RTS games have always been interesting to me, so I decided to try out Castle Conqueror EX. Assembling armies, invading enemies, obtaining loot- good times! Circle Entertainment’s latest installment in the series promises a title that is easy to learn, but is tough to master, which appealed to me the most. And in the end, I felt that the game accomplished this goal. But the repetitive nature of the game, requiring constant grinding in order to advance further, leads to a title that can be quite tedious at times.

The game has you, the Blue team, battling it out against rival colored teams, who want to take all your castles. You’ll set up a base and send out soldiers designed to not only defend what castles you have, but also invade the enemies castles in an attempt to make them your own. The round ends when you’ve successfully conquered all enemy castles on the map or vice versa. Initially, you can choose between three different characters who have different cards that will aid you in battle, such as being able to confuse enemies or increase defense. They all have their own strategic element that adds to the gameplay experience. But that experience becomes a very familiar one very soon. The enemies become more difficult as the game passes, but they all kind of look the same, and the battles are the same, which can get pretty repetitive.

Having been unfamiliar with the series beforehand, I thought Castle Conqueror EX would be something fun to pick up and just play for a while. And I did have a relatively fun time going through castles, and as the title would suggest, conquering them for the homeland. I didn’t have any problem with the gameplay overall, but in the end, it’s constant requirement to grind became tiresome, and the mundane and repetitive levels exemplified that. If you can muster through that, Castle Conqueror EX does have an addictive quality to it, but only if you know what you’re in for going in.