A warlord, a team of Pokémon, and the map of feudal Japan unfolding under your command.

Pokémon Conquest stays restrained, everywhere. The feel of a controller in hand sits right at the bottom, ahead of fewer than one game in ten, and both art direction and sound trail near the bottom too. Attachment and the urge to rediscover it do a little better, around the lower third, but nothing takes off. Careful though, we are on very few votes per line, one to four duels depending on the criterion. The early returns suggest a quiet game, far from settled, confirm before you trust the verdict.

In the Pokémon landscape, Conquest is an oddity: a crossover with turn-based strategy in the vein of Nobunaga's Ambition, far from the classic RPG. That demanding, niche hybrid is probably why it struggles to leave a mark on criteria built for emotion and immediate style.

So, who is it for? For you if you love measured tactics, conquering territory by territory, and the wild idea of catching Pokémon in the middle of the Sengoku era. Much less if you want the snappy, colorful Pokémon RPG that sticks with you for years.