Stardock has released the Beta 2 update for its fantasy 4X title Sorcerer King, adding the Tyrant and Guardian sovereigns and a new class of geomancy spells which largely involves sucking the energy from the planet and bringing about the apocalypse. Neat.
You’ll also find several new maps, various bug fixes, various bits of new content including new monsters, and some rather less sexy interface tweaks.
So, the two new sovereign types; Guardians are preservers and protectors who begin the game with a Ranger hero. Expect lots of benevolent druidic magic and mastery of the land around you. Tyrants are basically bad guys who think they can do a much better job than the Sorcerer King currently plaguing the land. Interestingly, they and their Warlord champions grow stronger as the doomsday clock ticks closer to defeat. They can win by stealing the Socrer King’s own spell at the last minute. Definitely for fans of mustache-twirling evil.
Geomancy allows the player to ‘harvest’ mountains, forests, and fertile land to gather the best materials for weapons, armor, potions, and scrolls. Good for your world domination plans, but bad in the sense that every time you use this school of magic you tick the doomsday clock down.
“Sorcerer King still has a ways to go,” writes Stardock. “The next big things on our list are the big rework to the crafting system, additions to tactical combat to make it a little meatier, and improving the endgame to take into account the actions you’ve taken during the course of the game – but the release of Beta 2 today is a big step forward for the game.
Beta update 2 should automatically download for your Steam copy of Sorcerer King.