The verdict up front
Conquest of Elysium 5 is one of the most charming and replayable strategy games you can play, provided you can see past its determinedly ugly exterior. Developed by Illwinter Game Design — the two-person studio also responsible for the famously deep Dominions — it is the faster, lighter, weirder cousin to that game: a fantasy strategy title where you pick one of over twenty wildly different classes, then set out to explore a procedurally generated world, conquer the locations that feed you resources, and summon armies of monsters through class-specific rituals. What makes it special is the sheer variety and personality of those classes. Playing a Baron commanding knights and siege engines is a completely different game from playing a Necromancer raising the dead, a Demonologist binding hungry demons, or a Witch of the old faith, and that variety, combined with procedural maps and ten planes of existence, gives the game enormous replayability. It holds a Very Positive rating on Steam, and it earns it.
So is it worth buying? If you love fantasy strategy, summoning, and the joy of trying wildly different ways to play, absolutely — it is fast, endlessly replayable, and far more accessible than Dominions. The honest caveats are real: the graphics are minimal and famously ugly, the AI is weak, and it is English only. But none of that stops Conquest of Elysium 5 from being a uniquely fun and varied strategy game.
Conquest of Elysium 5 is a fast-paced fantasy strategy game from Illwinter Game Design. You pick one of over twenty classes, explore a procedural map, conquer locations for class-specific resources, and summon armies through rituals, with battles resolved automatically across ten planes of existence. It is single-player or multiplayer, and far quicker than its sister game Dominions 6.
What you actually do
A game of Conquest of Elysium 5 begins with choosing your class, which defines everything that follows. From there, you explore the procedurally generated map from your starting citadel, sending your commanders out to conquer independent locations — villages, mines, ruins, magical sites — that provide the resources your class needs. You spend those resources on rituals, the heart of the game, which summon your class's distinctive units: undead for a Necromancer, demons for a Demonologist, knights and siege engines for a Baron, and so on. As you grow, you fight off rival rulers and dangerous monsters, expand your territory, and can even travel between the game's ten planes of existence, from the mortal world to the infernal realms. Battles are resolved automatically when armies meet, so your job is to build and position the right forces, not to micromanage the fighting. The goal is to dominate, and you are eliminated the instant you lose all your home citadels or all your commanders — so protecting your base is paramount.
The result is a fast, exploratory strategy game with a strong roguelike flavour: every class, every map and every game plays out differently, and the loop of exploring, gathering and summoning is moreish and quick. It is strategy you can actually finish in an evening, then immediately replay as someone completely different.
New to the game? Start with the Baron, whose straightforward human armies make him the most beginner-friendly class, and learn the explore-gather-summon loop before trying the stranger classes. Our Conquest of Elysium 5 beginner guide walks you through your first game.
Why the classes and rituals carry it
The reason Conquest of Elysium 5 is so beloved is its classes, and the resource-and-ritual loop that powers them. There are over twenty classes, and the remarkable thing is how genuinely different they are — not just reskins with different units, but fundamentally distinct ways of playing, each with its own resources to gather, rituals to perform, and armies to summon. The Baron is a straightforward military commander with human troops, knights and siege engines; the Necromancer raises endless undead using Hands of Glory gathered from villages and gallows; the Demonologist summons powerful demons that must be sated with human flesh or turn on you; the Witch follows an old faith with her own strange powers. Each class is effectively its own game, so the title offers the variety of twenty strategy games in one, and discovering how each one works is a huge part of the fun.
Underpinning all of them is the same satisfying core loop: conquer locations to gather your class's resources, then spend those resources on rituals to summon your forces. It is simple to grasp but rich in variation, because what you gather and what you summon differ wildly by class, and the procedural maps and ten planes keep the exploration fresh. This combination — radically varied classes over a clean, moreish resource-and-ritual loop — is what gives the game its near-endless replayability. Our classes tier list and resources guide go deeper.
Pros
- +Over twenty wildly different classes, each like a new game.
- +A fun, distinctive resource-gathering and ritual-summoning core.
- +Fast, replayable, and far more accessible than Dominions.
- +Procedural maps and ten planes keep every game fresh.
Cons
- −Famously ugly, minimal sprite graphics.
- −A weak AI that experienced players outclass quickly.
- −Rough edges and a sometimes obtuse interface.
- −English only and fairly text-heavy.
Accessible, fast and replayable
One of the biggest things in Conquest of Elysium 5's favour, especially next to Dominions, is how accessible and fast it is. Where Dominions is a deep, slow, intimidating grand strategy that can take many hours and a great deal of study, Conquest of Elysium 5 is light, quick and welcoming by comparison. Games are short enough to finish in a sitting, the systems are far easier to grasp, and the roguelike structure — pick a class, get a random map, see how far you get — invites you to dive in and replay endlessly. This does not make it shallow; there is real strategic depth in managing your resources, choosing your rituals, positioning your armies and exploring the planes. But it wears that depth lightly, which makes it a fantastic entry point for anyone curious about Illwinter's style without committing to Dominions' enormous learning curve, and a great palate-cleanser even for veterans.
That accessibility, combined with the class variety, is why the game has such staying power. There is always another class to try, another map to conquer, another weird strategy to attempt, and each game is quick enough that "just one more" is genuinely tempting.
The honest weaknesses
Now the caveats, which are real but forgivable. The most obvious is the presentation: like all Illwinter games, Conquest of Elysium 5 is graphically minimal and, frankly, ugly, with simple sprite art and a functional, sometimes obtuse interface. If you cannot look past dated visuals, this will be a hurdle, though the game is a little more colourful and readable than Dominions. The other significant weakness is the AI, which is weak; experienced players will outclass the computer opponents fairly quickly, so the deepest challenge comes from harder settings, tougher classes, or playing against other humans. There are also rough edges typical of a small-studio passion project, and it is English only with a fair amount of text, a barrier for non-English players. None of these undermine the fun, but they are honest limits on the package.
It is fair to say Conquest of Elysium 5 asks you to value substance and variety over polish and presentation. It rewards players who delight in its classes and replayability and can shrug off ugly graphics and a soft AI, and it will put off anyone who needs a game to look good or to provide a stern computer challenge out of the box.
Buy Conquest of Elysium 5 for its class variety, summoning and fast replayability, not for graphics or a tough AI. If you need good visuals, high polish, or a strong solo challenge, weigh that carefully. If a fast, weird, endlessly replayable fantasy strategy game appeals, it is a delight.
Who should buy it
If you love fantasy strategy, summoning monstrous armies, and the thrill of trying wildly different ways to play, Conquest of Elysium 5 is an easy recommendation — a fast, charming, endlessly replayable game with more variety than almost anything in its genre, and a fraction of the commitment its sister game demands. Strategy fans who want something they can pick up and replay, who enjoy roguelike unpredictability, and who relish discovering how a Necromancer or a Demonologist or a Witch actually plays will get enormous value, especially at its modest price. To get started, read our beginner guide, then dig into the classes tier list, resources guide and combat guide. If you want Illwinter's deeper, slower experience afterward, see Dominions 6.
Who should pass? Anyone who needs good graphics, high polish, a strong AI opponent, or a deep, slow grand strategy rather than a fast, light one. Be honest about that, because the presentation and AI are its real weaknesses. For the players it suits — strategy fans who prize variety, summoning and replayability over looks — Conquest of Elysium 5 is a uniquely fun game, with the honest asterisks that it is ugly, soft against the AI, and English only.
