Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms

You are a champion in the world of Plamen, facing the corruption of a god imprisoned in the mortal realm. Your race, your class and, since version 2.0, your difficulty are all choices you make before the first fight.

Four races, and the world notices which one you picked

You can play as a human, a dwarf, an elf or an orc, and non-player characters react to that choice with different dialogue and different attitudes. The store description states that outright rather than leaving it to flavour text, which makes race the first decision the game asks you to take seriously, before you have picked up a weapon.

Beyond race, you build by choosing from different Ways of Power, classes and skills. The number of moving parts is large enough that it is worth deciding what you want the character to be before you start spending, because the game gives you a long game to play with those choices and then starts applying pressure.

Combat is real-time, and the store sells it as unforgiving

The fight system combines an isometric view with skill-based action, and the store's own pitch is blunt about it: you must carefully plan each move, because one reckless action, and you die. Treat that as the marketing line it is rather than a rule you can measure. The more useful reading is that this is an isometric action game first: you are timing swings, holding your spacing and reacting to what the enemy is doing, and the character you build decides how much room you have for a mistake rather than whether you are allowed to make one.

Twelve companions with their own backstories travel that road with you, and they are not guaranteed allies: the store description has them ready to join or fight you as the journey goes, so a familiar face is not automatically a friendly one.

2.0 changed the spells and finally let you choose a difficulty

The 2.0 update, which Gamera calls Spellcraft, is the biggest systems pass the game has had. The developer's own words are that they reviewed virtually every spell, revisiting values, scaling and interactions; endgame magic was toned down in several areas, and underused abilities were improved to offer more meaningful choices. Summons got a substantial rework rather than a numbers nudge, which is the part of the patch most worth trying again if you bounced off summoners the first time.

It also added difficulty selection at character creation, which the developer describes as a long-requested feature. There are four levels: Story, Adventurer, Champion, and a top tier the changelog calls Legend of the Kingdom and the announcement calls Legend of Plamen, so expect to meet both names. Hardcore Mode and Permadeath are separate, and the developer's own caption says they are activated by finishing the game once. New quests with their own characters and quest items, two ranged vendors and a set of new socketed unique items filled out the same update.

The free-update history explains the version you are buying: a progression revamp and combat balancing in 1.1, further content in 1.2 and 1.4, and then 2.0. The game has changed a lot since release, so an opinion from a couple of years ago is worth re-checking against the game as it stands now.

Should you play it

Yes, if you want an isometric role-playing game with real-time combat and a build system that expects you to know what you want. If the old difficulty curve is what put you off, the new selection is the point: start lower and work up. Read each training prompt before committing to a specialisation.

Two more things worth knowing up front. Co-op here is the store's own line: a local cooperative mode for up to three players, run online through Steam Remote Play Together with no extra copies needed, which is shared-screen play over a stream rather than everyone owning the game and connecting over the internet. There is also a competitive mode against other champions, so the game is not purely solitary. And gear wears down, with durability restored at a blacksmith: check the repair selection before you pay, because a bill covering more than the item you meant to fix is easy to ring up by accident.