Deadlock II: Shrine Wars is a science fiction turn-based strategy video game developed by Cyberlore Studios and published by Accolade, released on February 25, 1998 as a sequel to Deadlock: Planetary Conquest. The game allows the player to play as the leader of an alien species who controls colonies on a planet's surface. Tommo purchased the rights to this game and digitally publishes it through its Retroism brand in 2015. Overview Deadlock II: Shrine Wars features turn-based gameplay that takes place on a planet map that ranges from around 1 to 9000 tiles, each presenting a region, or area of building. Players take control of each territory by colonizing it with a "Colonizer" vehicle or taking it from another player through military conquest. Each territory consists of a six-by-six grid in which buildings can be placed. Like most strategy games, Deadlock II: Shrine Wars uses natural resources and credits to pay for new units and buildings. Colonists are assigned to buildings to generate resources and research. These new units and buildings are able to be created after their prerequisite technologies are researched. Comparison to Deadlock: Planetary Conquest As a sequel, the most notable features in Deadlock II are A single-player campaign A fully customized interface as opposed to the Windows desktop controls used in the original Additional gameplay elements such as diplomatic alliances, more researchable technologies, more units, more buildings, and the ability to create a city on water. Criticism Aside from changes in the interface, Deadlock II uses exactly the same graphics from the first game. No major changes in gameplay No new species The newer interface with its fixed (low) resolution and primitive graphics did not age well. Because the original game used desktop controls, its graphics actually appear cleaner on modern systems. Deadlock II can be construed as a "deluxe" version of the original game rather than a proper sequel. Aside from the single-player campaign, which is little more than a collection of non-random scenarios, players who have already played out the original game have little more to see in this sequel. Species Deadlock II: Shrine Wars features seven alien species each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The racial abilities are not as pronounced as they are in other strategy games such as Warcraft but can still greatly affect the way in which each species is played. ChCh-t The ChCh-t are a species of insect-beings resembling