Paradox Interactive has been a big supporter of the Linux platform with Crusader Kings II and Europe Universalis IV, and they prove again they are not kidding with the release of Warlock 2 and its expansion, Wrath of the Nagas for Linux on this very day.

If you are not aware about it, it’s a turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting. The Windows version of Warlock 2 was released in April 2014, and as the expansion comes out today (Wrath of the Nagas) the original Warlock 2 is made available for Linux at the same time. Here’s the release trailer of the expansion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i1rqn23ukk

Note that the game itself is not developed by Paradox themselves but by 1C interactive, a famous Russian studio. Warlock 2 received some “mostly positive” feedback on Steam. Let me share with you a positive and negative rating of the game in order to be fair:

From Gandalf the White on Steam, who did not like it too much:

I was really looking forward to Warlock 2, but the game quickly became repetitive and tedious. As much as I enjoy building an army of monsters, dragons, warriors, and the like, the game pacing, ridiculous number of randomized monsters, mediocre diplomacy. and uninspired spellbook really squanders this game’s awesome potential as a great 4X fantasy game. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if Endless Legend succeeds where Warlock 2 clearly fails.

From noel.set on Steam who gives it thumbs up:

I bought Warlock 2 during the Summer Sale, and I’ve quite easily gotten my money’s worth. It is a lot of fun, though not without serious flaws. My review is based on three (partial) plays of “The Exiled” story mode, and one full playthrough in “Battle for the Outplanes” mode.

A big complaint a lot of people have is that it seems like a content update, rather than a sequel to Warlock. This is true to an extent. However, the handling of the planes was the biggest flaw of Warlock 1 but seems to be the central appeal of Warlock 2. In Warlock 1, there were other planes, and they were full of big bad monsters, but they weren’t very interesting and the rewards for going there weren’t significant enough to bother with them. A game of Warlock 2, on the other hand, has a hierarchy of planes, where you (and your A.I. opponent mages) start on less threatening planes, and you work your way down through to planes with significantly more dangerous fauna (and sometimes flora), or back up the hierarchy to fight the other great mages. Each plane has its own unique flavor, and most special resources only occur in one or two types of plane. The special resource thing is key… most races don’t have strong research-producing buildings, so you need to chase after the research-producing resources, which tend to be a couple planes down from where you start. The first time I reached a Shadow Plane, and established a fortress there to defend myself against the horrible shadowy horrors that awaited me, it felt … well… I would say “epic”, but that word is way overused these days. But it was awesome.

I was also impressed with how much the game made me care about terrain, and provided a multitude of terraforming spells that I actually want to use. The ability to throw up a mountain where I want a defensive chokepoint, or to raise up a landbridge when I want to cross an ocean is quite empowering.

The big flaws of the game, are that the AI is quite poor (and the game is pretty easy in general), and that the game gets tedious once you have a big empire. […]

The game is now available on Steam (note that you need Warlock 2 to play the expansion Wrath of the Nagas). If you have played it on Linux, please leave your impressions in the comments!