Elemental: Fallen Enchantress launches October 23

Elemental: War of Magic was disastrous for Stardock. At launch in August 2010, it was buggy, unbalanced, and just, well, a bit bad. Poor sales led to layoffs and the whole affair severely harmed Stardock's hard-earned reputation. A lot clearly hangs upon expansion-turned-standalone Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, then, which Stardock has announced will launch on October 23.

After the War of Magic fiasco, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell stepped down as lead developer, replaced by Derek 'Kael' Paxton, creator of the celebrated Civilization IV mod 'Fall from Heaven.' Civilization V lead designer Jon Shafer also joined up to design the campaign, and fantasy author Dave Stern came onboard to provide lore and whatnot. Hopefully, the new talent have helped whip things into shape.

Stardock has wisely taken its time with Fallen Enchantress. In its original expansion form, it was due between April and June of 2011, which seemed optimistic at best and potentially disastrous.

You can pre-order Fallen Enchantress for $40 to score instant beta access, or it may be cheaper if you bought the original. It's free to everyone who bought War of Magic before October 31, 2010, as per Stardock's promise to give them two free expansions, while latecomers may get a discount.

Look, new screenshots