Stardock is taking another swing at its ambitious fantasy 4X vision with Elemental: Reforged, a rebuilt and reimagined take on the long-running series.
Originally conceived in 2008, following Stardock’s success with Galactic Civilizations II and Sins of a Solar Empire, the Elemental series was always intended to deliver the ultimate fantasy civilization experience. However, as technology in the late 2000s lagged behind the title’s ambitions, technical roadblocks—most notably the limitations of 32-bit computing—forced the studio to scale back its original vision. The result was the 2010 launch of Elemental: War of Magic, a title praised for its ideas but hindered at release by significant technical flaws and a reduced scope compared to its initial concept.
Learning hard lessons from Elemental‘s turbulent debut, Stardock followed up with improvements in Fallen Enchantress and, later, Sorcerer King. Those titles introduced more robust questing and crafting systems but still fell short of the studio’s original vision due to ongoing hardware constraints—though they carried the series forward in important ways.
Now, with the advantage of a modern 64-bit engine and significant advances in PC performance, Stardock says Elemental: Reforged will finally unify and complete the vision that began more than a decade ago. “With Elemental: Reforged, we’re finally able to deliver the original design we wanted,” said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock Entertainment and lead designer of the Elemental franchise.
Wardell described the iterative process of adaptation, noting: “As we developed Elemental, we realized that the design wouldn’t fit in a 32-bit game and pared it down into Elemental: War of Magic, which still had challenges fitting into a 32-bit memory space. So then we made Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, which did much better but was still a shadow of what we had designed. Then we made Elemental: Sorcerer King, where we focused on the crafting and quest elements of the original design. Now, thanks to remastering the engine to 64-bit, we can actually make the full game we originally envisioned in 2008.”
Elemental: Reforged is set to integrate the best elements from each previous release while introducing all-new features, including dynamic procedural worlds, RPG-inspired unit customization, intricate narrative quests and more. Players can expect to craft heroes and factions with unique backgrounds, see environments shift in response to magic, and engage in detailed tactical combat, backed by AI that can either streamline or deepen empire management, depending on player preference. From what has been shown so far, the game looks stunning—and as someone who loves fantasy and strategy games, I’m genuinely excited to see how the series has evolved with this new iteration.
“What makes Elemental unique is that it’s a strategy game in an RPG world,” Wardell added. “The world really is your sandbox. You can create your own character and even your own faction to bring into this world.”
In addition to gameplay features, Stardock is promising a modern visual overhaul powered by DirectX 11, seamless strategic and tactical views, a rebuilt user interface, and deeply integrated modding tools—complete with Steam Workshop support. For those who enjoyed previous entries in the series, Stardock’s renewed efforts are going beyond what many fans may have expected and appear poised to deliver a game that surpasses the original vision.
Stardock Entertainment, based in Plymouth, Mich., has a long legacy in strategy and simulation gaming, dating back to 1993’s Galactic Civilizations and continuing through genre staples like Sins of a Solar Empire and Ashes of the Singularity. While no firm release date has been announced, fans eager to experience Elemental: Reforged can head over to Steam to give it a wishlist.
