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| Source // Moby Games |
When I was on the lookout for these 1001 games in the wild, I would, without fail, go "Oooh, oh, there's one!" Whenever I saw Rise of Nations, before realising that, no, it still wasn't the Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends that I was looking for.
What was this game? An expandalone? A sequel? Something altogether different? I had absolutely no idea for the longest time. And to be honest, I still don't.
A real-time strategy where steampunk technology meets actual magic, Rise of Legends serves as a spin-off to Rise of Nations, so Wikipedia tells me. I wonder why that is...
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| Source // Moby Games |
Frustrations
The reason I'm reading Wikipedia is because Rise of Legends is exactly that - a legend. It doesn't exist. It's not on Steam, it's not a Good Old Game, it's not even on some awkward little digital shopfront desperately trying to cling onto what little reason to exist they have.
I can find no demos or trials, nor an official website proudly showing off what was once a well-regarded game. Doesn't that strike you as a little odd?
What, then, am I missing? What are we all missing?
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| Source // Moby Games |
We're missing a campaign mode, like Rise of Nations was missing too, taking us through the tales of three races, the technologic Vinci (no prizes for guessing who inspired this lot), the mystical magical Alin, and the absolutely superior but don't tell anyone Cuotl, a bunch of ancient aliens as clearly depicted in the Mayan culture.
So it's quite different then, is Rise of Legends. Not embarrassed to go to town and make its key players unusual in the... uh... what genre is this?
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| Source // Moby Games |
It's an RTS, like Rise of Nations before it. I'm going to be honest with you here... I've completely forgotten what Rise of Nations even looks like, and it's on this 1001 list. It was only a year ago that I dipped my toe into it, but a lot can happen in a year (looking at you, 2020).
Skimming my own post (because who has time to read that, honestly?), it seems I was on board for it but dismayed at the tutorials taking too long to finish. What was I moaning about? There wasn't even a campaign mode to play through.
It doesn't look like I was able to play with all the modern tech, stuck in the past with my pointed sticks, but at least I could fire it up again right now and play it. Is it installed?
This isn't about Rise of Nations, though, but Rise of Legends, which takes the gist of the RTS but changes it a fair bit. I'm reading of cities getting an overhaul, expanding into districts and serving more of a purpose.
I see units that are huge and dominate the landscape, destroying buildings like the wolf destroys little pig houses. Well, no, I don't see them, because Rise of Legends doesn't exist, but I do read about them.
Final Word
Can't really offer a final word here. I've not explained the game. I've definitely not played the game. I've seen the tiniest amount of gameplay on YouTube and can't make heads or tails of it there either. I'm simply going to have to come back to Rise of Legends some other time, providing it exists.
I haven't played Rise of Nations since writing about that. Maybe this is a reason to go back, give me a better grounding. But by the looks of it, Rise of Legends does its own, quite different thing. How much can one game get me ready for a spin-off?
This one goes unplayed, then, the first such title in a long, long time. Will it stay that way?
Fun Facts
Microsoft has the rights to this game, apparently. Do they even know?
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, developed by Big Huge Games, first released in 2006.
Version watched: PC, 2006 (Zade)