SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars

SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars is played from a third-person perspective, in which players control a custom-made avatar to explore a variety of maps in the game. The game makes use of traditional elements from both real-time strategy and role-playing video games, in which players take on various quests, kill monsters and earn experience to level up and improve skills and unlock the ability to wield new equipment, while at times having to build bases, gathering resources for the construction of buildings, and training units to fight against opposing armies.

For the role-playing aspect of the game, players create an avatar for interaction with the game's world, though with no class definition when created compared to SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. By earning experience from completing quests and defeating certain enemies to level up, the avatar can allocate skill points towards skills the player wishes them to learn, effectively defining what abilities they can have assigned for use in combat, as well as what equipment they can make be equip to themselves - primarily weapons, shields, and armour; accessories like amulets and rings are exempt from this. The game features two skill trees – combat and magic – in which players can allocate skill points within, not only to unlock skills, but to upgrade them further with enhanced bonuses; the player can decide to let the computer automatically allocate skill points when levelling up, as well as assign which abilities they can use in battle. Quests acquired in the game consist of main quests that progress the game's story, and side quests that offer bonuses.

SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars takes place on Eo – a high-fantasy world inhabited by several races, including humans, elves, dwarves and orcs – that was formed by the god Aonir, and originally consisted of large continents and various islands, with large oceans and seas. But after a cataclysmic event known as the Convocation shattered the world, the remaining landmass became islands, each held together around an obelisk called Aonir's Tower. While the islands float on an elemental sea that no ships can traverse, a powerful mage created a portal network to ensure the surviving inhabitants of Eo can remain connected to each other.

Prior to the Convocation, and the war that caused it, an alchemist named Malacay sought to acquire knowledge on the gem of life, in order to defy the gods and create a force of beings named the Malar to control the world. To this end, he made use of a blood pact he formed with the dragon patriarch Ur, leading to his descendants becoming immortal warriors called the Shaikah. Malacay's efforts corrupted his spirit, before he was eventually defeated by Eo's gods for his actions. Following his defeat, the Shaikah went into isolation due to the fear and distrust from the other races, with Ur serving as their guardian and to ensure they honor the blood pact. While the Shaikah have the power to resurrect the fallen into another of their group, Malacay's spirit curses them, returning once every generation to possess one of the Shaikah in hopes of resuming his plans.

SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars was well received by both critics and players. According to the Metacritic website, it obtained a score of 80/100 from critics, as of August 24, 2014.

Many of the criticisms of the original SpellForce (e.g. poor integration of role-playing game and real time strategy aspects, a confusing interface, and an overly cumbersome real time strategy system) were improved upon in this sequel. While many reviewers indicate that SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars is one of the best hybrid games to date, most acknowledge that it presents little innovation for either of its role-playing game or real time strategy genres.