Songs of Conquest sheds new light on a old genre

Songs of Conquest might look familiar when you first take a peek. It's an adventure strategy game, allowing you to control armies and build your own kingdom in the hopes of besting your enemies, whether they be AI or other players.

It's packed with nostalgia, emulating other games from the same genre in the 90s, but it keeps up with modern standards in more than a few ways. One big stand-out is the visual style, which gives us gorgeous 2.5D environments and characters. Chatting with lead game design Carl Toftfelt, we spoke about the design choices behind this unique look.

"We started out just doing 2D pixel art because we kind of like the longevity of pixel art, it doesn't get old kind of thing," said Toftfelt. "And then we started doing it, and then one day one of the technical artists, he was just playing around, setting it up on canvases. And then I went over to his desk, and I just zoomed in, and it was just like, oh, that's really cool. It's almost like it's 3D, and it just kind of pops out in the world in a different way. And I was just like, OK, I think we're doing this. And it took way longer than we thought, but very much worth it."

Check out our full interview below to see how else Songs of Conquest breaks new ground while maintaining a nostalgic feel.