the game.
Lots of options to craft the experience you want.

Cons:
The graphics are not great.
17 pages of different licenses was a little weird. One of the licenses for Quara something was "use at your own risk". Um.... ok.
Scrolling the screen to move around is very clunky sometimes, and I found I kept needing to switch camera depth.

All in all a worthwhile experience for the price. I recommend this to anyone that likes this style of game.

Like the first one. This game is heavily story driven You have a choice of two campaigns with two different roles you can assume. There is a lot of text in between the battles. The text gives meaning to what you are doing next. It's not the best looking game, but the writing fills in the gaps that aren't there visually. That being said, the tactics side of the game is pretty strong. The men that survive the battles gets stronger and are better suited for the battles ahead. It lacks some polish that a big studio would have had, but there's some meat there. if you enjoy tactics that are heavily story driven, you can't over look this.

tl;dr version: It's not fun, nor is it particularly tactical.

There are so many things wrong with the beginning of this game that it makes me completely uninterested in continuing to see if it ever gets better. Your main melee units can't be controlled. They just swing randomly at the nearest dude, which is almost always not who you want them to attack. Your units can only move in straight lines, so attempting to get more than one guy on the same target is a chore. Your units permanently die, which is kind of neat, but you don't have any method of healing them, so its really up to the random number generator instead of any sort of tactical play that determines if you preserve your guys. The maps have random areas where you simply can't walk, for no apparent reason, that is very difficult to notice, so your flanking maneuvers are further frustrated by magical impassive terrain.

Also, the writing is bad and plot flimsy. The graphics are about twenty years out of date, which I knew going into the game, but still disappointing. The background noise often sounds like someone chewing for some reason, which is kind of gross to listen to on a 10 second repeat loop.

I've requested a refund. It's not worth the $4.