Disciples: Domination Review – Familiar Foundations, Richer Ambitions

Disciples: Domination Review

Disciples: Domination is a direct sequel to 2021’s Disciples: Liberation and continues the saga of Queen Avyanna, fifteen years into her reign. Do you need to have played the previous game to enjoy the new title? Yes and no. Yes, because many of the characters and story arcs were established in the earlier game. And no, because the foundational story beats in Domination are pretty well articulated for newcomers via excellent cinematics. I didn’t spend much time with Liberation but I never felt truly lost.

Familiar Foundations

Fans of turn based strategy games will probably be familiar with the Disciples franchise, with eight games stretching all the way back to 1999. The games take place in a fantasy world called Nevendaar where a number of races — human Empire, the demonic Legion of the Damned, the Undead Horde, the Elves, Dwarven Mountain Clans — are at odds and wrestle for power. Races, conflicts, power. Check. Got it. Fantasy 101 for sure, but Disciples has a slightly darker tone and a vast amount of accumulated lore.

You play as Empress Avyanna, a once-popular monarch whose kingdom is being overcome by a supernatural corruption. It’s fraying at the edges and teetering on the edge of chaos. Various races and factions are in conflict. So, Avyanna shakes off her malaise and comes out of hiding. As Avyanna, your task is to broker peace, either through might or diplomacy. That’s a bit reductionist, of course.

The Lay of the Land

Disciples: Domination has three main activities, each with a lot of depth. First, there’s real-time exploration on an overworld  map that feels like it could turn into a hack-and-slash game. You and your companions explore, loot chests and meet various recruitable companion characters. This is critical, as the companions in battle often bring with them their own units.

As Avyanna explores, completes quests and pushes the narrative forward, the second activity comes to the fore: combat. At its core, combat is pretty standard, turn-based style on hexes. It’s nearly identical to that of the prior game. However, there are quite a few nuances that help make it engaging. The battlefield itself is dynamic, with structures, natural elements and collectables that can be destroyed, strategically employed or gathered. Units come with passive abilities to consider and synergize with their active offensive and defensive talents. Selecting units, positioning and back line control turn combat into a deliberately paced but ultimately exciting part of the game.

Closely related are Avyanna’s skill trees, which are based on her choosing from four starting classes: Warmaster, Primordial Ruler, Holy Regent and the magic-using Witch Queen. Aside from giving the game a strong RPG element, the specialized skill trees add even greater depth to combat.

The final cog in the machine is a fairly simple game of diplomacy, where Avyanna has to make nice with different factions, disappoint them or be outright hostile. It’s not a terribly deep system but it adds another layer to gameplay. Overall, Aryanna makes many decisions that impact the narrative and there are multiple endings, making replayability pretty strong.

Shiny Dark Fantasy

Disciples: Domination leans into a dark fantasy aesthetic without getting murky or truly grotesque. Character designs and environments are sharp and detailed. Overall, the game has a very polished and richly conceived look. I especially appreciated the Domination’s excellent combat animations and effects. The overworld map looks great.

There’s quite a bit of voice acting in Disciples: Domination and it’s frankly a little hit-or-miss. My biggest disappointment was Aryanna herself. I get that the developers wanted to make her sound like “just regular folks” in an uncomfortable position of power. However, she comes across as uncharacteristically lightweight, not a monarch who has ruled for over a decade. Aside from this misstep, sound design and music are as rich as the visuals.

More Disciples. Not a Bad Thing.

I played Disciples: Domination on PC and had no major technical issues, though there are reports of bugs here and there. I was particularly pleased with the wide range of accessibility and game play options to adjust, and its controller implementation. This makes sense, considering the game is headed to consoles as well.

Disciples: Domination does not upend what already works about the series. It moves Empress Avyanna’s narrative in a new direction and adds nuance and depth to all the game’s systems. There are a lot of mechanics at play, from combat to RPG-like elements to diplomacy, and they work together well and add up to a rich experience.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***