Against the Storm

Free weekend got me hooked. Support the devs of this great 4x game.

:)

Really good game

I initially wrote a good review of this game until i realized how insanely annoying it is lol. I enjoyed some of it, but i've had many frustrations with it that make me not want to recommend it... I understand i have a lot of time in this game, but just be aware these frustrations were obvious early on, i had assumed playing for longer and getting used to it would make them less annoying... but it doesn't... And i had spent a lot of time playing it listening to podcasts and the sort, i would not have played it so long otherwise. It's a pretty fun survival village builder, akin to Banished or Anno, albeit with a twist. Instead of playing one long settlement, you play many settlements, which should solve the rut i always run into in these types of games(that is, once you get too far in, managing your settlement becomes quite annoying, logistics is a pain) But, it only slightly remedies it, as logistics still do get annoying later on and you always end up with too many villagers and no way to turn away villagers when they come. I do think the storm aspect and hearth is cool, it has a hearth kinda like frostpunk, you need to burn wood or coal or other resources to keep your people happy(though i don't really know exactly why lol, maybe it explains it somewhere but i never caught on to that) The glade exploration mechanics are pretty cool, you rely on wood cutters to cut through the thick forest and find resources and events. The trade system is pretty cool, though it takes some learning, it's kinda cool how you can just send off resources for money Okay,here's the major annoyances this game has... -Hostility, it goes up for stupid reasons, there's very few ways to bring it down permanently, it goes up over time, while discovering, completing events, getting new villagers... sorta discourages you from doing anything tbh. -And to add to that, during the storm resolve ALWAYS drops like crazy, i don't know if this is by design but it's quite annoying. Hostility increases the severity of the storm. Sometimes even killing people. -Resolve is annoying to increase... It's basically morale, you increase it by fulfilling needs. Yet, you need to unlock a ton of blueprints every game to fulfill these needs, for example if you want a tavern, you need to unlock several blueprints, the tavern itself, something to "hold" the beer(barrels or pots), a farm, and something to produce beer. And if a species' resolve gets low, it basically gives a timer and one will leave every time the timer runs out. -Different species are just an added layer of frustration. Each different species has different needs, so when you finally get that tavern, oh, sorry, that only benefits the humans with you, you need something else for the harpies. -Tools. They're not always easy to produce, they're necessary for increasing reputation with crates you find, yet most games you just have to FIND them. Reputation is basically necessary for A. Unlocking new blueprints and B. winning the game -The aforementioned crates need rocks or fossils(??) to open, if you want to get the resources inside instead of sending them for reputation. And what if you haven't found any stone or fossil deposits? Sorry, those crates cannot be opened until you do, so they sit there, mocking you! lol I think this game would be much better if 1. Necessary blueprints did not need to be unlocked every single game, why not just depend on actually finding the resources you need rather than unlocking blueprints? 2. Hostility needs a better way to be dealt with, there are SOME ways to lower it, and you can burn extra resources to temporarily lower it, but it goes back up again immediately when you run out. Hostility should go up over time, not every single move you make. 3. Let you pick one species per game. I hate having to deal with multiple different needs in a game where even dealing with one need is a challenge already... OR keep it multiple species but have resolve affect work speed instead of making them leave. Though i don't expect the dev to overhaul these things just for my criticism.... I think pointing out these issues will help people to make an informed decision about this game. It's seriously a good concept, but... delivered very poorly.

It's a satisfying game that get's a little repetitive but it's nice because it just makes you feel really smart when certain events happen and you know 1 of 3 different ways to handle it and it all depends on what's going on and the needs of the town and quests. Took a break from the game for about a year and now I'm back. Not a whole lot has changed so far that I noticed but I see there was a decent update a few days ago so maybe I just haven't hit that part yet. :)

Great

mnami