I thought I had gotten bored with Civilization IV. Even with Beyond the Sword and Warlords...the game had grown stale for me. The computer was predictable and since everybody could build everything, the game ended up being quite monotonous.
Enter Fall from Heaven 2. This is a mod based around a dark fantasy setting including new features such as magic, actually relevant religions, two god civilizations that you can summon and very different civilizations.
Will you try playing as the Vampiric Calabim? Eat your cities' population to make your units grow stronger...evolve your heroes enough and they gain immortality!
Try the Sheaim, the civilization whose entire strategy is based around bringing Armageddon down to Erebus. You'll get evil reinforcements from your planar gates, units you can't build such as succubae, Azers, Manticores, Revelers and more!
With over 8 different civilizations, you have lots of room for strategical creativity. Since you can achieve victory in several ways, different civs have different ways of achieving such victories.
The game is quite challenging as there is an Armageddon counter that makes the game very difficult. If you are a good civilization and let the evil religions grow more powerful, the world's terrain will start turning into hell. Fire, burning sands, rivers of blood, and more spawns of demonic creatures will eat you for lunch. When the Armageddon counter hits 30 you'll be hit with the Plague and your cities will drop several notches. At 40, Stephanos, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse will come. 50 will net you a nice hit from the Plague again. If you allow the Armageddon counter hit 60, Buboes will come knocking on your door as the second Horseman. At 80, you'll get to fight Ars Moriendi. *
Do yourself a favor and git some Fall from Heaven 2.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171398
*Not a spam or advertisement post!