Since you approach the story’s end, and the land gets increasingly tortured, large scars start to appear across these maps, thus making specific flying units that you, in the end, acquire invaluable.

The game sheds light on RPG elements, which is not equal to that the strategy here is light. No taxation is present to fiddle with, or there is no morale to worry about in these battles (the latter of which seems to have been cut at the genuinely last minute, since references are still present to it in the game). Also, the AI will not outfox hardcore strategy nuts, at minimum, at the ‘normal’ difficulty setting. That being said, in its place, players get one surprisingly sophisticated story, with several character arcs interweaving as well as more twists and turns compared to most games. Without desiring to spoil things excessively, the way the prologue manages to weave around the original story is rather amusing as well.

Unfortunately, regardless of a couple of patches since release, this game stays a little buggy. Dropping medium graphics from ultrahigh ones seemed to bring no difference to the framerate that is choppy, and the excellent autosave system does not make up for some crashes to desktop. There are some signs of it not getting properly tested: differences between the (indeed pretty good) voice acting as well as what the text shows on the screen, and several spelling mistakes. You will giggle at the frequent ‘cunstruction’ mentions, nor does wielding one ‘Blade of the Galdiator’ feel pretty as epic as maybe it should.

Plenty of that can probably get overlooked, particularly in the face of ample charms of King Arthur II. The rewarding storyline, sidequests as well as RPG stat-fiddling mean turning the map the color eventually feels like having some point to it.

We are in one dank bog, talking to one Roman lunatic’s ghostly wife. This one considers himself as Emperor Hadrian. We are desperately attempting to persuade her so that she can make him go away. The question is, where did our life go so wrong? We are supposed to be King Arthur’s son, for the sake of the Old Gods.

As you can see, Arthur is about to die, owing to one exploding Grail, and thus, it falls to you to try and scour the land as well as unraveling the exact reason that significant big spikes can erupt out of the globe all over the place. Surely, by ‘scour the land’, we indeed mean slowly turn Britain’s great big map your colour, as that is what you will do in RPGs. Oh, wait, no, we mean RTSes. Wait – which is it again?

Here, King Arthur II loves to confound the expectations. You will stomp into it willing to rampage around with one large stack of units, and all of a sudden, it will urge you with dialogue choices asking you whether you desire to kiss one faun to exchange one magic flute. Alternately, barge into the bedroom of an abbot. Or refuse the wine glasses that you inexplicably become offered all the time.

Also, the campaign map that is turn-based is appealing enough – villages burning away in the plagued region and the forests swaying in the breeze in the country’s nicer parts. Yet, the fantastic real-time battle maps should be the best bits. Some will have mountains which tower imposingly over the legions. Meanwhile, some will have river deltas, or chapels that are nestled in the forest clearings. Assault London, and climb through the streets toward the magnificent castle – it a beautiful moment here in this excellent game. Enjoy!