SpellForce: The Order of Dawn

EO, the world in which the game takes place was torn apart by a ritual called the Convocation. The ritual caused the destruction of the continents and was performed by each of the thirteen most powerful mages (both light and dark) on EO, who collectively were known as The Circle. The Circle ruled EO before its destruction and had slowly expanded their knowledge and power. Their vast knowledge allowed them to extend their lifespan to a point near immortality. Across EO they resurrected rune monuments that could be used to quickly call forth obedient armies to enforce their rule (known as the Rune) and bring peace to all the races of EO. At some point they learned of an ancient text describing a ritual supposedly granting immense power, possible under a certain alignment of planets. Not willing to share this power, wars between the various Circle mages erupted. When the time came each preformed the ritual, but none could tame the elemental forces and the continents shattered. After the event only isolated islands around magical towers remained. The islands were later connected by magical portals that make travel between them possible. At the start of the game the player is resurrected by Rohen, a former mage of The Circle. He is also the one who connected the islands using the portal system in an act to redeem himself and is believed to be the only mage of The Circle to have survived the Convocation. He instructs you to travel to Greyfell, the headquarters of the Order of Dawn. Soon after this you learn that a second Circle mage has survived and embark on a quest to inform Rohen of this fact.

SpellForce is a real-time strategy game with RPG elements, similar to Battle Realms. Unlike that game, SpellForce gives more focus to the hero. In fact, the player can go into third person view (only for the hero) and play it like a hack and slash game. The game features six playable races. The player character is called a rune warrior, an immortal warrior bound to a stone by The Circle to fight their wars. If the avatar dies, he will respawn at the last activated bindstone (stones around the map that can be activated and used for fast travel).

As the game progresses the player will find rune stones of six races (humans, dwarves, elves, orcs, trolls and dark elves) and hero runes. After being inserted into the rune board, they can be trained at their respective monument and help the player in the quest. The player will also find building planes for each of the races. When a monument of a race is switched on worker units can be trained to gather resources and construct buildings. This will eventually allow the player to train fighting units to overcome an enemy base. With the avatar rising in level runes and items of a higher level can be used to kill tougher enemies. The game has a lengthy single player campaign of 20+ maps. It was followed by two expansions called The Breath of Winter and Shadow of the Phoenix.