Spellcross
Encyclopedia
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
strategy game
Strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...
for the PC, developed by the Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
company Cauldron HQ
Cauldron HQ
Cauldron is a game developer located in Bratislava, in Slovakia. The studio was founded in 1996 with their first project, Quadrax being released in the same year. According to the official website, Cauldron currently has 64 employees divided into 2 separate teams...
and published by SCi
SCi
Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
in 1997/1998. For a variety of reasons (notably, a relatively nonexistent marketing budget and the emergence of games dominated by the demands of 3D-graphics cards), unfortunately for its designers, the game had little mass appeal, sold poorly, and has remained obscure.
In Spellcross, a contemporary Earth military fights for survival against an extradimensional invasion of orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
s, undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
, harpies
Harpy
In Greek mythology, a harpy was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas...
and other fantastical creatures.
The game only features a single-player mode, split into tactical battles and a strategic planning mode. The former is the actual combat, each unit has action points, which can be used to commit actions such as attack or move, or reserved for opportunity fire or movement. Resource and troop management, research, maps, territory acquisition and counter-attacks tie the scenarios together in a rudimentary narrative.
The newer English version differs from the older Czech version. Some graphics and animations have been improved, the mission design has been tweaked and some of them joined. The English version includes a tutorial and cheat codes. The English version has only two difficulty settings, while the Czech version has three.
The story line pits the alliance against the forces of darkness, the game begins with Alexander(you) a colonel in the alliance forces who has become trapped behind enemy lines with a few squads of men, fighting your way through the forces of darkness you meet with the rest of the alliance and are brought to your first mission. The computer plays against you as the gate keepers or under lords who have unleashed a terrible onslaught on the earth torturing and killing many of the population they have conquered in sacrificial magic experiments. The story unfolds that they are attempting to awaken a sleeping titan within the earth’s core.
The forces of darkness use portals and gates to different dimensions to bring hordes of demonic creatures into the world.