| SpellForce 3 Game |
| ℹ This game is not Lore Accurate with the Canon story, Timeline and not part of the SpellForce universe! |
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest is the first stand-alone expansion of SpellForce 3: Burning Blood which was released on May 19, 2004. The expansion introduces new factions, units and building alongside a new campaign that focuses on a new character. While it uses the same game engine and assets as SpellForce 3, Soul Harvest does not require the player to have purchased or installed the main game to play it. Despite itself being an expansion, Soul Harvest received a free Oktoberfest-themed DLC in September 2019.
Setting
Three years after the Purity War Kingdom of Nortander is faced with new threats, both internal and external, just as it was beginning to heal. While investigating these threats Tahar, commander of the elite Wolfguard and hero of the Purity War, is killed under mysterious circumstances which only further complicates matters. In order to solve the crisis at hand Queen Ayelith pardons and orders a disgraced general to return to Nortander to deal with the situation.
Characters
- The General/Aerev
Protagonist of the story - Yria of Light
Circle mage and companion of The General - Raith Skadder
Powerful dark elf mage and companion of The General - Katras
Mercenary captain and companion of The General - Ayelith
Legendary queen of the Kingdom of Nortander - Masked Woman
Mysterious mage in charge of a malevolent organization known as Dark Crescent - Hierophant Arakys
Supreme leader of the Windholme Empire
Gameplay
Avatar
Players can again customize gender and appearance of their Avatar. Players are restricted to choosing from two out of nine skill trees, with demonology and druidism having been added. Additionally, each combination of skill trees has a synergy skill that combines elements of both trees. Players can also create mercenaries, individually configured characters that can be chosen in the single-player campaign to accompany The General instead of the companions. The main campaign can be played by up to three players together. While the host will play as The general, joining players can choose to join as one of the mercenaries they created.
Interface
The interface has been overhauled. While the main game displayed the available skills below the character portraits in the upper left corner, Soul Harvest has a skill bar that can be placed at the top or the bottom and to which players can add the skills at their choosing. The information about available resources now resides at the lower right corner. Soul Harvest retains the skill-wheel that allows players to choose the skill to use when clicking on an enemy but limits the displayed skills to those that have been added to the skill bar.
Factions
While players can still choose a race to control when entering a map with real-time strategy elements, two of the races from the main game have been replaced. Dwarves replaced elves as the main defensive race which heavily focuses on stone as a building resource. Dark elves replaced orcs as the main offensive faction with a focus on many small units to overwhelm the enemy. Each race has new requirements for resources, with dwarves needing moonsilver and dark elves requiring echo, a resource harvested from the souls of dead units. Additionally, dwarves can build tunnels to connect different sectors, allowing easy transfer of units from one part of the map to another. The expansion also adds flying units to all races, including elves and orcs from the main game. Soul Harvest retains the mechanic of having to conquer sectors to expand the player's territory but resources are now automatically shared between neighboring sectors and no longer have to be transported by carriages. This also forces players to have a continuous territory to share resources. The factions from the main game are still playable in multiplayer and skirmish games. The multiplayer system was expanded with a ranked system. The expansion also includes an improved map editor that allows players to create their own maps for multiplayer or skirmish matches based on the changes introduced in the expansion.
Development
Soul Harvest was first announced via a trailer that the developer added to SpellForce 3: Burning Blood in December 2018. The expansion was released on 28 May 2019. While the expansion does not require SpellForce 3 to run, publisher THQ Nordic granted all owners of the main game a 40% rebate on the expansion on Steam. On 26 September 2019 the developers published a free Oktoberfest-themed DLC. It features a new Bavarian-themed skirmish map called "Fight for the Theresienwiese" with a new map-exclusive hero that has their own skill trees as well as a new Bavarian-sounding voice-over and Oktoberfest music.
Reception
Soul Harvest received "generally favorable reviews" from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic.
The graphics of Soul Harvest were generally lauded by reviewers who noted the attention to details. Le Soir however criticized that the graphics did not allow players to easily identify their own units, making large fights hard to manage.
Reviewers liked the audio of the game, with both the voice acting and the soundtrack being lauded, although some dialogues have been described as long-winded and boring. Critics also found the story interesting and compelling, despite the noted common premise of a hero that fell from grace and is granted a second chance. The ability to customize the character was generally received favorably, although some reviewers bemoaned the limited amount of cosmetic customization options. The mix of role-playing and real-time strategy elements was again highlighted as the source of the series' strength.
Multiple critics, such as PC Games and GameStar, prefaced their reviews with assurances that Soul Harvest did not suffer from the same amount of bugs that crippled the main game. The lack of bugs compared to the main game was noted positively by most critics.German game magazine GameStar called Soul Harvest "compensation" for the buggy main game, noting that it only has few problems compared with the release of SpellForce 3. Eurogamer.de called Soul Harvest "the better SpellForce 3".
PCMag Greece liked the fact that units have multiple abilities that allow even lower level units to be relevant into the late game.[6] However, the faster pace required from players was noted negatively.