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Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2012
Conquest of Elysium 3
Developer Illwinter Game Design
Conquest of Elysium 3 (CoE3) is a streamlined turn based fantasy strategy game with a touch of rogue-like and the complex undertones of Illwinter's Dominions series. While CoE3 appears to be a simple game with limited options at first glance, delving further into the game reveals a game of complex decision making and risky endeavors. From the Steam store page
187 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Aug 22, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
149 positive · 37 negative
95% range 74–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 149 | 37 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
1 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
267 of 331 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 187 · most liked firstThis game has such primitive graphics that I think I would have turned my nose up at it were I to load it onto my Amiga 500, circa 1987. The sounds are atrocious, though the operatic soundtrack isn't bad. Combat just runs without any input from you. Your units hop up and down in clumsy drawn-out All-my-guys-go then all-your-guys-go rounds. It's impossible to recommened this game based on the way it looks or sounds. If you crave lots of colorful, well executed feedback and fireworks then this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8.5 / 10 May not look like it, but this is one of the best turn-based strategy games ever once you get past the learning-curve (which is actually less steep than the Civ games). Pros: 1. Not like any other game that I am aware of! -each game plays out completely different -Equip looted items to unit(s) of your choice -units gain experience/levels and get better at everything they do (new spells unlock!) -plenty of personal style choices -as complicated or simple as you want…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →9/10. Easy to learn, hard to master. I left my army on a frozen lake near the end of winter and they all drowned when spring came, then I went into a forest with fire elementals in the ranks and they burnt down all the trees.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Intro: Conquest of Elysium 3 is the latest in the CoE series made by Illwinter, who are also the designers of the Dominions series. In simple terms the game is about raising armies to defeat your opponenets. At the start of each game you select a class to play which determines how you go about raising your armies or what your fighting style is. An example is the enchanter class, at the start most of your army is composed of generic soldiers until you get resources to summon powerful constructs…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I assume you saw the screenshots, understand that gfx aren't gonna carry this one and are interested in fantasy turn-based strategy games. In lieu of a review, here's some very early impressions: - ♥♥♥♥. Why did i buy this? - I SO don't want to play this game. - I don't even. All these stats... And the clunky menus. - Allright lets get her holy high highnessness out there a-conquering. A cannibal camp... Oh well, gets me a ritual sacrifice bonus. - Crap, you front line spearmen need to stay…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I highly, HIGHLY recommend this game for anyone interested in playing a Turn-Based Strategy game that hasn't been made overtly complex. Just good, simple fun that will have you going "just one more turn..." more times than you can count!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pro - factions look and play very differently; many have entirely different resources and mechanics - lots of factions to choose from - excellent battle system that doesn't rely too much on RNG but rather, you having imperfect information - battles resolve before being played, so you don't have to watch them if you don't want - lots of different types of units - custom units and mods - simple and easy multiplayer Con - Random roving monster bands often kill you at the start of games in a way…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A quicker, smaller, and less robust version of Dominions 3. While this may sound fun, the game resembles a battle simulator with little of the strategic thought or depths found in Dominions 3. Unless you want a stripped down version of Dominions 3, avoid Conquest of Elysium 3.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent Rogue like 4x. Simple graphics and (sometimes a lot) different mechanics/playstyles for each of the 20 factions. Start up, on a normal map, select number of opponents (difficulty Jester is advised - has no resource advantage for AI; be warned larger advantages can very quickly steamroll u, as mid and lategame mobs are significantly stronger than startups) and let her rip. startupswitches (steam - select properties --> Launchoptions) --battlereport --rename are advised (yes with two…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've never really been one for competitive 4X-style strategy games. I've generally found them too bogged-down in micromanagement and strict formulaic approaches to really be interesting. That's a personal taste, so I hold my ambivalence to the whole genre a bit in reserve. This game... doesn't exactly escape from micromangement, (what micromanagement it lacks, it's becuase the whole city-management aspect of 4X games was completely gutted from the game, not because it was automated to give…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is deeper than it first appears to be. A real gem. Lots of possible strategies. Plus, my massive empire was felled by a single deer. OK that part was not fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you can look past the fairly simple graphics and don't mind reading a manual to help you overcome a steep learning curve and incomprehensible interface then there is a very enjoyable and strategic game waiting for you in CoE3. There is a great variety of races to play with heaps of interesting and different units. It is more strategy than tactics: you choose your army composition but the computer plays out battles automatically. You need to pay attention to ensure your heroes don't kill…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fast paced, turn based strategy game. Think Civilization 1, but much faster and scaled down. Instead of armies, you have individual troops that make up an army, and you march them around. There are tons of races, units, map types, and random events. Really fun stuff, different every time you play, it's a good game. Single player and Multi-player both are good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a gem of a game, a stripped down Dominions 3/4, but not in any way a simple game. There is a hypnotic rhythm to the turns, and 60 turns in you can still process a turn in just a couple of minutes, letting you avoid the bogged down feeling you get with so many similar games in the mid-late game. Given, there are warts galore and lots of areas for improvement with the interface and AI, but it's such an elegant concept. The factions really play differently from each other and it is well…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite a Huge Turn-based Fantasy Strategy mess this is... I don't completely hate this game.... It actually have a very large and impressive list of different monster/magic to choose and find out. Exploration and mess troops to fight has quite a bit fun to it. You never know what’s behind fog of war and winning a game on difficulty 5+ is actually quite tough and challenging. This game was released just 4 years ago on 2012... Developer put great amount of effort to create a large fantasy world…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even though I have Dominions 3, I recommend this. I might even enjoy this better, because it seems faster paced and less serious. You don't need much time investment to the starting game settings like in Dominions. Instead it's more of a rogue-like (I wanted to use this term rogue-like in an earlier review and thought "no all the rogue-like fans will get all over me about that" - but then saw another review using the term "rogue-like 4x" - yes that describes this game very well). It's a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent game, but is only half done and its potential half exploited. Worse of all, this is a Turn-Based game and there are NO AUTOSAVE! Come on! We're in 2016 and these guys can't even make an autosave feature in their games. I would recommend this game to casual gamers if it had an autosave, because it seems complicated, but it is not at all. You just go with logic and you'll be fine (soldiers are better than militia for example). But with that primary feature in a turn-based game missing,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a shame that Illwinter makes people buy another full price game because they fixed ONE aspect of gameplay from CoE3 to CoE4. I really like this game but the release politics are really messed up. CoE3 already uses a foreign product engine (Dominions series) and now they basically rip off their own rip off. Sorry, but NO. You can't do very much wrong if you buy either Dominions, CoE3 or CoE 4 but don't buy more then one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a lot to love in this game, but also a lot to hate. If you're curious but don't want to commit to cash quite yet I recommend you check out CoE2 available for free from Illwinter's site as a free download. It's a lot more limited than this version of the game, but will give you a pretty good feel for how it handles. On the good side, if you're looking for a streamlined fantasy 4X that offers a unique collection of races and play mechanics, this might be your games (I especially enjoyed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →if you are looking for an easier version of dominions 4, for a much faster game with less options, then this is your buddie.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is a newer version of this very game from the same developer. Why buy this instead of Conquest of Elysium 4 ? Discount or no. I don't recommend Conquest of Elysium 3 Not being able to reload a save game while being in game is a HUGE con for me. I got my money's worth, but that was ages ago... I would NOT be happy if i bought this in 2019
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun as hell streamlined Turn-Based strategy crack for your brain. If you like lizard poison archers, mace-wielding golems, blood rain holocaust spells, skeleton armies and mythology from every culture this side of jupiter, this is your game. Alternatively, if you tried to get into Dominions but find it too complex, this might hit your sweet spot for easy to learn but hard to master 4X strategy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Buy it! I wish I'd bought it sooner. It deserves your attention. It's a little gem, a modern Master of Magic, streamlined and simpler but with a richness that stems from the vast treasure-trove of creatures, spells and unique races already made by Illwinter. While you may be familiar with many creatures from playing Dominions, Conquest of Elysium builds on the familiar and adds twists that make it a very different experience. Dominions is for the grand strategy, long turns and slow pace with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game may be good, and there might be plenty of players who've accepted and praise CoE3 but for those who've played one too many games, the fact that you can *not* load a game while you're in the middle of a current game and that you can *not* return to the main menu from a current game, and that in *both* cases, you need to quit the game completely... if there was a scoring system rather than this recommend or not, i'd've said 7/10 to start off (i'm not too fussy about graphics etc, just as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First things first - if you are a player who needs modern, fancy sounds and graphics and a highly developed UI to enjoy a game, walk away from COE3; it is not for you. The game is hilariously retro, it is basically the fantasy world conquest game that everyone would have made in 1978 if the technology had allowed it. The good news is that the gameplay itself is great, replayability is huge, and most of the possible sides differ greatly from one another in so far as the best ways to play them.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i love this game. seriously......its a freak of nature.... in a good way
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple little addictive game. Decent replay if you like beating challenges with multiple races (over 10 available with unique abilities and weaknesses).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun and easy take on strategy. Would recommend to someone who isnt sure if they want to shell out for the newer ones yet, or is intimidated (or in my case just not smart or patient enough) to play dominions.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A turn based strategy game in a fantasy setting where you play the leader of a faction, and recruit units and expand to conquer the world. I'll start with the game's biggest flaw which is the UI and controls. There is a bit of a learning curve in terms of figuring out just how to play the game at all. But once you figure it out it's not so bad. The graphics are also simple but in this pixel renaissance of indie games I find them pretty charming. I like that all the leaders play very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While COE3 may draw players by its lore, rich bestiary and complex system of various magic schools, as well as by the diversity of the playable classes, it's a game that does not have sound fundamentals and cannot therefore provide satisfactory gameplay experience longterm. The biggest problem is its economy system, or the lack thereof. Although the player controls a tribe, a civilization or a nation with a starting city or village, this building cannot be improved in any meaningful way. It…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel misled by all the great reviews. This is first game I have asked for a Steam refund for. There is no tutorial. No explanation. Just take 2 steaps and die. Did not meet expactations. Disappointment.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game. It is a quick 4X game with the ability for the game to be over in the second turn. I like to think of it as a Roguelike 4X game. Such a great game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I found this game unintersting and unplayable. At first, it kind of reminded me of the old game, "Questron". It was a C-64 game that was pretty good. The old-school graphics reminded me of something that I found enticing about those old exploration/combat games a la Ultima I - VI. The more I played, however, the more I began to understand that there's a difference between something that looks old school and is remniscent of my days past and something that is old school. Old school is just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is actually a pretty good strategy game. It's like what many reviewers are saying, that it is deeper than it first appears. It's kind of like master of magic except you can't go into your town and build buildings and stuff. It's more like Heroes of might and magic where you explore the map, fight battles, and gain control of strategic locations that increase your resources. The resources are then used to increase your army strength. Be aware that the battles are automatic. No…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is just too user unfriendly to recommend. The factions are very different, but the ugly, automatic combat really drags down the game. You have NO control over combat. You don't even get to choose a basic strategy for the combat, like in King of Dragon Pass. And big fights can involve HUNDREDS of individual units! You can fast forward the fight or even just skip to the end, but it's jarring to be just presented with the end result ("Wait, how did Bob the Sorceror die???"). There isn't even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is approximately the 9th time I've attempted to conquer Elysium, and I'd like to believe that I've become exceedingly efficient at it. This strategy game is great as long as you can manage risk and attempt to stack the odds in your favor in battles. Be forwarned, the A.I on higher difficulties simply gains more resources than you, but it doesn't become much smarter. Aside from all that, I would highly recommend the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has one of the worst UIs I have ever seen, the sound design is amuterish and the graphics are bad to middling at best and I think you should go play it. The thing is CoE 3 doesn't care about any of the stuff I just mentioned. Because the mechanics are rock solid it doesn't need flashy graphics to be a deep and engaing strategy game. It has a surprisingly large array of different armies all of which are asymetrical and distinct. If you're a fan of intellegent strategy games and miss…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →unfortunately unless you are saving every single turn or are immune to the crashes I can't recommend it. the developer can't be bothered to hunt down problems in their older games so that they could truly shine over time despite each on their own, they would rather have time claim it like an old car in a yard. there are a ton of issues which may or may not have been fixed in the latest game. stuff like no way to get back to the main menu from a running game beyond closing the entire game. art…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Came out in 2012 back when games were actual games and not forgettable propaganda pieces.. Conquest of Elysium 3 has been updated to work on 64-bit operating systems. It's straight forward but complex fantasy strategy fun! And the music is great :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a very deep strategy game wicht you can play for both short and long periods of time
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No tutorial, no clear way of finding out controls etc. Seemingly a simple game spoilt by an impenetrable UI.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A decent strategy game with a lot of depth *if* you're willing to dig for it. It's fun to capture terrain and amass an empire. A casual approach to the game will leave it feeling dull. This is probably the one and only Steam game that will run on your Raspberry Pi. That's right, it includes a Raspi binary! I ran a dedicated CoE3 server this way for awhile.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bought it, Playd it for 12 hours straight, was up until 4 in the morning, Worth it. This game is very unique due to the face that when you go into a battle you dont actualy control what ANY of your monster/people/demons/ghosts... Etc do. and some of the abilites are extreamly entertain, And the monster are Freaky and extreamly cool too just by the way that they look and how they attack. So if your interested in games like this then it is DEFFINETLY worth checking out it was honestly worth the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Maybe the most lo-fi modern strategy game there is, but surprisingly fun if you can get around the awkward interface.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Original and deep strategy game which can be learned rather fast.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →CoE3 is all about what you do with it. Not ridiculously deep, but good fun. I think it works best for smaller situations, but the option for large-scale warfare is always there. The graphics and sound department is ultra basic, so if that matters to you, don't waste your time. For everyone else who just wants a fun strategy game with a lot of play options, consider this title for your collection. Be aware that it takes time to get used to the gameplay and all the different aspects that go with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is beyond amazing! Hugely replayable - each map and combo of classes plays differently. The graphics are completely functional and the gamplay smooth. A way, way better strategy game experience than 99% of the games with "cool" graphics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One time I had two citadels: one was a watchtower and the other was my starting city. My primary army was roving about, far away from home. During the enemy/independent phase, a Bakemono thug and his army assaulted my watchtower. My squadron of soldiers + archers were quickly vanquished and the watchtower was lost... but no worry, I still had my main city. However it was only defended by 2 soldiers, I made a mental note to remember to recruit more forces there next turn. But wait, what's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game surprised me! It has been really fun to play especially with others. Lots of fantasy factions to choose from and great old school strategy game play. The actual fights aren’t really able to be controlled which is one downside but there are lots of unique units you can recruit and lots of factions special perks to fool around with.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros - races feel different, some of the units are neat. sparseness of magic items makes them feel special Cons Slow, crawling development, with little to do. Suffers from unbalanced races, and bad spawns. Control in battles is non-existent - you better have the biggest pile of dudes, and hope the RNG selects good spells Graphics are abysmal
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gosh..what can I say....I have been playing RPGs and strategy games for over 35 years. And I cannot believe I actually paid for this PoS game. Mind you, I didn't install it for months Awful graphics that a 6 year old could do better A combat system equivalent to bang bang pop pop you're dead and I'm not. I am going to have to delete it and reformat my hard drive and brain to wipe out all trace of ever owning it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is ridiculous game. I had to figure out the controls after 30 minutes of playing because otherwise I would be lost. After I have learned to control my units, I have beaten up my 2 enemies which were 2 difficulty. There are maybe 10 difficulties. I tried the easy first to see what it does. You will get a leader and a town who can lead some units. In the beginning you have one farm or resource which gives you +1 gold. Accumulated gold is used for units. There are some special units offers…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lots of units, factions, magic items, random events, and so on. A lot of output from a small gaming studio. Overall, however, this game is just incredibly boring to play. I really can't recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An interesting little game. I've spent some nice time playing it and finished a couple of sessions. I'd be reluctant to call it 4x, though. Although it has all aspects of it (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate), it doesn't have any other characteristics associated with 4x genre - there is no micromanagement, you can't choose different strategies for a battle, and there are no multiple ways to win the game (you have to defeat all the other factions). I'd be prone to add 'casual' tag…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very nice pvp game it even runs on a potato
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cool concept - kind of a remake of warlords 2 from 1992. Unfortunately: Terrible graphics. Terrible gameplay Terrible interface Terrible combat system avoid.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The main gameplay here is trying to figure out how to use the horrible interface that I'm pretty sure was designed by someone who had never seen a computer game in this genre before. It has 81% positive ratings, so I'm sure there is a good game in here somewhere. Too bad I'll never play it, because I'm so put off by the UI.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →9/10 This game is amazing. Lots of different classes to choose from and they make for a lot of replayablity over time. You can also play in different time eras and the random maps are great. You can also create your own map if you're into that kind of thing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not the prettiest car in the lot, but it'll take you everywhere you want to go. At first I bumbled around not knowing what anything did but after a while, I realized how everything worked. 50+ hours later it's become one of my favorite ways to waste a few hours. Things you'll definitely like: It's a solid Turn Based Strategy. Quite a few choices of who to play as, and what the world you play in will be like. Units differ greately from nation to nation. Unique time periods that you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing turn based stratgey game 10/10 would recommend!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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