Masters of the Broken World features three distinct levels of strategic action. At the highest level, you can choose which shard you're going to attempt to capture next, make use of your godly powers, keep an eye on where your enemies are and even attempt to negotiate with them. Different shards provide access to different technologies, so it's in players' interests to try and acquire locations with the most beneficial effects.

When invading a shard, you find yourself in the second layer. This resembles Civilization somewhat, taking place on a hex-based map with fog of war and turn based movement. Players begin with a capital city and must locate and capture the enemy capital in order to take the shard for themselves. Early in the game, this will be a straightforward procedure -- particularly if you're only taking it off the natives. Later, however, your 15 rivals will start taking an interest in your property portfolio and all manner of chaos will break loose.

Conquering the lands is achieved through the use of Heroes, of which the player can recruit up to four. Each Hero leads a King's Bounty-style army, and indeed the third layer of strategic action is a turn based battle that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Russian classic. A notable difference, however, is that individual units on the map represent just that -- individual units, whereas in King's Bounty one figure may represent an entire stack of units, effectively multiplying its total health.

It's not just about fighting, though -- Heroes can also be used to explore provinces under the player's control. This allows the player to expand "internally" without having to capture additional hexes. Heroes might locate dungeons, treasure, villages or resources, all without having to leave the safety of their own borders.

Occasionally, the player is faced with moral choices, too. Heroes may come across unusual situations and will look to the player for guidance on how to handle it. How you respond affects your karma rating, which in turn affects what abilities are available to you, what your buildings look like and which units you can command most effectively.