Should I assume from the fact that you don't mention its looks or setting much at all that both are bland?
The looks don't grab me, I'll admit. I generally prefer dark/gritty to bright/colourful, but that's really a personal thing. I don't really like the cartoony look of Warcraft, for example, but plenty of others love it. Beyond that, I'd rather talk about the gameplay and let people look at the screens and decide the artistic merits for themselves.
Otherwise, the graphics do the job fine for a small project with low system specs.
Setting wise, Soldak has produced quite a lot of lore on their website and much of it is pretty good. But I'd say it has little impact in-game - the focus is on the action and the lore really only comes into it if you read the tomes.
YouGamers posted a preview, too, they seem to have quite a different impression. Besides curiously talking about the fact that an indie game doesn't look graphically impressive (why would that be a surprise?), YouGamers claims Soldak simply missed the mark; they say that the game plays like a MMO with NPCs pretending to be other players, and the strategy elements get in the way of that experience rather than adding anything. Basically, they argue the RTS elements are underdeveloped (and combat is awful), and because it is underdeveloped it only subtracts, and doesn't add anything. Do you agree or see their point? Do you think this is something that will or can be improved in time?
Do I agree? No, not really. First, I think they reviewed it - not previewed an alpha version. That said, I certainly agree some aspects could be improved - let's see what they do before release (v0.154, remember?).
It isn't an RTS crossover. Period. There is no base-building and no controlling an army. This is a Diablo / Sacred / FATE / whatever type game that exchanges a quest campaign for a dynamic battle for supremacy against other heroes. The strategy aspect simply comes from being able to form some simple deals (or go to war) with other factions (and, I guess, a wider range of options than many action/RPGs, such as different approaches with recruits). Do you try to knock out weak covenants early? Do you try to stay out of the way and let the others weaken each other? Align with a powerful covenant but run the risk they are hard to beat when only the two of you are left, or align with a weak covenant to combine into something more powerful while still being able to dominate your partner...this is the strategy aspect.
Frankly, you can simply play it like FATE (Diablo, ...) and not engage in diplomacy whatsoever. Depending on how the random events develop, you may sail through or you may get taken down by one of the others. *shrug*
The combat is like most A/Rs...if you can't stand that (and I'd understand that), move along. Otherwise, I can't see why the combat is worse than [insert decent action/RPG]. I played a fairly dull warrior (too many passive skills) and an interesting rogue and mage - but I don't have enough play time to say if the builds pass the test of time; with a good choice of skills, it looks like fun so far, and you have full control over the skills you choose.
The comment at YouGamers about being unable to speed up combat is just silly - how many A/R's rely on clicking speed these days?
The diplomacy needs some work (I said that, didn't I?) but I don't think it's a bad idea. In essence, they've exchanged the typical linear campaign for something a bit more dynamic. I don't recall Sacred having any sort of worthwhile story, so these games can succeed on the merits of character development and clicky ombat (for the right audience). Likewise, FATE was well received and all you did was take three random quests and head down an endless, random dungeon. So, rather than follow the crappy story / kill the Big Foozle, this changes it to win the leadership, but others will be competing for it, so you'll need to be on your toes.
Again, some won't like the pace this adds, but I found it (hectic) fun. I quite liked the raids.
This would never replace Fallout (or whatever) for me, but occasionally I don't mind an actiony break. The games seems relatively short and it's quite replayable, so I think this is a good game to come back to between other stuff.